In 30+ years of teaching guitar here in Geauga County, I’ve heard every reason someone almost didn’t start.
“I’m too old.” “I don’t have the talent.” “I tried once and couldn’t do it.” “I don’t have time.” “My hands are just not built for this.”
I hear at least one of these in almost every first conversation with someone thinking about lessons. And almost every time, the reason isn’t the real problem. The real problem is bad information. Someone told them, or they told themselves, a story about what it takes to play guitar. That story was wrong.
Here’s what I’ve seen with each one.
“I’m Too Old to Start”
This is the one I hear the most, and it bothers me the most, because it stops so many people from ever picking up the phone.
A lot of my best students have started later in life and become very good players.
Adults bring advantages younger players don’t have. You know how to work toward something. You listen to music with more depth than most teenagers do. And you’re doing this because you want to, not because your parents signed you up.
But I want to share the story of an outlier. He’s not my typical student, but his story is important.
Don started lessons with me at 90. His goal was simple: he wanted to be able to play one song before he passed away. It took him a little longer, but he ended up being able to play a few, and according to his caregiver, it was all he talked about. If Don could do it at 90, age isn’t what’s stopping you.
“I Don’t Have Natural Talent”
Dan always sang. He loved music, had his own band, and led worship, but playing guitar was something somebody else did. Every time he picked up someone else’s guitar, nothing about it felt comfortable. He’s a mechanic who runs his own business, his hands were stiff from years of working with them all day, and he figured guitar just wasn’t his thing. But in the back of his mind, he always wanted to be able to sit around and strum and sing.
One day he decided he was going to do this. His stiff hands took a little longer to come around, but they got there. It hasn’t been easy, and he’s had to work at it like everyone else. His group class gives him a clear plan for what to practice each week, so he isn’t winging it. Now he has a lot of fun playing for himself and his family, and he makes the occasional open mic appearance.
People watch someone play well and assume they were born with something special. In all my years of teaching, I’ve never seen natural talent decide who gets good. The people who get good decide they’re going to, keep showing up, and practice the right things in the right order.
“I Tried Before and Couldn’t Do It”
Andrea grew up around guitar. Her dad plays. When she decided she wanted to learn too, she spent three years trying to learn from YouTube and wasn’t getting anywhere. When she came to me, the problem was clear: most of the “beginner” videos she’d been learning from weren’t made for beginners, and they often conflicted with each other, which made it confusing. Now she jams with her dad, and she plays open mic nights too.
If you tried before and quit, something went wrong. But I can almost guarantee the problem wasn’t you. It was the approach.
Some people learned from YouTube or apps and ended up with random bits that never connected, with nobody there to catch their mistakes. [Link to: The Problem With Learning Guitar from Apps or YouTube] Others had a teacher who could play but was never trained to teach. A lot of them were fighting a cheap guitar with high action and dead strings, and blamed themselves for it. And almost all of them learned things in the wrong order, like trying barre chords before their fingers had the strength for them.
If any of that sounds familiar, you didn’t fail at guitar. Your approach failed you.
“I Don’t Have Time to Practice”
Kyle is on the road by four every weekday morning, and he drives around 400 miles a day with many stops along the way. After a day like that, he’d usually rather go out with his friends than sit down to practice. That’s why he takes longer lessons. He does his best to practice a little every day, but he always knows he’ll have at least an hour of high-quality practice time every week in class. That hour goes to the most important things, with enough time to get in good reps while I watch and give feedback. He’s improved a lot since he started and likes to jam with friends when he finds the time.
Most people picture practice as an hour or more of exercises every night. Good practice doesn’t look like that.
Ten to fifteen minutes of focused practice most days beats two hours of noodling. Focused doesn’t mean grueling. It means knowing exactly what to work on and how. I have students with demanding jobs, families, and packed schedules who make steady progress on that much time, because every minute counts.
“My Hands Are Too Small, Too Big, or Too Beat Up”
I hear this one a lot. And I get it. The first time you look at a guitar neck, it can seem like you need basketball-player fingers.
Nothing feels comfortable when you first try it, whether it’s a new chord or a better way to hold the guitar. That awkward feeling isn’t proof that your hands are wrong.
What feels like a size problem is almost always a technique problem. When your fingers land right behind the fret, with the right wrist angle and thumb position, most people can reach everything they need to. The people who struggle usually aren’t struggling because of their hands. Nobody showed them where to put their thumb, how to angle their wrist, or how to use the side of their index finger instead of the pad on barre chords.
Ken came to me with a pinky that didn’t work. Focal dystonia from years of the same repetitive motions at his job had locked it up, and he was convinced it would hold him back on bass. I had to adjust some of the “normal” fingerings to work around it. Once he’d played them the same way enough times, they became second nature, and he was shocked at how well he could play.
Some of the greatest guitarists in history had hands that should have stopped them, too. Django Reinhardt’s left hand was badly burned in a 1928 caravan fire, leaving his ring finger and pinky mostly unusable, and he changed jazz guitar anyway. Tony Iommi lost his fingertips in a factory accident and went on to help invent heavy metal.
If a standard neck truly doesn’t fit your hand, guitars come in different sizes, and a 3/4-size guitar isn’t just for kids. But almost everyone I’ve seen who thought they had a hand-size problem had a positioning problem, and it got fixed in the first few lessons.
The Most Extreme Example I’ve Seen
I usually start everyone with the standard way of holding a pick, because it’s the easiest way to learn. Steve couldn’t do that.
He was born with no fingers on his right hand, his picking hand. Just a nub where his thumb should be. He learned to use that nub as his pick, and you had to see it to believe what he could do with it. He didn’t have any more natural talent than anyone else. What he had was the attitude to do it no matter what, and he stuck to the plan. He became one of the best players I’ve ever worked with.
What Actually Matters
After three decades of teaching, I can tell you what separates the people who succeed from the people who don’t. It’s not age, talent, hand size, or even how much time they have.
It’s whether they have a clear system and someone in their corner who knows how to teach.
The students who thrive are the ones who show up, follow the plan, and let me correct the small things before they become big things. That’s it. There’s no secret. There’s no genetic requirement. There’s just the decision to start and the commitment to keep going.
Every excuse on this page? I’ve watched students overcome all of them. Not with superhuman effort. With the right approach.
Ready to Find Out for Yourself
Every one of these reasons feels real from the inside. I’ve watched hundreds of people get past each one, and it was never because they were special. They had the right approach and someone showing them what to fix.
If one of these has been holding you back, the fastest way to find out is to come in. I offer a free intro session, with no obligation and no pressure. You’ll see how I teach, what steady progress looks like, and whether this is the right fit for you.
Most of the people who come to me had the same doubts you have right now.
Click the button to book your free trial lesson today or call me at 440-477-8405.
About The Author
Brian Fish is a professional guitarist who has been dedicated to helping other guitar players in Northeast Ohio pursue their musical dreams since 1994. He’s passionate about guiding others on their musical journey! He is the Guitar Playing Transformation Specialist, instructor, mentor, trainer, and coach at Guitar Lessons Geauga.
Brian has also created the fantastic rhythm course, “Ultimate Rhythm Mastery,” which is available at MusicTheoryForGuitar.com.
If you live in Geauga County / Northeast Ohio, Guitar Lessons Geauga can help you become the player you’ve always wanted to be. Click the button below to request your FREE no-obligation trial lesson