“How long will it take until I feel happy playing the guitar?”
This is a common question I’m asked by students.
For a lot of people, they don’t actually start to enjoy playing the guitar until they develop an adequate grasp of the fundamentals.
For others, they don’t enjoy playing the guitar until they’ve developed an adequate grasp on more advanced concepts.
When I say “they don’t enjoy playing” I don’t mean they hate it, they just feel awkward and uncomfortable and feel they’d enjoy playing a lot more if they were better.
When ever I’m asked this question I tell the student this: “No matter how good you get, you’re always going to feel like you could be better.”
That feeling of not being as good as you’d like never really goes away, and that’s a good thing.
There’s always something to improve on and that’s what makes guitar playing exciting and keeps the hunger and drive to play alive and well.
The more you learn, the more you learn there’s more to learn.
Don’t compare yourself to players who’ve got over a decade worth of practice under their belt, instead compare yourself to where you were a few months ago.
Everyone started at the same place and if you keep at it you’ll get better, it’s as simple as that.
Try to find something to feel good about every time you play the guitar. The feeling of not being as good as you’d like isn’t really going to go anywhere so you may as well get comfortable with it.