Most guitar students sincerely desire to learn their instrument. Countless persons, however, inhibit their own progress with useless fears and thought patterns which manifest themselves in a quick decline in both practice and confidence.

Usually people are not aware that this phase of development is nearly universal and can be anticipated and overcome through the use of prepared mental skills. Indeed, your attitude can be the key to success or the cause of failure.

Teachers continually encounter negative attitudes which can either hinder or end the student's musical development. These attitudes cluster under the general headings: fear, vulnerability, impatience, inefficiency, and negativity. Each successful artist experiences some of these problems personally as they move through the roles of aspiring musician, self-taught beginner, student teacher, and performer. Whether coached by another or by oneself, each person can cultivate skills to break through these psychological barriers to musical achievement. The ability to overcome mental and emotional obstacles that interfere with practice and performance is the most vital element in the successful musician's character.

The most common problem for would-be musician is the fear of failure, and the result of this attitude is failure. A small percentage - the top elite of successful performers, athletes and other strivers - use fear of failure (or fear of losing) as a motivational tool. However, the great mass of us accustomed to frequent or even just occasional failure, tend to avoid further embarrassment by refusing to participate. This is especially true of persons who ave developed a so-called "pattern of failure" and have not brought any project to a level of success. Some times they can be reasoned out of this negative attitude by stressing the logical contradiction between desire for success and non-participation.

For many, however, faith in oneself is an elusive feeling which must be cultivated slowly, and developed via the achievement of various small successes. In baby steps! Young people can sometimes learn to attribute previous failures to simple lack of maturity, forgive themselves and look to the future with firmer determination and a new self-image. We have noticed several young students who have used music as an escape hatch from early years of failure. Any devices which can be used to disassociate the present self-image from a past negative self-image will help to overcome basic lack of confidence.

Most people can be convinced that they, like anyone else, can attain a simple goal set by themselves. Fail-prone students tent to see the unlearned as an immensity, or even perhaps as an infinity which can never be mastered. A successful person sets small. easily attainable goals in the beginning, and in building up momentum, tries to keep each new goal reasonable though challenging. Using our logically set out, tried and tested program we try to give each guitar student an overview of the many areas they must explore. There are certainly many: chord mastery, music theory, accompaniment, fingerboard theory, technical development, finger picking, note-reading, solo practice, mental development, and so on. However, we do present each subject logically, as something definite- something positive that can be easily understood. Each a challenging area within certain goals can be set and attained, until the student can visualize the level of mastering that is possible with his or her personal skills.

Fear of not being the greatest is a certain type of fear which plagues many musicians. This is especially true of committed intermediate and advanced guitarists who are beginning to notice the pressures of competition.

Whereas fear of failure is peculiar to beginners, fear of not being the greatest is like the "seven year itch" of musicianship. There is the example of an extremely fine lead rock guitarist who gave up practicing because he became discouraged by his inability to play finger style like another fine player he knew. The competition between upper echelon musicians is intense, and an encounter between two proficient guitarists may result in loss of motivation in one or both of them. On this occasion the victim does not seem to recall the many times they gained confidence and energy from the admiration of inferior musicians or the general public. A very sensitive person in this position can lose ambition, regress, or even halt his or her own development, due to the anxiety caused by competition. It's important to accept a realistic image of yourself as a changing, growing musician; one who can attempt to learn from everyone, keeping in mind that there is always someone better (faster, louder etc)than you, but there is no one who can do exactly what you can do.

Mike Hayes
http://www.GuitarCoaching.com