How to get unstuck on guitar (and other things)
“Damn this thing!” (Illustration by Gustave Doré. Source: British Library)
There are lots of people out there in various stages of wishing they could play the guitar.
And there are a million guitar teachers, books, and YouTube videos out there telling them exactly how to do it.
So why can’t people play the way they want to be able to play?
At some point, the pain of the learning process overcame their desire to continue.
A teacher’s job is to help someone through that. Where is the breakdown? Here are a few:
Belief. The aspiring guitarist stops believing that it will be possible for him to learn guitar. He thinks just doesn’t have what it takes. Or worse, the teacher stops believing in the student.
Too much, too soon. The student becomes overwhelmed by trying to do something she’s not physically ready for.
Not enough payoff. The student has learned fifteen chords and seven strumming patterns — but can’t play any songs.
Intimidation. The teacher picks up the guitar and shows off a bit at the start of each lesson — and the middle — and the end. The student sees the gap between his own ability and the teacher’s and doesn’t see it closing.
It hurts. The student has not played enough to develop calluses on her fingers.
Chord switching. The student has mastered the chords, but just can’t seem to put them together smoothly.
Strumming problems. The student can switch from chord to chord quickly, but can’t get the feel of the song.
It doesn’t sound good. The student is playing everything correctly, but it sounds amateurish and awkward.
Barre chords. Basically impossible.
Now, each of these obstacles can be overcome. A good teacher prepares you for each one and guides you through to the other side. Next, I will share some tactics for solving each problem.
If you don’t already play guitar and want to learn, these will be directly useful. However, the principles behind these tactics can be applied more broadly to get unstuck from anything.
Belief. First and foremost, you have to believe you can do it. And you can do it. It may be a slower or more painful process for you, but you will succeed if you simply don’t quit.
And if you sense that your teacher has given up on you, fire them and find a new one.
Too much, too soon. What can you do? Take something that’s working and build on that. You can play an Em chord? Great! Try Am next.
Don’t worry about everything else in the book. Don’t worry about what the other guy is doing. Don’t worry about the scales and all the other stuff you are supposed to learn. Start where you are and grow from there.
Not enough payoff. The point of learning to play the guitar is to play songs. With three or four chords — or even just two — you should be able to play actual songs. You should have gone home from your very first lesson with a song you are excited to play.
It’s important to see the end in the beginning, and then take as direct a route as possible to where you want to be. It may be hard work to get there, but paying your dues is not necessary.
Intimidation. Lots of guitar teachers like to show off. If your guitar teacher is otherwise good at their job, ignore this display. What your teacher can do after years of practice is no reflection on your ability.
That said, if you are working with a mentor who’s constantly making things about them, that’s a sign of their immaturity and may limit your progress.
It hurts. Yes, playing the guitar hurts. But the body is very responsive. You will quickly develop calluses that make it much easier to finger the chords.
In order to go through this process more quickly, you’ll want to compress significant effort into a short period of time. Instead of practicing 20 minutes a day for six weeks, practice two hours a day for one week (breaking that two hours into short sessions over the course of the day).
It’s the same amount of time, but distributing it differently will have a massive impact.
Chord switching. In order to switch chords more quickly, try my metronome technique. Basically, we’re expanding the gap between the chords to four seconds instead of a fraction of a second, and then closing that gap in tiny increments in each practice session.
Approaching a problem systematically instead of by just “trying harder” can dramatically improve results.
Strumming problems. Too often, strumming taught too early, before the chords are fully formed. A better approach is to leave the strum out of a song and play each chord in the sequence once, making sure it rings out cleanly. In the meantime, practice the strum along with a recording of the song you’re learning, gently muting the strings with your left hand so that all you hear is the percussive “scritch scratch” sound of the pick. As your chord switching gets faster, you’ll be able to put the hands together.
You don’t have to do everything at once. Strategically breaking things down makes each part stronger, which in turn improves the finished product.
It doesn’t sound good. Usually, an awkward, unprofessional sound is the result of tension. Tension comes from trying too hard, which in turn comes from taking on too much. Break each piece down into its component parts and eliminate the tension from every note you play.
Anyone can have a professional presentation if they’re keeping things simple enough.
Barre chords. Having overcome previous obstacles, this new one can be brutally discouraging. It feels like a slap in the face to have come so far and sound so terrible again.
To get through this setback, remember how far you’ve come. Once upon a time, open chords seemed impossible — now you’ve mastered those. You can work through the challenge of barre chords just the way you worked through the other challenges. Give yourself permission to sound terrible in the meantime — it’s normal!
No matter where you’re stuck, whether it’s in the realm of guitar or child-rearing or business or math, there’s probably someone else who has been there and figured out how to work through it. Help is out there, and the solutions may be easier than you think.
