Writing down a list of pitfalls facing the beginning guitar student one could say that most of them, if not all, could be lumped into a single category: Impatience. Perhaps this is a bit of my trying to lump a lot of stuff into a small and neat package. Impatience, however it might be disguised, is at the root of a lot of frustration, for guitarists and many other people as well.
Think about it. In our brains, we can easily understand that, having picked up the guitar all of a week, month or year ago, we’re certainly not in the league of our favorite guitar idol. And, again in our brains, we pretty much know that couldn’t be otherwise.
But time after time we curse ourselves for not being as good as we could be. Of course, the “good as we could be” is often not rooted in much reality. This has been discussed in numerous articles in the past, such as If I Only Had.... Perhaps the whole concept of learning as a process, and a process to be treasured at that, is in danger of being lost.
That is the real problem: that our desire to be perfect, and instantly perfect at that. It steals the joys and pleasures of learning.
This is one of the main reasons that many people teach. Most teachers know that more than ninety-nine percent of their students are not going to become professional guitarists. Whether or not this is true, the intention is that one hundred percent of them are going to be able to enjoy making whatever music pleases each of them.
It’s been said millions of times before, music is not a competition. Making it so tends to bring about the frustration that most musicians feel and that frustration usually revolves around one’s impatience with the learning process.
You’re going to be playing music for the rest of your life. Take the time to enjoy and savor each moment of the trip. It'll make you happier and, believe it or not, it will make you work harder at getting better. That’s what life’s all about.
Take a look at Jamie Andreas' stuff on Guitar Noise. She's got some good theories for practice and I know she plays classical style. She had a nice article about feeling stuck in a certain place in developing your guitar skills, and how to get around that. It's on Guitar Noise; the link: Thinking: What a Concept!
The guitar is the master, not you!