Originally Posted by: riffer_tx

As a former Guitar Teacher The most important thing I tried to teach my students was Playing the guitar is not a competition. You are not competing with other guitar players. You are learning to play like you. The skills you learn at first are building blocks to help you develop over time. Some take to it faster than others but with practice and time you can learn to be a musician. You have to ask yourself why do you want to learn to play an instrument? If it is to show off then stop and realize you can train a monkey to impress a crowd with a few tricks. Real music is made from what is inside you. Just keep playing and one day you will realize you are getting better.

Riffer is absolutely correct here. I just wanted to chime in because I used to feel this way about guitar playing, too. And honestly, I felt like I was never going to be as good as the other guy or gal at Guitar Center, just killing it sounding like Van Halen or something. I'd turn my practice amp down at the shop because I didn't want others to hear my awful playing!

It is never too late to learn something, whether it's guitar or otherwise. Everybody learns at their own pace, everybody prefers a certain style of music over others, etc.

Don't be discouraged if you feel like you're not making progress. You're making progress every time you pick up the instrument, every time you at least try, you're getting a little better. And that's cool.

We're all here to learn something pretty fun, and we have to remember that playing music is about having a good time and making folks smile.

I hope you all keep at it.

Happy guitar playing!

- Billy