Paris by macadam13, CC0 Public Domain
If you're a regular reader of this blog, then you'll know by now that I'm not a fan of the word "good." Why? It's a judgement. Judgements require an immense amount of energy to maintain. I personally feel that judgements get in the way of learning guitar. To me, the process of becoming familiar with how to play guitar is far more important than becoming good.
That said, I think it's fair to address your question of how long it will take to be good at guitar. There's no point in you doing this unless you have an end point to shoot for. If your end goal isn't defined, if you can't define what "good" is, how will you know when you're there? Let's throw some ideas around.
Read MoreMan, back view, guitar by dafni_19870, CC0 Public Domain
What exactly do judgements do for us? Motivate us to do "better" next time? Inspire us not to fail? To help us work harder at not-sucking at guitar?
I'm not convinced that tethering ourselves to judgements is the best pressure we need to learn guitar.
The problem with judgements like "good" or "bad" is that they require us to be more mentally active than we need to be. It's like having to think about every single muscle that we need to walk around without trusting our legs to do the job for us.
Read MoreCarlos Montoya sitting on floor with four guitars by Walter Albertin, Public domain
Do you like to be judged on how well you do on your hobbies? Do you like to be graded on things you do to pass the time? If you’re like most people, the answer is no.
Then, why do so many beginners make the mistake of making extremely judgemental guitar goals for themselves? Why do so many of them want to "be good at guitar?" That won't end well.
No doubt, ridding ourselves of judgements is paramount to making guitar more fun in the long run. Lucky for you, the rest of this post will help you get rid of them forever. Let's kill it judgements altogether.
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