Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to learning to play guitar. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or an advanced player, you’re going to come across times when it seems like you aren’t making any progress at all. Depending on how experienced you are, there are a few things to do at these times:
1. Look at how much progress you’ve made up to this point. Remember what it was like when you first started playing and you’ll soon see that you’ve made a lot of progress already – and you WILL make a lot of progress in the future.
2. Evaluate how you’re practicing. Are you distracted when you practice? Are you playing too fast and making mistakes? Are you working consistently on the trouble areas of your playing or just playing what’s easy? Are you tracking your progress so you see improvements? These are critical things to consider – they have a huge impact on your progress as a guitarist.
3. Talk to me. If you come to a point where you feel like frustration is building up week by week, let’s talk about what we can do to solve the problems you’re facing. There is a solution and I will fix it – if you’re willing to implement what I tell you.
4. Don’t ever give up. I’ve experience many times over the past 17 years where I felt like my playing was going nowhere. I’ve never given up and I continue to see progress in my playing. And yes, I’m still practicing to this day.
