The 5 Most Common False Beliefs That Stop You From Learning To Play Guitar

There exists many false beliefs in many people who do not yet play guitar which stops them from ever starting. These beliefs are not only false, these are extremely damaging and if you have any of these beliefs, you will either never begin your journey to playing guitar or you will be severely held back in your progress.

Most people stand in their own way, and this is the exact reason why people do not play the guitar. The fact is, if you have your hands and you have any form of intelligence, you can learn to play the guitar. But people still stop themselves by telling themselves all kinds of irrational things. The top 5 false beliefs are:

1. You must start really young to have a chance at playing guitar

Listen, it is true that there are advantages of starting younger. But there are also disadvantages! Equally you have some advantages starting as an adult also, for example a lot of the technical and physical aspects of playing guitar you can handle.

The same cannot be said for a 7 year child who is not even big enough to get a full size guitar yet. Guitar is a learned skill, whether you start as a child or as a 50 year old man, it is irrelevant.

2. You must have really long fingers/big hands to play guitar

I have proof that this is totally not true. Because I play guitar and I have really small fingers and hands. My fingers are shorter than most peoples but that does not stop me from playing guitar well. This belief often comes up whenever they see guitarists like Jimi Hendrix who had quite long fingers and big hands or Paul Gilbert who has a pinky that is longer than his other fingers.

But however many people you can name who has big hands or long fingers, I can name people who had small hands and short fingers (me being one of them). So regardless of what kind of hands or fingers genetics gave you, you can learn to play guitar.

3. You must have natural talent to play guitar. You either have it or you don’t.

This myth stems from the fact that there have been musicians that were supposed to have natural talent like Mozart and people like that. Yes, it is possible that people are born with a natural talent in something in music. But is it possible that someone is born with natural talent in every single skill in music?

No, it isn’t. Chopin was a natural at improvising but not a natural at songwriting. Some of his better pieces were improvised. The same cannot be said for Mozart who was a better songwriter but not a better improviser. No one is a natural at every single skill needed to be a musician. There are way more musicians around who have no natural talent than those that do. Those who you may think have natural talent struggled once. So does everyone. This means that you absolutely can be a musician and you do not need to be born with prodigy like skills.

4. You must practice for 8 hours a day to become great. I do not have that much time.

Neither do most people who play guitar. Including those who start really young and those who are famous. This is the biggest myth ever. And next time you read about a famous guitarist who supposedly practiced for 8-10 hours a day, realise that it is a magazine and they say that for the audience, but that does not mean it is true.

Do not believe everything you read or hear. I did not always practice for 8 hours a week even and I became a great guitar player and so have many people. If you practiced 30-45 minutes a day or even 10-20 minutes consistently every day you can learn to play guitar well.

5. I don’t have an ear for music.

Everyone has music flowing through them whether they realise it or not. You just do not know how to express it on the guitar yet. Why? Because you have not developed the skills needed to do this yet. Notice I said “developed the skills” not “born with the skills”. I said that because the vast majority of musicians, even those on the highest levels are made, not born. Any that are born, are born with talent in one or two areas at the most. No one is born with everything. With the right training, coaching and mentoring you can and will be able to play what you want on the guitar effortlessly.

Any issues you have with your mindset are almost certainly false. You must realise that they are not true and take the action that you know you want to take which is to start playing the guitar the way you want to. And if you see other people who tried and failed it is either because they did not have a great teacher, and/or because they had false beliefs which stopped them from getting anywhere. Don’t let that happen to you.

About the author: Jake Willmot is a passionate guitar teacher who likes to have fun with playing metal songs and loves to occasionally have a day out to the beach. If you are looking for a guitar instructor in Devon, Exmouth then you need to contact Jake Willmot.