How easy or difficult you find it to learn to play guitar is often dependent on a number of factors. In this article we’ll take a look at some of the most important reasons for why people fail or succeed in learning to play guitar.

It might surprise you to read that I do not consider talent to be of any importance when learning to play guitar to an average standard. Talent becomes much more of an important factor only later on if you are trying to compose or achieve a world class standard on the instrument.

When people succeed in learning guitar it’s mostly because of regular practice over time, not because of any special talent.

Too many students fail at guitar through not understanding or never being taught how to practice correctly. It’s really a technique which all musicians need to acquire in order to succeed in learning effectively on their instrument.

The golden rule of practice is to do it very slowly. This is mostly because your brain needs time to record correctly your actions and to record them without any mistakes. Your practice should be slow and perfect!

With this approach the mind has what it needs to record your actions perfectly and reproduce them without mistakes even at higher tempos.

Finally you need to find a method of learning which is effective for beginners. Not all websites or teachers understand the approach required to teach well and so the quality of instruction can vary widely from place to place.

When you first buy a guitar it’s not so important to go for a really expensive model, your playing won’t be at a stage where you could appreciate and enjoy the benefit anyway. So go for a guitar which is has a low action to make it easier to play and one which is going to tune up well. If you buy a bad guitar it can make the process of learning seem much more difficult than it should be.

Lastly, having fun while learning is such a motivator. Even though things may get tough and take time to accomplish on the instrument, when you learn to play guitar it’s going to reward you handsomely for a lifetime.

The writer is a well respected guitar teacher and has taught 100′s of students both privately and on the web. You can find many free sample videos to learn to play guitar on his website, Guitar in a Nutshell. The system used has been specially designed to maximise the speed at which beginners can learn guitar.