Why Teaching Yourself Guitar May Hinder Your Progress
Why Is Teaching Yourself How To Play The Guitar Actually Preventing You From Getting Better?
By Rich Freeman
Has your guitar playing come to a screeching halt as if you hit a brick wall? Well, I can relate. I remember when I began trying to teach myself the guitar, I used to feel so frustrated and lost when it came to overcoming my own guitar playing problems. It always seemed like the other guitar players just learned how to play much faster than myself. My (and possibly your) biggest questions were:
Who should I listen to for guitar training HELP?
What should I be practicing NOW?
Where should I be getting my guitar related information?
Why CAN’T I overcome my guitar playing problems?
When will the frustrations be OVER?
The problem with ALL of these questions was that I could not answer them as a beginner guitarist. How could I know the answer to questions I’ve never asked before? Well Google will surely answer all of these - WRONG!
“My biggest mistake was turning to the internet to try and find answers to my own personal guitar playing problems”.
The good news is there is a light at the end of this tunnel and I hope that by sharing the answer to these questions, I can help you save years of lost time & money on trying to teach yourself the guitar. I mean sure you can teach yourself, but why take 8-10 years of pain and agony to teach yourself guitar when you can learn from a highly motivated guitar instructor in a surprisingly shorter amount of time? I hope this is starting to make sense - Get a Guitar Teacher, a GOOD one - Not some ‘dude’ that’s been playing for a long time and can shred (these guys are not Teachers, there is a BIG difference).
My Answers:
Who should you listen to? Don’t waste your time on the internet searching through tons of YouTube videos. The internet is not a Who (it is not a person or even a living being), the internet is a THING. Don’t ask THINGS for advise. These videos WILL work and benefit you ONLY if you are provided with the right links by someone who knows exactly what your personal goals are and how to help you reach them. You want an education in playing the guitar - Find a Guitar Teacher who knows how to set goals and help you achieve them!
What should I be practicing? This question usually gives beginner guitar players the most amount of stress. The truth is you need to be practicing a large number of techniques and exercises at the SAME TIME, but in a very organized manner. Don’t be fooled that you must master one technique to move onto another. Sure there are some basics you will need to check off the list first, but these can usually be accomplished within the first 2 months. I cannot go into detail now but if you would like more information on what you should be practicing, please contact me at my website by clicking here.
Where should I be getting my guitar related information? I find that this question is even a major problem for advanced guitarists. Most guitar players plug in a few words into Google and take the first few results as their prescription for curing their guitar playing problems. Another BIG mistake beginning guitar players make is listening to every and any video located on YouTube. If you are a 100% committed, patient & trial enduring person even under the most stressful situations, then you can solely use YouTube and Google to learn everything you need. But this is not most of us. In my opinion, information overload is a HUGE negative and may spell D-E-A-T-H to your motivation. Not good. Stay motivated by finding a HIGHLY MOTIVATED Guitar Teacher who will provide you with the resources that will drastically cut down your ‘searching all over the internet’ time and give you more time so you can actually be practicing. If you have a guitar teacher now and don’t feel like you are moving forward, I recommend you start looking for another guitar teacher. Don’t let one bad teacher turn you away from finding a truly passionate Guitar Teacher that will provide results!
Why can’t you overcome your guitar playing problems? Well, for me the problem was I didn’t know it what I was doing wrong in the first place, so I had nothing to fix. As a beginner guitar player, I simply was uneducated in the area of fixing problems, I always asked other people and looked online, but there were hundreds of ways to fix the same exact problem, so I could not identify what exactly was the cause in my individual situation. Once I found a dedicated Guitar Teacher, I was able to identify and focus on exactly what was causing my problems, and ultimately overcome those problems.
When will the frustrations be over? That question depends on YOU. When will you decide to take your guitar playing to the next level and quit losing countless hours, weeks, months & years trying to fix the same issues you currently have? Time does not stop, but we as humans tend to think it does for short periods - And then we look back and say “Where has the time gone?”. The truth is those hours spent sorting through videos and surfing the internet are lost forever, but once you commit to a Guitar Teacher who knows how to set goals, create a strategy, teach, instruct & implement - Then your frustrations will be minimized to the amount of time you spend practicing. Once you dedicate yourself to daily practicing, all of your guitar related problems will be overcome.
Take charge of your desire to become a guitar player (even if it is just a hobby) & find a truly dedicated Guitar Teacher. If you are in Miami, FL and are ready to commit, I urge you to contact me and you will receive 100% as your Guitar Teacher & Mentor. I now am able to help all of my students set and reach all of their guitar playing goals & it is a joy to watch a frustrated student come in and burn through the basic fundamentals on the guitar, and pass players that have been “teaching themselves” for years.