Those immortal words from David Letterman really hit home for me when we think of it in terms of playing guitar. Why do we have to think of playing guitar as a competition? The answer is fairly simple in terms of human psychology. Human beings are naturally competitive. We live in a world of competition, from sports, to battling for career advancements. Competition can be very healthy in the right areas. Let me share with you a few short stories and maybe a bit of advice on why I don’t see a lot of benefits in the competitive aspect of learning guitar.

I have been playing guitar for over 25 years. I play strictly for my own enjoyment, but over my years of study, have learned some advanced tricks and techniques. Our house is filled with teenagers and all their friends in that age group to mid 20’s. It is a very active household, so much so that I was contemplating installing revolving doors due to heavy traffic of all of their friends. Many of these people are guitarists. On one particular night, I fell victim to competition.

I was in the next room watching TV when I heard an amp fire up. I do not know who was even in that room, but he was playing guitar. It was a style of playing that I hadn’t heard before. He was playing a song that I knew quite well. Certain parts, he was playing hot, but other parts, he was just butchering. Next thing I knew, I had my guitar in my lap and my amp was turned up just a little bit louder and I proceeded to let this kid hear how that song SHOULD be played. After I finished, I heard total silence. I won, right? I showed him a thing or two!!! Next sound I heard was the front door closing, as whoever it was just left.

Believe it or not, my intentions were good when I fired up my amp. I thought that when he heard that song played properly, that maybe we’d hook up afterwards and I could help him learn it the right way. All I did was slam the door on this person forever. I definitely used the wrong approach. I never saw him again.

Another time a similar situation occurred. I was in the living room with my wife when somebody started playing guitar. The sounds I heard were definitely “rough,” to put it in good terms. I looked over at my wife and she said to me, in a rather sarcastic tone “OK Steve, go get your guitar and show him up!” This got me really thinking. Am I really like that? Am I that competitive? I didn’t like what I was realizing.

Many of you may know if you’ve read my previous article titled “Humble Pie” that I had a similar situation happen to me. The guitarist that I played with could have humbled just about anybody, and he knew it. He didn’t have anything to gain by getting competitive and beating me into the ground. He had a much better approach to teaching than I did, and I’ve managed to learn a few things from him on that topic.

The first thing I should have done would be to go into that room, introduce myself and say something like…”Hey, you play pretty good….I like your technique. I also play that song and if you don’t mind, I’d like to show you the way I play it. Then, maybe we can work on it together.” This approach would have opened doors where a competitive approach can close the doors for good.

You have to remember that when somebody plays something for you, they are doing the BEST job that they can do!! Respect that. Most people that pick up a guitar and try to learn to play simply won’t make it. They get discouraged and move on to something easier. They will never get past the early stages in their learning and the absolute last thing that they need is to get squashed like a bug by a far more experienced guitarist. Severe competition can squelch future talent.

Compliment people on their accomplishments, break the ice, challenge them, then show them the way. This way it will allow you to play your best for them in a non-threatening way. It will give them a goal to shoot for (to be able to play as good as you). Then the door is wide open for you to teach them how to get where they want to go. Who knows, you might just pick up a trick or two from them too. I’ve picked up a lot of tricks from other guitarists, some were better than me, some were worse, but one thing is certain, you will pick up absolutely nothing if the door is closed.

One of the first things I did when I was just learning guitar was to seek out other guitarists that played and tried to get them to help me. I will always remember the first contact I made. I saw this guy play a song on stage and it just totally blew me away. I wanted nothing more than to learn to play that song. I almost forced this guy to hook up with me and show me this song. At the time, I maybe knew 3 chords. I was a total embarrassment of a guitar player. I did manage to set up a time to go over to his house and he did work with me. Of course, I couldn’t execute anything that he showed me at the time, but I took good notes. I wrote down everything he said. I worked diligently trying to learn that song and after a short time, I could play it at will. To this day, I still play that song, or at least part of it almost every time I practice. I will always remember how I got my start.

Somebody that was MILES above my skill level took the time to help me, didn’t try to blow me away, and gave me encouragement. Might be the only reason that I’m still playing today. Dave, if you ever read this…..THANK YOU!!

Somewhere along my travels, I remember a quote (although I do not remember who said it, or the exact verbiage), it goes something like this: The more people you can help to get what they want, the sooner you can have anything YOU want. I guess I’m a firm believer in “what comes around goes around.”

