Did you practice guitar today?

…On an A4 piece of paper or bigger write the following question; “Did you practice today?” Post this question in a place where you can’t miss it each day for a month. Perhaps on the fridge or bathroom mirror. Now after one month look at your practice log to see whether you have done more…

Do you trust your guitar teacher?

Ask yourself whether you completely trust your teacher. Are you willing to follow their plan? Do you practice exactly what they ask you to each week? Trust between you are your teacher is paramount. If you don’t trust your teacher’s plan speak up and tell them why so they have a chance to explain. If…

What age can children learn guitar?

Most people are surprised when I say children can start guitar from as you as young as 2 years old. In actual fact it really shouldn’t be surprising because many children learn instruments like violin from 2 years and most would agree that violin is equally if not more challenging than guitar. Children are smarter than we think …

Popular Guitar Songs

Here is a list of popular guitar songs you might want to learn. If you have any suggestions please add via a comment below. Thank you. Always with you always with me American pie American Woman Are you gonna go my way Back in Black Better be home soon Black Betty Black Magic Woman Blackbird…

“Who needs a guitar teacher when you’ve got Youtube?”

I recently spoke to a guy who said he was a self professed cynic when it came to guitar teachers. He claimed that there was nothing a guitar teacher could teach him that wasn’t somewhere on the Internet for free. He claimed anything and everything you would ever want to know about guitar is probably…

Predicting behaviour and how it affects guitar learning.

It turns out we are better at predicting the behaviour of other people than predicting our own behaviour. According to various experts when we see others we consider environmental influences but when we assess ourselves we don’t take the circumstances into account as much. We like to believe that the influences of others does not…

Why do so many people want to play guitar?

Today there seems to be a guitar phenomenon. Is there a more popular musical instrument in the world? Guitar is so popular that even the game Guitar Hero has out sold every other game on the shelf. They now have Air Guitar competitions and its serious business. Where are they coming from? Why do so…

Guitar is easy…

Many people have the false idea that guitar is difficult. I also felt the same when I first begun to learn. Guitar to me seemed impossible. I recall seeing Tommy Emmanuel and couldn’t believe that human fingers could move so quickly with such precision. But Tommy of course is no ordinary guitarist. Wanting to be…

The Guitar Player Mindset

Success on guitar has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with mindset. Mindset is perhaps the most important factor in success on guitar. As they say ‘You have to first BELIEVE to ACHIEVE. The typical beginner guitar student will QUIT!   The typical scenario goes like this. You get inspired, buy a…

“Sorry, but I didn’t have time to practice”

When students apologise to me for not practicing I usually respond by saying that there is no need to apologise or even feel guilty. I know their decision not to practice was not intentional and is really about their priorities. Students who struggle to find the time to practice generally just need to adjust their priorities. Now…

What’s your plan for learning guitar?

When it comes to learning a skill like guitar this is best achieved using a clear structured plan for a very simple reason. There are many different styles of music and of course many ways to play a guitar but the fundamentals are much the same. A clear structured plan is a way of learning…