Common misconceptions about guitar playing

There's an old guitar playing joke that goes something like this: A child says to his mom, “Mommy, mommy! When I grow up, I want to be a guitar player”, to which the mother responds, “Now Johnny, you can't do both!” Well, you can grow up and be a guitar player, but that's not my point. The point is that just like Johnny, this is pretty much how many people imagine guitar playing to be: it's easy, and any fool can learn it. This is silly common misconception.

 Never in my life have I met anyone who has easily learned to play a tango, serenade or flamenco, unless they have a God-given talent. When you play classical guitar, you can either play guitar chords or classical guitar songs.

Playing chords is what most people picture as easy: you learn some basic major chords like C, D, E, G,  or A, take a guitar pick and strum with it up and down on the guitar strings.  But this doesn't mean that you know how to play the guitar! This is not the art of playing chords. Each of these chords can be played in different positions on the guitar. The A major chord can be played starting from the second fret or starting from the fifth fret; the G major chord can start from the third fret, fifth fret or even from the tenth fret. After learning all the positions of each of these chords on the guitar, you can find some easy-way-out strategies that may help you to play one chord after the other without jumping too much on the frets.  You'll certainly feel the art of playing chords; sore, tense and tired fingers, and occasional cramps in your wrists.

As for the technique of rhythmical playing, it's not just simply drumming up and down. It's much more! It's down to you, your feeling and you having a good ear for music. Of course, practicing as much as possible enables you to play automatically without thinking whether the next movement is up or down.

Playing classical guitar songs like a tango or serenade is much more demanding than playing chords. This was the mastery I strived for. I mentioned some of the techniques my guitar teacher taught me for playing classical songs in my previous blog.  Later, as an advanced guitar player, I had to master various classical compositions. Not only did they contain the notes, but also various symbols and signs, and lines that made my head spin. I got lost every time I started to play, because there was so much information on these pieces of papers. Dynamic symbols like piano (playing soft), mezzo-piano (moderately soft), forte (playing loud), and rhythm symbols like staccato (playing the note shorter than usual) and many others, stood in my way of seeing the actual composition. I was lost in the world of dynamic and rhythm symbols - in the piano, forte, mezzo-forte and fortissimo world.

These symbols meant nothing to me, because I was one of those people who just couldn't follow the rules. I practiced a lot for an upcoming competition at the time. As the competition got closer, I started getting more and more anxious. Now picture this: you enter the room where the competition takes place, hundreds of eyes are staring at you as you sit down and prepare yourself. There are professionals in the audience, and you have to make the impossible, possible; you have to ignore all those eyes staring at you, imagine you were alone on the stage and start playing. The impossible stays impossible in moments like this.

In these moments, my brain is limited in its ability to multitask. I just couldn't pay attention to everything at the same time: sitting correctly, positioning my left and right hand properly, concentrating on various dynamic and rhythm symbols and finally, in my case, overcoming stage fright and nervousness.  I relied on my ability to improvise, which sometimes helped me and sometimes hindered me. My years of playing the guitar prove that it's not easy to learn to play it. It requires a lot of concentration, patience and practice.

Most people think that guitar players are underpaid, which is another misconception. Being a professional guitar player is a very well-paid job. I do know many professional guitarists who earn a huge amount of money for just 15 minutes of playing. It depends on how good you are and what type of classical songs you play, because many people prefer faster classical songs like tangos to serenades. Yet, being a professional guitarist requires sacrifices of all sorts- like practicing at least six hours a day in a closed space. That's why many people give up on playing the guitar professionally, and the main reason why I eventually gave up on playing. You are aware that somewhere out there people are outside enjoying the day if it's nice and sunny while you are inside practicing.

There are, however, guitar players in various nightclubs who don’t earn very much money. This also depends on where and what kind of music they play. Most of them have their regular jobs alongside their night job playing, and many of them play at night purely for the pleasure. It's profitable and entertaining at the same time. But in nightclubs the audience generally speaks very loudly, shouts and sings, which means that the guitar players cannot concentrate on playing in these situations because the noise distracts them. Everybody wants to sing and show off. People take your microphone and howl. It's certainly not pleasing to the ear.

The most common misconception about guitar playing is that only talented people can play it. I've never been particularly talented and didn't even want to play. It was my mother who told me that one day it would pay off. Is talent really crucial for playing the guitar? No, it is not! I saw children around me playing with such ease and progressing faster than I did. Thanks to my guitar teacher, who was very encouraging, I pushed any idea about giving up out of my mind and decided to practice more, even if it took me huge amounts of time. I was eager to reach the playing level of my schoolmates, and finally, after some time, I made it. From that point on, everything became easier. In my case, competitions and concerts forced me to improve. As a child, you want to be better than your schoolmates. Different competitions and concerts were the perfect place to prove myself. Without these events, my motivation would have slowly decreased. Talent is not crucial for playing any instrument. Persistence and practice are crucial. And that' for sure.  

These are just some of the various misconceptions people have about playing the guitar. There are many others but I'm going to stop here. Even though I don't play the guitar professionally anymore, it's still an important part of my life.