When Learning Guitar Is Frustrating This Can Help

If you’ve ever played guitar or are playing guitar now, then I’m sure you’ve felt some frustration at some point.  Am I right?

The guitar is a wonderful instrument, but it can seem as if there are so many things to learn.  In my personal guitar playing journey, I’ve met many frustrations, but they have only served to help me improve and be wonderful rewards.  If you’re feeling any frustrations in your guitar learning then I think these 3 key steps can help keep you mentally in the game and committed to playing and practicing more.

• Remember that your mood is going to affect your playing and learning…so be in a good mood when you pick up the guitar to practice or attempt to learn a new technique.  When you’re not in the right frame of mind new methods can be hard to grasp and implement.

• Create a balance between playing for fun and learning time.  It’s important to not just pick up the guitar and always just goof around or jam, especially when you’re just beginning.  It’s also really important not to get bogged down with too much practice and theory.  While it’s true that there can never be enough theory , there also can never be enough fun had.  Both are vital, but both must be in balance.  So take some time to rethink your practice and playing regimen.  Is there equal time given to both practicing and playing?  I’ve found that for me the great balance is that when I’m writing songs, I am playing and having fun and then there are specific times when I practice.  Those practice sessions begin to juice me up to want to write, which is fun and so I even get more into the practicing.

• The third and last step is, play with other people.  I think this might be one of the most important things.  You can really learn a lot by just getting together and playing with others.  The best thing is that it puts you in a state of wanting to perform well, which is a great thing when you’ve been practicing.  Your friends are going to want to impress you and share what they know and you in-turn want to do the same.  By playing with each other you open the door to sharing styles, techniques and influences and if you have any interest in doing music professionally then this kind of collaboration will build you a healthy backbone for networking and playing with other musicians.

So that’s it!  Those would be my top key ideas to keep in mind as you begin or continue your journey with this fine instrument.  Having the right mindset and tools is the key to mastering your goals.  That’s why I’m such a big believer in learning resources and it is what’s continued to move my career as an artist along.  If you’re looking for a great tool to keep you on the right path to guitar mastery, then I think you’d really like and benefit from my guitar course “Music Made Easy” .  It is a comprehensive course to teach you what you need to know to master music and guitar, so check it out and take your learning to the next level!

To your highest success and fulfillment,

-Andrew Hand