3 Things I Did That Made Learning Guitar Harder And Take Much Longer

By Maurice Richard

Now that I have learned to play guitar at a good level I can look back and reflect and realize I could have made it much easier on myself.

My goal today is to help you avoid the things I did that made learning guitar harder for me and will do the same for you.

I have been teaching guitar for many years now and I see people that still make the same mistakes.

You would think the internet would have made things easier but from my side of things I think it’s made things worse.

Here are 3 things I did wrong that made learning to play guitar much harder than it should have been.

1. I Tried To Teach Myself

That was the biggest mistake I made by a long shot.

Sure, I eventually figured it out, but it took years to get to a place where it should take months.

Because I chose this way to learn I ended up taking a very very long time to get where I am today. I still managed to develop my skills to a high level but they could be so much better by now.

Now, it’s not like I did not want to have someone else teach me or that I did not want to pay for that, I actually had no clue you could get guitar lessons.

Everyone I ever knew how knew how to play taught themselves and so I thought that was the only way to do it. I was clueless!

Do not make the same mistake. Find someone to help you as soon as possible!

2. I Used A Low Quality Acoustic Guitar

This really slowed me down.

Using a low quality guitar is a sure way to get frustrated and slow down your progress.

The guitar I used to learn with was free, but it cost me a lot. What am I talking about? It cost me years of progress and a lot of frustration.

Imagine trying to ride a bike that has mostly seized bearing in the wheels, with pedals that are just a little too far away and a seat that is slightly too high.

Can you learn to ride on such a bike? I am sure it is possible but it will be very difficult to make any progress and could take along time. That’s pretty much what happened to me with this guitar. It was THAT bad.

Even though I was determined to play guitar I did end up quitting/stopping several times out of sheer frustration. I even started to think I did not have the skill or talent to ever learn.

Fortunately, the desire was very strong and I never totally gave up trying.

If I was to start all over I would do it with an electric or at the very least a high quality thin-body acoustic guitar. I highly recommend this for you!

3. Hired Untrained Guitar Teachers

When I finally clued in that you could hire people to teach you how to play guitar I did not do it right away.

I had other priorities and for whatever reason, I honestly can’t remember why, I chose not to get a guitar teacher.

It wasn’t until I started to put my kids into music lessons that I finally decided to give it a try.

I found out very quickly that not all guitar teachers are the same and that they do not always know how to help someone reach their specific goals. My experience was not good.

I later found out these guitar teachers were not trained. They were really good guitar players but they did not learn how to teach from anyone and just tried to figure it out on their own.

That would explain things.

One Thing I Finally Did To Help Me Learn To Play Well

Yup, I made a lot of mistakes trying to learn to play guitar. I’d like to say I made them all but that would not likely be accurate. But I made more than my share of them!!

Once I did that long enough and got so frustrated that I was ready to quit guitar for good, I finally sought out a great guitar teacher.

It was out of desperation because in the back of my mind I suspected I would just find more of the same teachers I had already had experience with.

Fortunately, that was not the case. This time I sought out someone who had a lot of experience teaching a lot of students already. Someone who had helped people like me and which implied he could help me.

After some time, I found what I was looking for. This teacher understood me, could relate to me and my struggles, was trained as a teacher and had already helped many others do what I wanted.

So, I signed up and the rest is history! He is still my teacher today and my playing keeps improving!

You need to find this kind of teacher!

About The Author:

Maurice Richard is a professional guitar teacher that operates out of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He has been a member of an elite guitar teaching mentorship program since 2007 and has taught many people how to learn to avoid things that make it harder to learn guitar.