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1. It's Awkward At First
The vast majority of people who first pickup a guitar and try to hold it properly feel awkward.
This is perfectly normal because it is not something you are used to doing. It is completely new to you.
Unfortunately, this awkwardness complicates the learning process because we have to overcome it before we can make much progress.
Then, once you are holding your guitar in the right position and your hands in the right places, you have to then add another layer of difficulty and learn how to fret notes and strum.
This is not going to feel good and it is definitely not going to sound good. This can be very discouraging to most people.
But it is a normal progression to learn to play guitar.
If you can push through this initial phase things will become more comfortable and easier.
2. Requires Coordination Of Several Things At Once
If feeling awkward when you first pickup a guitar is not enough, you then have to do a bunch of things at the same time in order to play something successfully!!
Compare guitar to a piano. You can walk up to any piano and plunk a single finger down on a key and get an amazingly loud and clear sound. Very easy to do and anyone can do it. And it does not feel awkward!
On a guitar you have to get over the awkward feeling of holding the instrument, then you have to wrap your fretting hand around the neck of the guitar, then press the note you want to hear.
But it does not stop there, you then have to use your picking hand and find the proper string and pluck it.
And if you want to play 2 notes in a row? You have to make it all work seamlessly at the same time. On the piano you just plunk 1 finger back and forth.
The good news is you can learn to do all this if you want to and it is totally worth it if you push through!
3. It Is Not Intuitive And Easy To Make Mistakes
Because there are so many things to learn and coordinate at the same time it is easy to make mistakes and learn things the wrong way. There are so many variables to deal with.
It's not a big deal when you are just beginning because everything is slow anyway so you can overcome the mistakes or poor technique by trying a little harder.
Over time, as some of your skills begin to improve, the mistakes in your technique will start to rear their ugly heads and slow you down because they do not improve much.
If you do not spot these mistakes and continue to learn to play that way you will start to get frustrated because you will not be able to play the way you want and may even get stuck.
That's no fun and many people come to me like this. So it is very common.
How Do you Overcome The Challenges Of Learning To Play Guitar
There are definitely a lot of challenges when learning to play guitar. That's why many people quit. If it was easy everyone could play guitar.
What you need is someone to help you. Who knows where all of the problems can occur, who knows the right time to learn specific techniques and in what order to add them to your skills.
This person will help you navigate the difficulties that are present when first learning to play guitar and help minimize the difficulties so you can feel good about your progress.
What you need is a professionally trained guitar teacher. Someone who knows the exact path to learning guitar and has been trained to teach you how to get on it and follow it.
About the Author
Maurice Richard is a professional guitar teacher that operates out of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He has been a member of an elite guitar teaching mentorship program since 2007 and has taught many people how to learn to play guitar. Go to his website to find out why guitar is not the easiest instrument to learn to play.