Guitar Playing Advice: Can YOU Really Become a Great Guitar Player?

by Tom Hess

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Becoming a great guitar player is about:

• knowing the right things to do to improve your guitar playing

and

• having the discipline to get it done & actually make progress.

Understanding what to do to improve your guitar playing is quite easy.

Getting it done is not always so simple.

Why?

Some of the things you need to do to improve your guitar playing require a lot of self discipline.

The good news is that they improve your guitar playing very quickly.

Watch this video to learn how simple it really is to improve your guitar playing technique (and speed):
 

The hardest part is getting yourself to take the right actions that move you towards your goals.

Let me tell you a story:

Guitar playing did not come easy to me when I was younger. I didn't possess any natural talent. I entered music college 4 years after finishing high school. I was an average student in high school and was very afraid of not doing well in college.

I spoke to my music theory professor about my fear of not doing well in music classes and falling behind other students. His reply stunned me.

He said: "Most students never actually get their music degrees. Some fail the classes. Others drop out and change their major to something easier. Less than 25% of students in this class will graduate with a music degree."

He continued: "The best music students are not always the best musicians or the most intelligent people. They have a strong desire to master their instrument and the solid work ethic to back it up. These people virtually always make it."

Intense desire for greatness is more than a wish. It’s an obsession that drives your choices and actions.

This video shows how burning desire makes you a better guitar player fast:

It's been years now since I finished college. I've reached the big musical goals I set for myself back then. I've also helped hundreds of people become great guitar players.

Fact: we are all born with equal potential for greatness. This includes YOU! The difference between great guitarists and everyone else is the amount of musical potential they converted into actual musical skills. You have potential to achieve far more than what you have achieved so far.

To improve your guitar playing and become great, you must:

• Obtain the right tools to reach your musical goals fast and learn how to apply them as a guitar player. (This is where a great guitar teacher comes in!)
   
• Implement the tools that make you a great guitar player fast. (This is where your desire and work ethic come in!).

Your Guitar Playing Potential:

Your potential to improve your guitar playing is virtually unlimited. However, potential alone won’t make you a great guitar player.

These guitar playing success principles help you reach greatness:
 

Guitar Playing Success Principle 1: Don't try to improve your guitar playing completely on your own.

Don’t learn guitar with random free lessons online. You improve your guitar playing faster when you follow a strategy tailored to your musical goals and skill level.

This guitar playing test tells you if you are on the right track to reaching your musical goals.
 

Guitar Playing Success Principle 2: Find the best guitar teacher for you.

Guitar teachers are NOT created equal when it comes to helping you improve your guitar playing. Every guitar teacher has different credentials, levels of experience and amount of proof of how good they are. Proof is critical. You want to study with a teacher who has helped many students become great guitar players.

Disclaimer: You may know that I teach guitar lessons online and that I help lots of people become a great guitar players. Therefore, you might assume that my words are an attempt to get you to take guitar lessons with me. This is half right. I do want to help guitar players like yourself develop killer guitar playing skills.

However, the idea of finding the best guitar teacher possible helps you whether or not you improve your guitar playing with me :)
 

Guitar Playing Success Principle 3: A great guitar player takes responsibility for his own musical progress.

A great guitar teacher lays out the path towards your musical goals…but YOU must walk it. You are responsible for your musical progress, nobody else is. You must hold yourself accountable for practicing, observing your results and continually working to improve your guitar playing approach. Tracking your musical progress makes this easy.
 

Guitar Playing Success Principle 4: Get out of your own way as a guitar player.

Stop blaming your lack of progress as a guitar player on:

• Your age
   
• Size and shape of your fingers
   
• Your natural talent
   
• The amount of time you have to practice
   
• …other irrelevant factors

Your age or finger length do NOT affect your musical progress as a guitar player. Your beliefs, choices and actions do. Focus on your goals and do what is required to reach them.
 

Guitar Playing Success Principle 5: Join a community of like-minded guitar players.

Fact: Being around another serious guitar player inspires you to reach your goals faster.

However: such a guitar player community only helps you, when its members are:

• Supportive and encouraging (to each other and to you)
   
• Committed to their own musical greatness
   
• Knowledgeable about guitar playing and music
   
• Mature and respectful

Hint: Private, members-only forums are far more likely to have serious guitar players than public online forums.

Implement these principles to reach guitar playing greatness.

This guitar playing test helps you improve your guitar playing skills by telling you how close you are to reaching your goals.

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