The Beginning Guitarist Handbook

Motivational Etude

Now that you have been assigned your first assignment or challenge I want you to take a step back and objectively critique yourself on how you did. Did you understand or already know most of the information in the previous chapter(s)? Did you pick up 'Let it Be' quickly and easily? Lastly and more importantly - is this all you did?

I want to paint a picture for you and maybe offer a perspective you need or should hear.

Practicing music can be tedious, yes, but practice time should always be a sanctuary for you, the guitarist/musician. Please don't ever feel bad about your playing, even if you are running into serious problems. Besides a physical injury - a guitarist's worst enemies are depression stemming from jealousy/self worth or lack of motivation/discipline.

Now I'm not a doctor so giving advice on depression may be beyond my pay grade but I know discipline, especially in the practice room. This [discipline] is the most important muscle for a musician and it's something we have direct control over and can continue to work on.

I am what people consider a 'late bloomer' for taking up a career in music or at least giving it my shot. I picked up the instrument seriously roughly 5 years before the date I am publishing this chapter [2019].

Music taught me how to organize myself, discipline my mind/body, and how to actually learn new material. I know these are some grandiose claims, but they are true nonetheless. I learned the hard way being an adult stepping into the music industry with no prior connections or safety net.

I was not your typical person that excels in guitar right away that has phenomenal music instincts. I had horrible time, hand eye coordination, and my attention span was limited at best.

I'm telling you if I can learn and get to the point where people are paying me to play music - you can too. If your goal is to just play for yourself or your friends/family that is one hundred percent possible too.

Everyone's journey is going to be different of course but we all must learn how to practice and how our musical mind works. While this book/course is not by any means a one stop shop - I hope you get to where you want to be musically or at the least, improve on your instrument.

Do not loose sight of your goals on this path. Some aspects of playing become extremely addicting to do once you hit a certain level of proficiency on the guitar - it's important to embrace those good feelings but not to stay in that 'garden' for lack of a better term. Constantly push yourself - and eventually practicing will become the golden hour of the day and turn into something truly beautiful.

If all you did for practice was just the material I gave out in the previous chapter - I would urge you to go above & beyond by practicing things you want to practice. Go learn a song you want to learn, look up some scales, play with a metronome for awhile... or perhaps even finish the next few chapters in this book with the worksheets/tests. I want to stress that all of the most successful musicians I know all have this inherit sense to constantly improve in their craft. Push yourself, and feel good about doing so. We will review in later chapters some of the dangers that come with obsession, but for now it's good to get obsessed and completely immersed in music.

*I want to take this time and say thank you to the community here on WattPad. In under a week I am already at #32 in guitar and I couldn't be happier. I hope you guys enjoy the material that is coming out over the course of 2019.*

In our next chapter(s) we will be covering more beginner music theory around major scales, and chords laying in the key of C. We will also be covering practicing concepts and building our first routine.