Originally Posted by: tom.g.cuff

Hi all,

I'm wondering how many other users/players get very frustrated at themselves when unable to play something new...

This happens to me constantly, which could be due to the fact that I'm still pretty new to guitar. However, whenever I make even the slightest mistake while playing it really gets to me; this may sound really dumb to a lot of the people reading this.

But I am genuienly interested to know how many others experience this, if for no other reason than to make me feel a little less alienated lol.

Thanks all.

Most people have heard the aphorism that 'perfection is the enemy of good' (as quoted by Voltaire) but I prefer in this application, the Winston Churchill version; Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Because you did not perform perfectly, you've stopped progressing to lament your supposed failure.

Think of it this way; did you actually fail to move the mountain of gravel because a few pebbles and rocks were left behind. No.

A friend I used to work with thought that way. That moving the proverbial mountain was way less important than the final perfection. Don't get me wrong, doing an excellent job and striving for perfection is a good goal and motivator. The friend and the job I mentioned did not require perfect. Someone else was responsible for the 'perfection'. I'd tell this person that don't mark a failure when you've acheived 99% of the goal and your job wasn't to achieve 100%.

Apply that here and particularly because you don't need perfect and like most of us, will never achieve perfection.

I've told many here that when I started playing in the early 80's the second song I learned was Led Zep- Black Dog. Wanna know something? I still don't play it perfectly, Jimmy Page doesn't either when he plays live (he plays nothing prefectly live!).

The trick is to know the difference between an periodic 'oops' versus a skill deficit in your playing. If you generally play something well but ocassionally have an 'oops', no biggie. If you notice that you can never get something down, then you have a skill you need to focus on.

It's that last part tht differentiates how you oriented your thinking on perfection when playing.

You will never play perfectly. Nobody does. Not even the legends..they just know how to roll through it. However, if you do something well but once in a while, mess it up; no problem. Just let it roll.