How To Become An Incredible Guitar Player - Part 2 – Three Reasons Why You Haven’t Become A Great Musician

How To Become An Incredible Guitar Player - Part 2 – Three Reasons Why You Haven’t Become A Great Musician

by Tom Hess

What’s stopping you from being a great guitarist? Do you have undeveloped playing technique? Poor musical creativity? Didn’t begin with lots of natural ability? Not young enough and past your prime? Practicing sessions aren’t improving your skills fast enough? In reality, it is none of these things. These are all symptoms of a much larger and deeper root problem.

In part 1 of this column I explained the primary factor that determines if you will achieve your musical goals. Now you are going to learn the three main things that prevent most guitar players from ever truly becoming great.

Reason #1: You’re Making The Wrong Decisions

Any decision you make sets a course for what your future will be. Tons of people allow their circumstances to keep them from getting what they truly want. Know that your circumstances are never a good reason for not doing what needs to be done to move forward. Your life is created through from your decisions, not your circumstances. I frequently hear guitar players saying things like this:

“I got a late start playing guitar”

“No one got me a guitar when I was young”

“I didn’t have a guitar teacher”

“I can only practice for half an hour every day”

“I can’t afford to pay for guitar lessons”

“I’m not sure how to practice guitar”

“I can’t find the right guitar teacher”

“My work leaves me without energy to practice guitar”

“I have a family, so I have no time to practice guitar”

You know what? These people are not going to become incredible guitarists because they gave into their circumstances. You can do so much better than this. YOU have complete control over your circumstances... don’t let them have control over you. From now on, only make choices that push you further down the path of reaching your guitar playing goals, rather than excusing your failure to do so. Do whatever needs to get done to become an amazing guitar player – no exceptions!

Reason #2: You Fill Your Head With Excuses For Why You Can’t Become Great

Let’s examine what excuses actually are. Contrary to what you might think at first - Excuses are not simply reasons to not do something. At a deeper level, excuses are thoughts that help you avoid the things you are afraid of most. You can quickly see this by asking yourself “What am I avoiding here” whenever you make an excuse not to do something. Now, contemplate how your life would change if you decided to never use excuses ever again. So instead of saying to yourself, “I can’t work on practicing guitar due to limited time”, you could make guitar practice the most important activity over anything else or find new ways to practice away from your instrument. Instead of making the excuses that you don’t “have enough talent” to become great, focus on your nearly infinite potential to become a better musician.

The only one holding you back is yourself. Here’s is how to combat your urge to make excuses:

1. Think about all the excuses you’ve been making for yourself. You might be creating excuses that hold you back without even knowing it. It’s not always easy to see, but you can quickly pinpoint them by putting together a file with all the thoughts that seem to be stopping you from taking action to become a better guitarist. Think about whether these thoughts are actually based on good reasons or are simply excuses? – Fact is, most will be excuses.

2. Avoid excuses at all cost by using these tactics:

-Surround yourself with people who have empowering mindsets and can help hold you accountable when you make excuses

-Remembering that each time you give into excuses, you move away from your dreams of becoming a great guitarist

-Think of your excuses like a bad habit that needs to be dropped

To make this process much easier, begin working with a great guitar teacher who knows how to spot excuses and will help you overcome them.

Reason #3: Your Mindset Is All Wrong

You can only be as successful as your mindset allows. If you want to become truly great at guitar, you must demand greatness from yourself! The world’s best guitarists all have a mindset for greatness. You might think: “Of course. They’ve already achieved great things, it’s easy for them to think with a mindset for greatness.”

WRONG!

You’ve got it all wrong. Their mindset was the fundamental building block of the success that they achieved! For these incredible musicians to reach the high level of guitar playing virtuosity that they did, they started by avoiding excuses, making success-oriented decisions and implementing a strong mindset that gave them the ability to accomplish great things. To do the same, accept only greatness in everything you do. This is how all the greatest achievers have thought before they become massively successful in their respective fields. So begin altering your mindset by:

-Replacing all your negative thoughts will powerful ones that will lead you where you want to go

-Re-framing your belief from “I can’t transform myself into a great guitar player” to “I CHOOSE to become a highly skilled guitar player”.

My Personal Mission: It is my mission to turn every student of mine into a true CHAMPION!

I expect and demand massive success for each and every guitar student I train, teach and mentor. Every student of mine and YOU have the potential to:

-Become an amazing guitar player

-Become a massive successful professional musician

-Earn a great living teaching guitar

An excellent guitar teacher (or music business professional) will not bother spending time with you if you constantly make excuses or have the wrong mindset. He may work with you once. However, once they notice that you have a limiting mindset, they will cease working with you any further.

Excuses are your limitations (they are not descriptions of them)! Don’t pay attention to the thoughts in your mind that say you can’t do, have or achieve something you truly desire. Only accept thoughts that say you WILL become an incredible guitarist…and you will be on the right path to playing guitar like you’ve always wanted.

To quickly achieve your musical goals, learn how to find the best guitar teacher who will help you become a truly amazing guitarist.