With Great Determination: The Essentials

Okay so I’ve stated in a previous post, that someone who’s beginning to play an elecric guitar needs a decent guitar in order that she/he won’t be disappointed and forget about the guitar, let alone learning how to play it.

I was and am not saying, however,  that you need the best electric guitar out there.

You never “need” that to produce good music. You may want the best electric guitar, but you don’t need that.

All you need, if you really want to “learn” an electric guitar, same with any other things, is 1)a good instrument, and 2)you.

What’s that mean?

Having a fairly good guitar, coupled with full determination to learn it, is the best combination, ever.

Your time, effort and attention is needed.

The process of learning a guitar can start out as a hobby, but it does not have to end at that. Learning is endless. The more we learn, the more there is to learn. You can start by simply staring at your guitar for about less than a minute everyday for one week. But you don’t want to do the same thing the next week, or the next, or the next.

Improvement.

If you are serious is learning something, it is imperative that you realize that it could be hard. But hard as it may be, you have decided to learn, and thus, you are a hundred percent or more willing to learn, no matter how hard it could be, no matter how rocky the path may be.

Calluses.

I looked at my fingers, then realized, the calluses at the tip of my fingers - the left hand - have become so thick, really thick.

Now does that make sense?

For me it does.

These calluses made my fingers resist pain while playing my guitar. If I didn’t have these - as I did when I was beginning to learn a guitar - give me two minutes and I’d give up playing the instrument. It hurts like hell. I’d feel like some knife is cutting my fingertips, that’s how hard it’d hurt.

I experienced that. Seriously, it hurts.

But…

I wanted to learn a guitar, and I didn’t just want to learn it, I wanted to be good if not great at it.

So what happened?

I continued playing even if it hurts a lot.

Idiot?

Yeah I think I am, but I did that, and on my mind forged was this: “If I do this for just an hour or two today, tomorrow the pain’s gone. I’ll do this until calluses appear on my fingers. Then I won’t feel the pain anymore”.

And guess what?

I found out two things - one right, and one wrong - about what I was thinking.

Right: When calluses appeared my fingers hurt no more. Yay!

But, wrong: The pain of an hour or two’s guitar playing in one day is still there the next day.

So did I skip days?

Of course I did!

I didn’t wish for self-torture, plus I was just a kid!

Now how does that connect to you learning your guitar?

Calluses are similar to what you get when you overcome a certain problem, or a big trial, or a very unfortunate event. In the same way that calluses make guitarists stronger when it comes to resisting pain in their fingers, the lessons you learn from conquered problems or trials or unfortunate events, also make you stronger, better.

Calluses are like rewards.

But what do I have to endure to have this reward?

I assume you already know. If not, re-read my story above.

So, what did it take me to really learn a guitar?

I didn’t have a great guitar. In fact I just had a simple guitar(I started on an acoustic, and I hope you know how that differs from starting with an electric), but what I equipped myself was determination.

I was so determined to learn the instrument.

—–

Ask yourself these two questions.

1) What makes me want to learn a guitar?

2) Am I determined enough to learn a guitar?

If you’ve got good answers, then go on, continue(I’d help if you want me to), but if it took you an hour, and you’ve still got “maybe…” answers, then maybe it’s not yet the right time for you to learn a guitar, but don’t give it up yet. There’s a reason why you have that guitar, and you’re yet to figure that out.

Good luck!

Thank you for reading.

—- Question? Comments? Suggestions? Violent reactions?

Please leave a comment below so that I’d know what’s on your mind.

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