Finally, after finishing a two-hour-long marathon of cat videos, John gets up from his sofa when his eyes fall over to his guitar. “Oh, my guitar!” John thinks to himself, as all of his inspiration hits back, and he remembers that he has not picked it up in months. “I must pick it up and show the world what I can do!” he thinks, just when [TING…] John gets a notification… “You won’t believe what this guitar can do!? I must know this since I’m a guitarist… I’ll practice after watching this.” And the guitar was touched never again.
Does it sound similar? Do you also become like John and lie to yourself? We understand.
Okay, now that you have your inspiration and already practicing your guitar after watching our last video, this article is even more important. 5 LIES GUITARISTS TELL THEMSELVES. Haven’t yet watched the previous video? Make sure to check it out here: 6 Ways Guitarists Can Get Inspired.
Everyone lies here and there to escape any unwanted situation or not get into trouble. The lies a guitarist tells are primarily to their own selves, sometimes to not accept the truth or sometimes to justify their rash decisions. Problems arise when these lies get in the way of your career.
Let’s check out these five lies and their solutions…
#5 No one appreciates me or believes in me.
A widespread lie told to oneself mostly when a guitarist feels demotivated or sad. In this situation, the best thing to do is ask, What will change if people did appreciate and believed in me? Will my playing get better? Will I no longer have problems with my training? Chances are, we use this lie when we have a high expectation of getting praise to boost our ego, but all we get is nothing. Art should be used to express oneself and society. Even if people don’t care about our work, but WE must care about it.
#4 I Don’t have the natural god-gifted talent needed to play the guitar.
A primarily misunderstood term, ‘TALENT’. Hard work can always beat talent, and the world has infinite examples to back this up. This lie is often used when a guitarist hasn’t put enough time into their practice. A genuine love and aim to keep getting better with practice are more important than talent itself. Even if you don’t know anything about music, even if you are just starting out or your family got no musicians, so what? An effort to keep growing will bring out the talent in you.
Many famous musicians like Sting and Paul McCartney were deemed as untalented or not good enough in their beginnings; imagine if they used this lie, “Man the world is right, I know nothing and got no talent. I should go back and open my own shop.”
#3 I am not good enough.
Many times, we practice well with steady growth along the line, but soon this bug inside our head goes, “Nah! I’m just horrible, I can’t go anywhere like this.” This can be lethal and destroy careers even before starting. The scientific world has a name for this ‘The Imposters Syndrome.’
The best thing to do is take a deep breath and know that even if my playing isn’t that good, who cares? I must do this because it’s fun and dear to me. Also, try to break the silence, go out and talk to people who share the same feeling. Sometimes talking to one’s family can give that extra boost of confidence. Because self-doubt is much more than a lie, it is a killer, killer of dreams.
#2 I don’t need to practice.
Guitarists use this common lie when they get over-confident or think the path is way too easy to crack in with a couple of practice sessions a week. This can never be further from the truth. A general rule for being a pro in any field is…. Ready? Ten Thousand Hours Rule. Yes, only after practicing a skill for Ten Thousand hours is that you get close to professionalism.
The best thing to break this lie would be to have a goal to build towards, tracking your performance, and playing with other artists to know what improvements you might need.
#1 One more guitar video will make me better.
Procrastination, yes, the worst habit or lie that a guitarist or anyone can tell themselves. Getting information on the topic we love feels so good; in fact, we humans are hard-wired to find information to survive. But soon, the thirst for wanting to know more can quickly go out of hand and push us away from actually playing it. With easier access to the internet than ever before, this lie is being used even more now. Do not use this as a means to push back your practice session and kill your inner artist.
Remove distractions from your practice room. Schedule your practice beforehand and stick to it strictly. You can find more ways on the internet, but the best thing to do is love what you do and have an aim in mind, thinking about the day you will play in your own concert with thousands moving to your rhythm, and that will pull you towards your instrument.
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Honorable Mentions
- Learning music theory will hamper my creativity. Understanding any art theory is liberating and teaches one the basics that will help them combine and make even better tracks.
- I’m Too Old to Learn How To Play The Guitar. Age never stopped human grit and motivation to do anything. So even if you’re more than seventy or eighty, pick up that guitar now!
- I Tried to Learn Guitar Before, But I Failed So I Know I Can’t Do It. Chances are you did not have a proper instructor or had no instructor at all. Better to find a qualified professional teacher, but don’t back off due to a self-made lie.
- This isn’t for me. And again, a lie used when one feels dejected and sad. We must never let anyone tell us that something isn’t for us, even not tell that to our own selves before putting in the hard work. Because think about it, why did you even start it in the first place if you want to give it up? The pain of going through the hardships might be small in front of the pain of regret later.
Thanks for Reading.
