Rating Yourself
How do you rate yourself as a guitar player and student? Most people have a tendency to undervalue their potential, abilities, and accomplishments. I often hear students say “I know I’m a slow learner, but…” or “Of course, I’ll never be able to do that…” If you have those kinds of thoughts, what is the basis for your opinion? Are you open to believing otherwise?
Self-rating rarely provides helpful information and it’s one of the most limiting things you can do in guitar playing. There really is no objective way to rate guitar playing and even if there were, the rating would constantly change as you practice, study, and grow as an individual. Placing yourself in a category is a distraction and undermines the fluidity of progress.
Why You’re Tempted to Do It
Most of us grew up learning in classrooms, where achievement was measured by grades and comparisons. Even in private music lessons, students are often required to participate in competitions. But while competitions encourage some performance skills, they’re rarely a good formula for fostering self expression and a deep love of learning. It’s also worth noting that high grades and awards can be a faulty predictor of artistic success.
It’s true that testing—including self testing—of skills and comprehension serves a purpose in deep learning. Rating potential and ability, however, risks eroding your confidence and, consequently, learning and performance. If you’re sensitive about your abilities, the problem is magnified.
What to Do Instead
In order to progress on your guitar, you need to discover weak areas and work to improve them. But instead of throwing a blanket disapproval over your playing when those weak areas show themselves, learn to identify the specific parts that are incorrect or dissatisfying and get to work on them.
Work with one song or exercise and have a clear goal in mind. For example, if you’ve become aware of a pattern of adding or dropping a beat to some measures of a song, use a metronome and count out loud. Focus on that one issue and on only one line or phrase at a time. Go slowly and once you’re playing it correctly, log in plenty of repetitions to ingrain it.
If you’re not getting the results you want, it will be because you’re expecting too much too fast (patience!), you’re going too fast, or you’re working with too large a piece. Explore each of those possibilities. Falling back on the excuse that you’re just not talented, smart, or in any other way good enough, is a sure way to fulfill your own prophecy. Just slow down and focus on the tiniest part. Then build slowly and methodically from there.
If you’re not used to this kind of work, it may seem tedious at first. But it doesn’t take long before you find you’re enjoying your guitar more every time you play. And, as always, you can write to me when you need help—and I hope you do!
