It takes time for you to grow as a guitarist

Firstly, I do not want you to get the wrong idea.

I am not stating in this section that your guitar playing should grow slowly.

I’m simply stating that sometimes, it takes a little bit of time for things to grow properly and it takes a little bit of time for things to develop well!

So I am all for fast growth and I’m all for the idea of getting there as soon as possible.
However, it does take time for things to truly grow and truly expand.

If we think about a mother with a baby, it takes 40 weeks for the baby to mature in the womb before the baby comes out.

So there is a growth phase, there’s a phase where the baby grows and it is absolutely essential that you understand that in your own musicality, it will take time for things to grow.

For someone just starting to learn the guitar, it will take time to learn how to pick the strings accurately.

Whenever I coach a new guitar student and I often see him or her pick the wrong string, especially when a certain passage requires string skipping. (They may pick string 2 when they should have picked string 3 etc..)

Whenever I see this, I always think of this as wonderful.

This is someone learning how to play an instrument, someone growing and I expect mistakes.

I do not get upset with my student for making the mistake, I just realise that it’s part of the natural growth process and its part of what it takes to develop your guitar playing.

Rome wasn’t built in a day; success does not come in a day.

You have to put in the required effort to develop your playing!

You have to do whatever it takes for you to become a success and this will often require you to be willing to take time out to make things grow.

If we take the example of the farmer who patiently waits for his seeds to sprout, we realise that growth is an essential part of everyday life.

Yes, we can even see this wisdom in the food that we eat on a daily basis.

We often take for granted that eating a salad will consist of a number of vegetables that had to be grown in a number of regions over a long period of time.

We will not take into consideration that the food that we eat in minutes took years to get there for us to enjoy!

To enjoy a single glass of wine, years of hard work and intelligent planning took place.
From the wine picking day until the release of the wine to be sold takes 48 months! (According to Sandrone Luciano)

So, yes quality takes time!

In your music, you need to be willing to take whatever time is needed to make your playing
grow!

Just like a seed takes time to grow and sprout, just like that you need to give your guitar playing ample time.

It is, however, very important that you do not only give it time without effort.

If you do not practice a certain amount of hours per day, you can never hope to become a great guitarist.

The time you will dedicate to your practice will definitely change over time.

When you are just starting out, you may initially start with 15 to 20 minutes and later you could take that up to 45 minutes or even 60 minutes.

At a more advanced stage, you can even dedicate 2, 3 or 4 hours on a daily basis.

(Should you want to achieve virtuoso status, you will need to dedicate about 5 to 6 hours a day for a number of years!)

The time that you will dedicate will also change over time.

You will actually become more productive as time goes along.

You will become more dedicated as you achieve greater things in your music.

It is important that you understand that effort, multiplied by the amount of time that you
practice is what is going to make you great on your instrument.

So as you learn and as you practise, make sure that you give your practice time enough time to grow.

Just like seeds need to have water, just like that, you need to have the courage and strength to grow your musicality and you need to have the courage and strength to be willing to do whatever it takes to develop and to get there.

If you do that and you practice consistently and even increase your amount of weekly practice as you’re making progress, you will be pleasantly surprised – actually, you will be ecstatic at just what you can achieve.

But do keep in mind the example of the farmer with his land or even a business owner looking to grow!

When they have growth phases, they often invest over a number of years for things to grow and to develop.

They create a long-term plan that includes minute details to help them grow.

So buy out the time and learn how to do things properly and put in the time to become great.

It is vital that you do that because without putting in the time and the effort, you will not achieve what you have set out to achieve.

You simply have to be willing to invest your time, effort and resources to take your guitar playing to the next level!