The Perfection Myth

By Byron Marks

Have you ever thought to yourself «What I’ve learned in my guitar lessons so far is cool but I need to master it before I move on to other things”? If you have, then you are not alone. Initially, thinking this seems to make sense but if you examine the thought more closely, you will see how this hurts your guitar playing, the opposite effect of what you are looking to have happen.

Here is an example. Imagine that you were going to be a bodybuilder and your plan to do so is to work on one muscle group at a time until it develops to the point where you are happy before moving on to another muscle group. Lets break it down even further and say that you are only going to work on the muscle (biceps for this example) on the left side of your body. What would that look like after a few months of working out like that? How would that move you closer to your goal of being a bodybuilder? You might have one awesome looking bicep but how does everything else look in comparison?

Sounds pretty ridiculous right? This is exactly what you are doing by focusing on perfecting only one aspect of your guitar playing before working on anything else. In order to reach the goal of being the perfect guitar player, we have to work on multiple aspects of our guitar playing together.

When it comes to guitar lessons, some guitar students will say that they want to stop their lessons because they wanted to take time to master what they were working on before going any further. Students have become frustrated because they aren’t yet able to play something perfectly soon after learning something new.

In the first instance, waiting to master one area before moving on to something else isn’t a good choice to make because all that person will do is practice one thing, usually in isolation, for an extended period of time but then not having any other skills to combine it with. This will turn them into a very one dimensional player. Imagine baking a cake by only putting one of the ingredients in the mixing bowl then putting it in the oven to bake.

In the second instance, placing an expectation of perfecting something right away leads to a lot of negative self talk, believing (incorrectly) that maybe there is something wrong with you and that maybe being a musician isn’t in the cards for you. Nothing could be further from the truth! When you see someone play something and it seems effortless for them, you better believe that it is something that they’ve been playing for a while and are comfortable with. Be patient, be persistent, strive for perfection but understand that making mistakes are a part of the learning process.

We all dream of being able to play anything that we want, at anytime, in any situation and being 100% flawless. In order to get there, you will have to practice all of the elements that go into playing flawlessly and you have to master them all. If you don’t know how to do this or if you are doubting that you will every be able to do it,

You don’t need to concern yourself with perfection, concern yourself with making progress. If you are better or stronger in any part of your guitar playing than you were last week, you are on the right track.

The truth is that even the best guitar players still have skills that are out of balance that they will continue to work on and improve. Mastery will happen but only if you have the right strategy in place to guarantee that you will get the results that you are after.

About the author: Byron Marks is a teacher who gives guitar lessons in Manchester, NH. Byron is 100% committed to getting the best results for his students and helping them reach their musical goals.