You MUST overcome this challenge before anything else…

Okay… let’s be honest with each other and ourselves.  There is one problem that, at one point or another, has blocked the progress of every guitarist that has ever tried to pursue higher levels of playing.  No matter what anyone says, this problem has affected every guitarist from the bedroom to the greats who have made their way to the international stage.  

This problem is even worse when a guitarist is unaware of it.  If you are suffering from it and you don’t realize it, you will likely be a victim of common illusions that guarantee you will never progress much further from where you are now.  These illusions come in the form of believing that you just don’t have what it takes, that better guitarists are simply more “talented,” that you just “can’t do” something, or even that your “inability” to play a certain technique is somehow a positive trait that makes you unique.  

I’m here to say that, in almost every case, none of those things are true.

So what is the greatest enemy of all guitarists?  What is this problem that has bogged down every guitarist at one point or another and may currently be keeping you from getting to where you want to go?  

As simple and cliché as it may sound, this problem is… (drum roll please)…

Procrastination.  

Wait!  

Before you skim to the end of this article, do yourself a favor and keep reading.  You might be surprised about what there is to say on the subject that you probably haven’t heard before.  It might be just what you’re looking for…

Let me start by telling you a little story.  

In the early days of my guitar playing, at around 13 years old, I had gotten it into my head that I just couldn’t play barre chords.  As ridiculous as it sounds, it even became something of a point of pride for me.  I had “tried” and found that my fingers just didn’t work that way.  In my mind, I rationalized that this was something that made me unique.  While I could play a variety of techniques, my fingers “just didn’t have the capability” of holding down all the strings at once.

 “But look at what else I can do!”  

I’m embarrassed to admit that I practically bragged about this point.  It wasn’t until one day that I met a kid a few years older who really put me in my place.  While I don’t remember exactly what he said, what I do remember is that he didn’t buy my rationalizations for a second.  He called me on the absurdity of my excuses and hammered it into my head that it’s something that simply takes work.  I had healthy hands and absolutely no excuses for not learning and perfecting barre technique.

A little ashamed of myself, I went home that night and practiced barre chords seriously – probably for the first time ever.  In a few days, I already had the basic form of the technique down.  I learned a number of valuable lessons that day.  

Where do these pitfalls come from?

A lot of guitarists, at some point or another, see guitar as being closely associated with their identity.  This, in itself, can lead to a number of problems. The most obvious is the danger of wanting to see ourselves as being better players than we actually are (or to come up with a story about why we aren’t better than we are).  

While it might be tempting to think that only teenagers are susceptible to this kind of thing, it can actually affect adults in unexpected ways.  This isn’t necessarily an ego thing either.  It seems to just be a byproduct of normal human psychology.  It’s mostly about how we deal with the feelings of wanting things we don’t have, what we’re willing to do to get them and how we manage things like expectations and disappointment.  A lot of this stuff just happens automatically when we aren’t aware of it – typically in ways we don’t expect. 

Practically none of this happens consciously.

Because barre chords didn’t “come naturally to me” as a kid, I came up with a story in my head about why that was a “good thing.”  In reality, I didn’t want to deal with the fact that it was going to take me real work to get it down.  I didn’t just put it off, I found a way to blow it off completely.  That way, I could feel satisfied with where I already was… 

Let me tell you though… there is no faster way to kill a dream.

If you have full use of your hands (and even if you don’t in many amazingly inspirational cases), if you can’t play a technique perfectly, there is only one reason why…

You haven’t practiced it enough yet.  

When you see a spectacular guitar performance or guitar video online, all you are seeing is the end result.  It’s natural to fall prey to the illusion that there is something special happening, some innate ability.  After all, when you try to play the same thing, you can’t.   However, the most important thing to remember is what you don’t see in that performance or video: all the hours of practice and hard work that were put into learning and mastering those techniques.  

The greatest guitarists who ever lived had to put serious time and effort into getting to where they got, so why wouldn’t you have to do the same?   

Now it’s true that some guitarists have myths about them claiming they never had to practice.  But how did they get to a point where people would actually believe those myths?  

You guessed it: years of intense, albeit secretive, practice.

So this leads us to the real problem…  

If those players were able to consistently put in the time and energy that lead to them being able to play so well… why haven’t you?  How did they overcome the rationalizations that lead to procrastination?  

Thankfully, the answer to that is pretty simple:

They found the proper motivation.  

They formed a powerful vision in their mind and strong enough reasons that allowed them to cut right through inertia.  Over time, they built new mental habits that favored practice over say… binge watching a TV show or scrolling through social media.  They made it rewarding for themselves in the short term and the long term, and it paid off in spades.  They learned to invest their spare time in themselves and discovered the incomparable feeling that brings at the end of each day.  

In short, they found ways to become addicted to practice.   

So is the secret to talent the ability to become passionate about practice itself?  
Probably.

Does that mean that you could do the same?  

Absolutely!

For some people, circumstances give them the perfect motivations and inspirations.  For others, true motivation takes a little bit of searching and reflection.  But everyone who is serious about progressing on the guitar needs to build the mental habits that keep them excited about practicing every day. 

So what can you do to overcome procrastination once and for all?

For starters, take a little time to think over what I talked about in this article.  See if you can find any little stories floating around your head that excuse yourself from practicing more often or pursuing the techniques or avenues that you really want to pursue. 

Stay tuned for next week’s article where I will detail a process that will eliminate the poisonous effects of procrastination from your practice routine and get you on the most effective path towards achieving your goals as a guitarist. 

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