Don't Give Up! Why is the Guitar so Hard to Play? – Guyker
One instrument stands above all others—the guitar. No other is as featured or worshipped in popular culture, no other is anywhere near as cool! That’s why you don’t see posters of pianos or drum kits on kids’ walls, even if they are pianists or drummers.
So, what is it about the guitar that has made it the cultural icon that it is? The shape, the ability to move around with it and strut your stuff, the sounds it can create—from gentle whispers to full-on roar, or even its underlying sexiness? Well, it’s a combination of all those things
Being more practical, it’s also down to its accessibility, portability, affordability, and the fact that it’s the heart of so many of the songs that we listen to every day.
So why did a recent survey by legendary guitar manufacturer Fender reveal that 90% of those learning the instrument abandon their six-string dreams within a year, the majority within 90 days!
Is the guitar more difficult to play than other instruments, especially in the early stages? Or is it a case of unreasonable expectations and inefficient learning methods? Let’s find out, starting with…

The Guitar Pain Barrier

Day one, you pick up a guitar and put it on your lap and position it so that it just about balances. It isn’t comfortable. If it’s an acoustic guitar, it’s bulky and a pain to get your arm around. If it’s electric, it’s heavy and awkward. Not a great start.
Now it’s time to play a note. This involves pushing one of your nice, soft fingers into a highly tense, thin length of metal that is pushing back against you. Ouch, that’s not nice, but you persevere, doing your best to ignore the pain as you press the string down.
Next, it’s time to pick a note. Wow, those strings are close together. Do they have to be that close? Which one is it? Ok, found it. I’ll pick down with this stupid plastic thing in my hand, but am I holding it correctly? No idea, anyway, pick down and… thud!
Where’s the note? Why am I just hearing a thud? I’ll try again… thud! OK, I’ll move my finger, that's a little better, but not much. Maybe I need to press harder? Ouch, that hurts even more, but at least I get a note. Do I always have to press that hard?
OK, chord time. What? I have to put more than one finger on these thin, sharp lengths of metal and press down on all of them at the same time? And make sure that I don’t place a finger that blocks an open string, and I have to strum smoothly and rhythmically? Seriously? Forget this!

Let’s now compare that to day one of learning to play a piano…

Sit comfortably on a nice stool in front of the instrument, and then use any finger to press any key and get a perfect note. Wow, that was easy. Let’s play a chord—position your hand like this and press down on three notes at the same time. Wow, sounds great!
Or on drums. Sit on a relatively comfortable drum stool, hold a stick, and hit the middle of the drum in front of you. Great, I love it. Now put your foot on that pedal thing by the bass drum and press down on it. Cool. Now, play foot, stick, foot, stick, and you’re away!
As you can clearly see, learning the guitar is a pain in the… fingers, wrists, arms, etc., especially in the early days. Since it’s so hard to make a note and even more so, a chord, sound good, it's very demoralizing. And getting through this early, painful stage doesn’t take hours; it can take as long as several weeks.
Everything you play sounds bad, and regardless of how hard you try, it still sounds bad. This is why so many learners lose motivation and give up.

But…

This only occurs during the very beginning stages of learning to play the instrument. Once your calluses develop and it doesn’t hurt when you push the strings down anymore (normally a few weeks), and you learn how and where to position your fingers to make the chords sound good (again, only a few weeks in most cases), it’s a smooth-ish ride from then on.
There will be further challenges, such as tough stretches, strange hand positions, and remembering all the chords, scales, songs, solos, etc., etc. But the worst part is most definitely over.

