By Nicholas Anderson
Give me a student who has zero natural talent but believes in himself and I will turn him into a great guitarist. Natural talent is not what it takes to become a great player. Natural talent may help some people, but it is certainly not the determining factor in whether or not someone is going to be great.
I knew someone in college who was a very talented musician. He grew up in a musical family and played music growing up. It seemed like he could pick up just about any instrument and play it with ease. He was a good musician.
But he was not a great musician.
Everyone knew he was good. Everyone also knew he was not great. And I knew he would never be great. He was a friend of mine. I knew he never practiced. I knew he watched great musicians and thought he could never be like them.
He was wrong.
He could have easily been a truly great, and I mean truly exceptional musician. But he made two huge mistakes.
- He told himself he could never be great.
- He was lazy and did not practice.
Contrast this with another person I knew. He was one of my student’s years ago. When he started taking lessons, I could tell he did not have a lot of natural ability. I do not know if his family was musical, but I suspect they were not. He had a very hard time with certain aspects of playing. But you know what he did? He did everything I told him to do…and he got a lot better. He conquered a lot of problems because he loved playing. He did not give up. He gave it his all and overcame his limitations and obstacles.
That is the kind of person you want to be. That is the kind of person I like to teach. The first person, the one which is talented but lazy, he is the kind of person who gets dismissed from lessons.
What is the difference between these two players? Yes, natural talent is one, but that is not the most important difference. The most critical difference is by far their mindset. The first guy I mentioned told himself he said he could never be a great musician. The guy I taught that had very little talent never talked like that. Never once can I recall him saying anything was too hard or that he would never get it. I remember him just persevering and telling himself he would get it. And you know, he did.
That’s the kind of mindset you need to be successful at guitar, or anything really. Don’t sell yourself short. Do not assume anything is too difficult, cannot be done, that you do not have talent or that something is too hard. I have seen a lot of people stick with guitar for a lot longer than the average person would and be rewarded for it.
The right mindset will give you the motivation to keep playing, even when you find yourself struggling with something. The right mindset will actually make learning easier and more enjoyable. The right mindset will keep you focused on what’s possible, not what is difficult. The right mindset is one of the primary differences between great musicians and average musicians.
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