Any teacher will tell you that teaching is a hard job. And many students will tell you that learning is also a hard job. In fact, the mantra “It’s hard…” is rapidly becoming the number one catch phrase with students. It’s almost as though simply saying “It’s hard” or “It’s confusing” is a free pass to moving on to something that’s not hard or confusing. Trouble is that in going this route, we’ve effectively taken our brain out of the learning process. And, pardon the pun, if you think about it, taking the brain out of learning doesn’t seem to be a very bright idea.

We spend out whole lives learning. Some lessons come very easily and become ingrained in our thought process. Four times six is twenty-four. Placing your hand on an open flame will burn it and will hurt a lot. The brain has this information down pat.

Other lessons are ongoing and might not have definitive outcomes. If I smile and say hello to someone, chances are good that I’ll get a smile and a hello in return. But it’s not one hundred percent certain. As far as this lesson goes, my brain is still working out an answer.

Learning how to play the guitar offers our brains no end of opportunity to learn. But, because it’s so easy, it’s tempting to want to just be shown something without going through any effort to dig out the information ourselves, even though the information is readily available. And it’s truly funny (in a sad kind of way) because we learn things a lot more complicated than music all through our lives. People can recite the lyrics of their favorite song but can’t tell you a G chord has the notes G, B and D in it.

A big part of learning is attitude. We dislike the word “work” and we want things to happen magically, totally forgetting that almost nothing comes that way. Again pardon the pun, but even eating and walking (not to mention reading and sitting at a computer) are things we had to take a single step at a time. Given the choice between commiting something to memory, no matter how simple it might be, or just asking the same question over and over again, many people choose the latter.

As a guitar teacher, I have a goal that seems self-destructive: I want my students to learn how to think so that, should they ever be in a situation where they have no teacher, they can still rely on their brains to get them to the point they want to reach. Oh yes, we need to work on the hands and the muscle memory and all that. But getting a student to realize that he or she has the capability to figure out a problem, almost any problem, has to also be a big part of the learning process.

So if all your learning is being spent on your hands, engage your brain for a minute and rethink things. If you’re not adverse to reading, you might want to take a look at an old column on Guitar Noise called If I Only Had… It’s a bit simple, but I think it gets the point across.

Peace

As David pointed out in his recent newsletter, it’s going to be Bastille Day again before we know it. Before we let things get that far, I want to share my warmest wishes for this holiday season. Over the past year it’s been my pleasure to correspond with many Guitar Noise users - by email, newsletter, the forums and now this blog. Best wishes to all my online and real world friends.

It’s my belief that this is generally a good time of year for musicians. Not only do most people get a short break from work and school, but there are often more chances to spend time with family and friends. Those who can’t get together with other musicians and jam, may at least get a little extra time with their guitars. It seems that there are always a few hours to kill on Christmas Day between opening presents and carving the turkey. Past experience suggests that Christmas and New Year’s are the two busiest days on Guitar Noise. Perhaps some of you will be logging in to wish your friends all the best.

While I sincerely hope that each of you has a great holiday, it’s also that time of year to remember that not everyone in the world is as lucky as most of us are. There are plenty of people and organizations out there that make being charitable fairly easy and straightforward.

Fans of YouTube guitar videos may already know about Justin Sandercoe and his website justinguitar.com. This Christmas, Justin and his girlfriend are traveling to Ghana to volunteer in an orphanage. They are paying the entire cost of the trip with their own money but have been accepting donations through Justin’s site. The money raised will be used to buy musical instruments for the kids. Justin wrote to tell me that they have collected enough money for the instruments, and with the leftover money the’ll be able to make a real difference in the village they’re staying in. Any extra money they collect is going to be used to build a new well, buy beds for the orphanage as well as new medical kits.

If you’re feeling good this holiday season, why not stop buy Justin’s site, check out some of the free guitar guitar videos, and read more about his plans to spend Christmas in Ghana.

Meeting a new student, or a new class full of students, is always a bit of a challenge. I want to make sure that we’re a good fit, and just like on a first date, there’s only so much you can know about each other after a few minutes. Taking up the guitar is adding another relationship to one’s life and, as we all know from experience, there are all sorts of different kinds of relationships. Even a single relationship, be it a friend, family member, loved one, roommate, workmate, playmate, bandmate or acquaintance, tends to go through a wild, wide spectrum of changes during the course of a lifetime.