How to Learn to Play the Guitar? Where to get all the info you need

We live in a fantastic age of instantly accessible information on just about any subject. Whatever you want to learn, there is a YouTube video, a website, a blog, or a forum with all the info you could ever need. Excellent, that should make learning guitar a breeze. Well, yes and no, and it’s mainly no.
I’ll start with the Yes. Say you’ve been playing a good while, know you’re way around a guitar and can play a few dozen songs, including the riffs and the solos. You want to learn a song by Guns ‘n Roses, excellent, you find the TAB online, and off you go. Sounds good, but there’s something wrong with the chorus. You check out a few YouTube videos and find that the person who tabbed it made a mistake. No problem, you fix it, and you’re ready to rock.
But if you’re a beginner, it doesn’t usually go to plan. You’ve struggled to learn a few chords and a scale by teaching yourself from beginner videos. You think, excellent, let’s learn a song, I love Guns ‘n Roses. You go to the same site as the seasoned player and try and work through the TAB; it sounds terrible. You play it, but it doesn’t really sound like the song. Let’s try YouTube, you watch a few videos and realize that you’re playing it too slow, with no rhythm, and messing up a lot of the notes. You realize this guitar playing is a little more complex than you thought, and become demoralized and possibly give up.
The thing is, you are more than capable of playing the song you love, but not yet. Your skills haven’t developed enough to allow you to make it sound the way it should. But they will. You just need to learn simpler songs first, then, over time, you’ll get to your dream song.

How do I find the songs to learn in order?

That’s the problem, everyone is different, and we all like different types of music. I can’t list the 30 songs that every guitarist should learn in order to become a rock star, because if you hate all of them, you won’t progress.

That’s why you need to find a good teacher that you get on with musically, preferably for in-person lessons, or, if not, online lessons. I say ‘musically’, because they need to understand the music you love. If you’re a thrash metal freak, don’t get a jazz teacher; it won’t work. Find someone who understands what you like and can teach you songs, riffs, solos, etc, from bands that you like.

A teacher will also guide you on hand and finger positioning, how to hold a pick properly and use it efficiently, as well as every other aspect of your technique. Getting this right, especially in the early stages, will ensure that your guitar journey gets easier and more rewarding as you progress, not harder.

I know that teachers are expensive, but if it’s the difference between being in the 10% of people who continue to play for their lifetime, and the 90% who give up, it’s well worth the cost. The drop-off rates of my students, for example, are less than 1%.

But lessons are expensive, so if you’re looking for a more affordable option, get yourself a good book or a quality online course. Either way, make sure that it will take you from whatever stage you are currently at to a few stages further. Don’t buy books or courses covering a niche or songbooks; you need a structured course.
I’ll end with my…

Top Tips to make your Practicing Fun and Effective

  • Learning to play the guitar is not hard. Once you get through the painful early days, it’s just a case of consistently practicing things you can’t play until you can.
  • Practicing five days a week for a focused 20 minutes is better than once a week for an hour. Plus, you should only practice what you can’t already play. Going through a song you can play perfectly is not practicing and will not improve how you play.
  • Learn what you love listening to—songs, riffs, solos, by your favorite bands and artists. Theory, technique, etc. will follow.
  • Play along with recordings as much as you can. You can use YouTube, Spotify, or whatever you use to stream music. Playing along will improve your timing, knowledge of song structures, and ensure that you learn the entire song so that you’re ready to jam or join a band. Most importantly, it’s a lot more fun than playing alone.
  • Most songs involve a lot more rhythm playing than lead playing, so concentrate on becoming a great rhythm guitarist. Practice to a metronome, a drum machine, or along with the original recordings. A great rhythm player will never struggle to get into any band.
  • Don’t get demoralized when you watch your guitar heroes or the best YouTube teachers. They’ve been playing for a lot longer than you have, and they sounded exactly the same as you currently do, when they were at the same stage as you. Do you really think that Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, or your favorite guitar hero picked up a guitar on day one, and could play everything by day two? No, their fingertips hurt, they struggled with chords, and they messed up all the time, just like you, until they practiced and improved.
  • Every time you pick up the guitar, finish by playing something fun! It will make you want to come back for more.

Wrapping it Up!

So, there you have it, my in-depth look at why is the guitar so difficult to play and how to overcome them.

Hopefully you now have all the info you need to conquer the greatest of all instruments - in my opinion, but I am a little biased! Take everything one step at a time, practice five times a week for 20 minutes a day playing things that you CAN NOT play, then play for fun for as long as you like afterward.

The best of luck on your exciting journey and happy practicing!