The whole point of this article is simply this: Don’t try to blow people out of the water. This is not a race. There is no prize for the fastest chops. I know that at times it can be fun to compete, or maybe even necessary if you’re fighting for a spot in a band or something, but most of the time, it’s just ego. Ego will slam more doors for you than it will open. If you really want to take your playing to the next level, try to get as many doors open for you as you can. Sometimes, there could be a hidden gem for you behind one of the doors you might open.

Things continued to move forward for me and I quickly outgrew my instructor. I had reached the point where I felt my skill level was equal to his and that he couldn’t teach me anything else. This is where I made my first mistake!

Rather than search for a more advanced instructor, I took matters into my own hands and decided to self-educate myself. Let me say to all of you reading this, that this is the long way to go about things. I should have looked for a higher quality instructor that could have made things a lot easier and quicker for me in the long run. I will explain why.

At first, the self-education process seemed to be going well. After all, I was playing the music that I wanted to play and I thought I was starting to sound pretty decent. I upgraded my equipment to an electric guitar and a nice amp with a few effects. Unfortunately, things unknowingly hit a peak for me. I was as far as I was going, but didn’t know it. My practice times grew shorter and shorter and my progress had all but stalled. I had nobody to challenge me and drive me forward.

Eventually, things got boring for me and I finally sold off my equipment and quit playing for a few years. My love for music eventually won me back over and I purchased a new guitar and a new amp and decided to dive back in. Before long, I was rocking like I had never taken any time off. I learned new songs and had a fire built under me that was burning hot.

I had the good fortune of meeting a very good lead guitarist who played in a huge local band in Indiana. His band sold out the house every night they played. We talked for a while and he agreed to come over to my house and play with me. I was so pumped up about this. I wanted to show off some of my stuff and try to learn whatever he could show me. What I got was nothing short of humiliating.

He got to my house, drug in his equipment, and set up. Once he fired up his amp and starting playing and, well, it blew me away!! He was WAY above my skill level and I knew it. After listening to him play for a few minutes, the songs I had planned to play for him suddenly became embarrassing. I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t even play. I just clammed up.

He started off with this little blues lead up and down the neck that just totally stunned me by his speed and accuracy. I mean, he was all over the place. Fast, and clean and never missed a note! He eventually talked me into playing some rhythm track for him. I got to pick the song. He didn’t know it. He watched me play the chords for about 2 minutes; then he determined the key that it was in. Without ever hearing the song I was playing, he told me to just repeat the chord progression that I was using, and he took the lead. Made it up on the fly! I’m telling you, his lead almost peeled the paint off of my walls. How could I play after listening to him?

Fortunately, this wonderful guitarist was also a wonderful educator. He sensed my discomfort and responded to it with praise. He got me to feel comfortable with my current abilities, but also focused on what I needed to work on. He gave me lessons in music theory, some cool stuff to play and some simple and fun stuff that I could learn on the spot and we could rock to.

He showed me the pentatonic scale. I had learned this scale a long time ago, but mostly forgotten it because I didn’t have much of a use for it. After running through this scale a few times, he showed me how I could use it to take a lead on almost any song I want to as long as you know what key you’re in. We discussed a little music theory on determining the proper key and then a challenge was issued. He laid down the rhythm track and told me to make up a lead. WHAT???!!!! I can’t do that! As it turns out, I COULD do that using what he had just showed me.

Of course the lead work I did was not going to make any hit CD anytime soon, but this was just a starting point for me. It took me over that hump and started me learning and advancing again. After he left, I found myself playing along with Clapton, and being able to make up a solo over top of the CD that I was playing along with and have it sound good!

The bottom line here is simple. He taught me more in 4 hours than I had learned on my own in probably 4 years! He realized what my current skill level was. He challenged me. He showed me how, and told me why I should do things. Perhaps a few people out there could have what it takes to self educate themselves, but I now know that I wasn’t one of them (even though I thought I was). We might not all be fortunate enough to meet a lead guitarist of a band that is willing to teach us, but one thing I took away from all of this is simple. Find a better instructor. They are out there, but don’t go it alone.

Guitar Noise is an excellent place to get great instruction. If you can’t make it to one of their workshops, then definitely find yourself a better local instructor to take you to the next level. If you can’t find a tutor, then play with every guitarist that you can that is better than you and try to learn as much as you can from them. I went from being embarrassed to play in front of good guitarists to “Bring it on!” I know you can too, but we all need instructors.

I hope this is helpful to most of us that are struggling out there. This is just the first tip of many that I have on how we can all….”Take it to the next Level.”

Enjoy.