Practicing
If there is any aspect of guitar playing that is a must besides having your own guitar, it is the art of practicing. When you start to take lessons you will find that practicing is everything to the learning process. Whether you spend 15 days, 15 hours, or even a measly 15 minutes fooling around with a guitar, every second of practice counts. The fact of the matter is you learn something new every time you pick up an instrument, set your fingers in motion, and focus on the music you create. Besides, whoever heard of a guitarist exceling by playing only once a month? Jimi Hendrix sure didn't. The word of advice here is to practice as much as you need to. At the very least you should play about 20 minutes a day. But if you want to speed up the process and accomplish your goal of becoming the guitarist you want to be, then by all means play more! And, while we're on the subject, it's best not to exhaust your arms and push yourself way over the limit than you have to. Take your time because if you push yourself too far over edge your arms will feel like Jell-O for a day or two!
For those that find this piece of advice skeptical, let’s say that you do play for 15 minutes and you do not learn to play the entire song to “Hotel California” (by the Eagles) right away because you are having trouble hitting one really tough chord. Yes, you may get frustrated and, yes, you might feel like smashing your guitar against the wall, but, believe it or not, you do accomplish something. Every time you set your fingers in a new, and sometimes difficult, chord progression, they become just a little bit stronger and a just a tad quicker along the frets. Also, your right hand (assuming you are playing right-handed) also gains strength and will be able to pull off a strumming pattern just a little better than the last time you tried it 15 minutes ago. The truth is, practice makes perfect… or at the very least, better. You might not be able to change chords from a C to a G major as fast as you want, but every time you do try to perfect doing it you get an inch closer to accomplishing that goal. Now this may sound like no big deal, but if you take those inches and add them up everyday over a few months, it is quite a lot! The same applies if you are, say, a track star. You cannot expect to win marathons and run faster than everybody else just because you ran your butt off for one night. You have to develop the muscles needed to take it to the next level, which means working out -- and that takes desire, time, effort, and, of course, some patience (I don’t mean to scare anybody but hey, what can I say? You can’t build Rome in one day now can you?). The whole process of becoming a legitimate guitarist can be frustrating and it can be painful at times (sore arms and calices), but practicing can also be very rewarding (you’ll know what I mean when you see the results). So if you stopped playing, give your instrument another chance. If you 're stuck on something, ask for some advice from your instructor or a friend. However, in many cases, you may end up solving your own problems, which is a very good habit.