The Fastest Way NOT To Get Better At Guitar

By: Matt Coffman

There are many ways to get better at playing the guitar.

• You can practice more effectively for greater lengths of time
• You can attend the performances of extraordinary guitarists
• You can find the right teacher to guide you forward
• You can read books and blogs or watch DVDs or YouTube guitar videos

There are, of course, many other ways you can go about improving at the guitar.

There are also many ways NOT to get better at the guitar.

But there is one way in particular that is better than all others when it comes to NOT getting better.

And here it is:

The number one fastest way not to get better at the guitar is: listen to your inner demons and indulge your inner resistance.

Steven Pressfield made resistance a popular topic of conversation thanks to his book The War of Art. It’s a great read and highly applicable to any evolving guitarist, so definitely check it out.

For our purposes though, we need to figure out how to contend with and, ultimately, vanquish the demons that rise up in our process of learning to play the guitar.

The number of would-be guitarists who fall to resistance is legion. We don’t want to become someone who “used” to play the guitar.

To that end, let’s take a closer look at how resistance works when it comes to playing the guitar.

Carvin Model Guitar

Resistance Fluctuates But Everyone Has It

I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t have resistance in some form, at least sometimes.

Some of my guitar students fight their demons every single step of the way.

Others generally exhibit confident forward motion without too much of an internal fight. But then, all of a sudden, they’ll come to me in the throes of a bout of resistance.

I’ve gone through plenty of resistance myself, which is one of the reasons I feel qualified to write about it.

So here’s what I want to tell you about resistance: it’s natural.

It’s normal to feel frustrated or dejected or downright depressed about your prospects on the guitar.

The question is: what are you going to do about it?

Resistance manifests as a number of different symptoms. Do you recognize any of these?

• Trouble practicing regularly
• Feeling hopeless, frustrated, angry or any other negative feeling about your process of learning to play the guitar
• Speaking aloud negatively about your ability to learn to play the guitar
• Procrastination around your guitar practicing and playing
• Feeling a simultaneous urge to learn how to play the guitar and a sinking despair that you’re not really able to become a good guitarist

This is by no means an exhaustive list of how Resistance manifests in our relationship with the guitar.

For many people, these sorts of difficult experiences completely derail their attempts to learn to play the guitar.

I don’t want you to be numbered in that group.

So let’s get serious about resistance as a primary force that opposes our efforts to become the best guitar players possible.

Welcome to Your Guitar Enemy

The number one way to slow down or even halt your progress on the guitar is to treat resistance like it’s no big deal.

Just allow it to run roughshod over you every time you sit down to play the guitar.

There’s a reason Pressfield titled his book The WAR of Art. And that’s because, ultimately, you are at war with the resistance that would have you give up and remain silent instead of filling the world with your music.

I’m not particularly bellicose, and I don’t really support war in any form, but it’s important to call a spade a spade. Your Inner Resistance will absolutely destroy your guitar progress if you let it.

So, what to do? How to combat Resistance?

First off, learn to recognize it. Respect its power. See it for what it is.

This can be very difficult. It seems as if our statements about the hopelessness of our efforts on the guitar are simply statements of fact—I’m just not meant to be a guitarist. This is too hard. I’m not a natural-born guitar talent.

That is all hogwash, but it doesn’t help to have someone outside of yourself tell you that. YOU have to believe it.

It may be hard at first to believe the opposite of what the resistance would have you believe, but you can at least discount every last tricky fear and doubt the resistance inserts into your mind.

Fight to believe in your guitar abilities. Know that there is a reason you felt compelled to pick up a six-string and learn how to strum.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

You can’t ever completely eradicate the resistance.

That’s the bad news.

But the good news is: you can develop continually to such a degree that your music will begin to serve as the most powerful proof of the false nature of the resistance’s wily criticisms.

At some point in your playing, you will reach a point where you know for certain that you can keep on developing in your playing no matter what for as long as you live.

At this point, the resistance doesn’t have any more new tricks to use on you. You see it clearly enough that it can no longer grab a hold of you and slow you down.

If you are still susceptible to those inner demons I’m calling resistance, just know that it isn’t going to be hard forever. If you keep at it in the right way, you WILL be able to play the guitar as well as you would like to be able to—providing, ever and always, that you’re willing to pay the price in terms of time, effort and focus over an extended period of years.

At the very least, I hope by now you realize that the resistance is within you, and indulging it is by far the fastest way NOT to get better at the guitar.

Vanquish the resistance and share your musical gifts with the world.