How To Stay Motivated On Guitar

Perhaps the first thing to address is the fact that this is all part of being a musician (and indeed a human being!). Life, in general, gives you good days and bad. You will naturally have times of pure, unstoppable determination for playing and practise, verses downwards ‘funks’ where your focus wanes. Learn to see this as part of the journey - a little like hitting inevitable patches of turbulence - it happens, and you know more smooth flying is not too far away.

Try to sort the things you learn into these two separate camps; the challenges represent areas in which you need to work with absolute focus before they sound good. These challenges could be certain techniques, concepts or that really hard song you’ve been sweating over. The fun stuff is just that - songs, riffs .. anything which doesn’t singularly only serve to grow your skills as a player (although everything you play contributes to this).

The point of doing this is simple - when you are feeling driven, with your best guitar game face on; go for the challenges. Your focus and enthusiasm is there, so make use of it! Equally, when things feel a little dry; pick up the acoustic and learn a fun song or reconnect with your favourite childhood riffs etc.

One of the chief causes of motivational down points for most guitarists is that cycle of playing the same old stuff every time we sit down to practise. This can lead to the feeling that playing is becoming a chore, and with no measurable results.

When things stagnate a little, aim for something new every time you pick up your axe. Compile a list of songs, lessons … in fact anything you want to achieve, and try to tick something off the list with each guitar session. You‘ll soon regain that forwards momentum and see the rewards of achieving new goals every day.

Be adventurous and curious with new guitar material! As we discussed in previous blogs, there are huge benefits to stepping outside your comfort zone - learn a different style, listen to a new genre of music, challenge yourself with a totally different guitar skill. Talk to any professional guitarist and you’ll discover that the majority harbour some pretty ‘out there guitar interests’; you‘d be amazed at the number of big name metal and rock players who dabble in Jazz & Country!

As a natural part of improving any skill, it is our human nature to focus upon our weaknesses, often at the cost of giving ourselves due credit for areas in which we are making real progress.

As an exercise - try to think of 2-3 of your playing strong points each week. This could be parts of your playing which others have commented on, or simply things which you feel you do well. Start to view ‘that lick you always play’ as a strength and not a sticking point!

Climbing ‘guitar mountain’ can often seem a little overwhelming. But, it is important to remind yourself that you can’t learn everything all at once. There is a long game at play here, but along side this, it is helpful to set short tasks for yourself. This keeps things fun and challenging! For example - you might set a target to learn a particular song, and be able to play it with a backing track from start to finish; giving yourself 1 week to master it. The sense of achievement you’ll gain from this will feedback into the reward side of your brain and you will want another challenge! Alternatively, you can look to the mid term; setting yourself a playing goal for the guitar player you want to be in 6 months or a year.

One sure fire way to confirm that you are not alone in your quest to stay motivated, is to talk to other like minded players. You will soon find that they all share a very similar learning experience to you, and will often readily offer support.

Watching and listening to other players is the perfect way to stoke the coals in your guitar fire. However, if you do this during a down point in your motivation, then you can soon feel that all too familiar pressure to match their abilities. Instead, try to focus on a single area of their playing which you like - it could be anything from their vibrato to the way they hold their pick. Then set this as your point of inspiration. This helps redirect your thinking from ‘I could never do that!’ to something more like ‘I could play that with a little more practise’.

Remember; the peaks & troughs are what make your guitar journey interesting. Don’t focus on mastering everything immediately, enjoy the process and celebrate the victories as you go!