I have a sign in my teaching room that says “There is no such thing as falling behind.”
Students read it every week. Some of them need to read it more than others.
Because here’s what I’ve watched happen over 30 years of teaching: the students who quit almost never quit because they lost interest. They quit because they missed some practice, felt guilty about it, tried to cram a week’s worth of work into one miserable session to “catch up,” hated every second of it, and convinced themselves they’d fallen too far behind to continue.
They didn’t lose their love of guitar. They buried it under guilt.
That sign is there to stop that cycle before it starts.
The Guy Who Could Feel Behind But Doesn’t
Dan from Middlefield should be the poster child for someone who is “falling behind.”
He runs his own business. He’s helped lead worship teams. He does a weekly Bible study. He had parents living next door who needed more and more help as they got older. He takes at least one long vacation every year plus weekend getaways with his wife. He has grandkids, and he makes it to almost all of their events.
Some weeks there is literally not ten minutes in his day to pick up the guitar.
But Dan doesn’t feel behind. He never has.
Because Dan understands something that most students never figure out: he loves music. He loves playing guitar and singing. And he knows that every week he walks into my room, he’s getting one to two hours of real, focused practice with someone who knows exactly where he is and what he needs next.
He doesn’t beat himself up about the weeks where life takes over. He just keeps showing up. And because he keeps showing up, he keeps making progress.
Not fast progress. Not Instagram-highlight progress. Real progress—the kind that compounds over months and years because he never let guilt convince him to stop.
What Happens When Guilt Wins
George from Munson is the other side of that coin. (Not his real name — he’s a current student, and I’d like him to keep coming back.)
George took lessons, was making solid progress, and then life got in the way. He planned to keep practicing on his own. He had every intention of staying sharp until he could come back.
Seven years went by. He barely touched the guitar.
Now here’s the good news: when you’re taught correctly the first time, it does come back. George wasn’t starting from zero. The foundation was still there.
But here’s the reality nobody talks about—he still had to spend time re-covering material he once had down cold. Stuff that used to be automatic now needed to be retrained before we could even think about expanding into new territory.
That’s not failure. But it is lost time. Time he could have spent moving forward if he’d just kept coming in, even inconsistently, instead of waiting until life was “perfect” enough to return.
Why This Happens
After 30 years of teaching, I can tell you the number one reason students quit isn’t lack of talent or lack of time. It’s trying to make up for lost time.
It’s not the inconsistency that kills your progress — it’s the pressure to overcompensate for it.
You miss a few days of practice. Then a week. The guilt builds. You tell yourself you’ll make up for it with a marathon session. That session is frustrating and exhausting because you’re trying to force what should happen naturally. Now guitar feels like punishment instead of something you enjoy. So you put it down “just for a little while.”
That “little while” is where guitar dreams go to die.
And it’s completely unnecessary.
You don’t need to make up for lost time. You need to just pick the guitar back up and play. Even if it’s five minutes. Even if it’s sloppy. Even if you forgot half of what you were working on.
Because the student who plays five imperfect minutes today is still ahead of the student who’s planning the perfect comeback practice session that never happens.
What I Actually See In My Room
The students who stay and grow aren’t the ones with the most practice time. They’re the ones who refuse to let a bad week turn into a bad month.
They walk in and say, “I didn’t get to practice much this week.” And I say, “Good. You’re here. Let’s get to work.”
That’s it. No lecture. No guilt. No catch-up plan.
Because the lesson itself is practice. Real, structured, guided practice where I can hear what you’re doing, correct it in real time, and make sure you’re building on what you already have instead of spinning your wheels alone.
Dan figured that out early. “George” figured it out seven years later. Both of them are progressing now—but only one of them lost seven years getting there.
That Sign Isn’t Motivational Fluff
When I put that sign in my room, it wasn’t a feel-good decoration.
It was a direct response to watching some really good students put too much pressure on themselves and talk themselves out of something they loved because they couldn’t meet some imaginary standard of consistency.
There’s no deadline on learning guitar. There’s no schedule you’re supposed to keep up with. There’s no scoreboard.
There’s just you, the guitar, and whether you decide to keep showing up.
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 assisted people from around the globe in developing a solid sense of timing and enhancing their creativity through the fantastic rhythm course, “Ultimate Rhythm Mastery,” available at MusicTheoryForGuitar.com.
If you live in Geauga County / North East Ohio, Guitar Lessons Geauga can help you become the player you’ve always wanted to be.