Taking up the guitar is a relationship. Taking up with a guitar teacher makes it a three-way street. This adds an interesting dynamic and it’s (usually) up to the teacher to be the “wise” one of the group, taking the lead and guiding the student and the guitar through the often awkward first steps of getting to know each other.

So whether the student is five years old or seventy five, it’s important, to me at least, to give them one rule that should guide him or her throughout the entire relationship and this is:

Playing guitar is supposed to be fun.

Regardless of why one takes up the instrument (girls, prestige, artistic pursuits, pure competitiveness, wistful nostalgia), enjoyment of playing and enjoyment of music has to ultimately be the core reason if the relationship is going to continue. That may sound very simple and that’s for a good reason. It is simple. If you picked up the guitar because you want to impress someone (even if that someone is just yourself), if you took it up to meet girls, if you decided playing guitar might be your ticket to fame, if you simply want a way to unwind at the end of a day - these reasons will get you started. They might even carry you quite a ways. But ultimately they will run their course and something else will have to supply the motivating force behind your continued playing (and learning to play).

If you are playing for enjoyment, for the enjoyment of making music, you will never have a bad day. Even on those days when your fingers seem to be on holiday from playing, you’ll still have fun challenging yourself to come up with something halfway decent. And on the days when everything is clicking, when the timing and rhythm and picking and chord changing and riffs all seem to magically fall into place, you’ll be in heaven.

So have fun. And if you ever find yourself not having fun, take a break so you can ask yourself why. Quite often you’ll find that there’s something else going on. We all have lives, no? Take a little time to deal with your life and then you should find you’re back to having fun playing again.

And there’s more - by taking time for your own enjoyment, you might find that other people find you more enjoyable to be with. It’s kind of contagious that way.

Plus (and don’t stop me ’cause you’ve heard this one before…) - by sharing your enjoyment of music and playing with others, you will increase both your and their enjoyment a thousandfold. That’s some serious fun!

Peace

Whether you’re five or seventy-five, there is one factor that solely accounts for many people giving up on the guitar - frustration. And while this is not news or even mildly surprising, it is astonishing that in one’s lifelong adventure with the guitar the spectre of frustration often guides our actions or inactions.

Worse, a good part of the frustration is pure silliness. In our heads we know that the odds of sitting down and trying something for the first time and being so good at it it’s scary are slim to none. But that rarely stops someone from wondering, “Why can’t I play like (pick your favorite guitar idol and place him or her here)? I’ve been at this for all of two months now!” Laugh as much as you want, but I’m sure you’ve been there for a visit and you probably know countless people who are still living there.

But here’s a question few people ask themselves when learning: Why shouldn’t this be somewhat difficult, especially since I’ve spent (fill in the blank here) years of my life not playing guitar? If you’re starting guitar at forty, you’ve probably spent at least thirty-nine years of your life not playing. For those of you who like more of a perspective, that’s more than 98% of your life.

If you look at things in this manner, you’ll take all of the “young people learn quicker” out of the equation. Someone who’s starting at eighteen has spent more than seventeen and three-quarters years, 99% of his or her life, not playing guitar. It’s not about age or anything other than what you personally have to overcome. You’re trying to teach your hands, your fingers, all of you to do something that you’ve spent almost all of your life not doing.

But there’s good news, too. When I tell someone that I’ve been playing for thirty years, I’m truly lying through my teeth. Maybe I started playing guitar thirty years ago (okay, it was really thirty-three), but I certainly haven’t been playing all that time. With a lot of luck, not to mention a hazy memory and a wee bit of more lying, I might have put in about five to ten percent of that time playing. That’s how life is.

To play music, to enjoy making music, you have to be in it for the long haul. There will be days when you can’t think of a time in your life when you couldn’t be happier and days when you wonder why you even bother. That’s all part of the big picture.

And, again, this is something that you know in your head and in your heart. When you picked up the guitar you signed on for a trip, not a destination. If you’re only concerned about the end, you’ll never enjoy the trip. And learning should be a constant joy - just as much fun as playing and performing.

For more helpful tips on this subject, read the Guitar Columns A Question of Balance, Recharging Your Batteries, or any of the other many excellent articles on the Guitar Noise Practice Page.

You already know this, but it truly bears repeating - playing music, playing guitar, is a journey of a lifetime. Enjoy your trip. And be sure to write and post pictures!

Peace