5 Reasons Beginners Quit Guitar

Learning to play the guitar isn’t easy. Around half the people who take up the instrument give it up. In the first year, roughly 9 out of 10 people will have packed their guitar away to gather dust indefinitely.

Why does this happen? Can you prevent it from happening to you?

Here are 5 common reasons that beginners stop playing guitar.

1 – Lack of Progress

One of the main reasons people give up on learning the guitar is a lack of progress. People expect too much too soon and try to run before they can walk. They pick up their shiny new beginner electric guitar and are dissapointed when they aren't able to play like Jimi Hendrix within a week. You may still be learning how to play your first chord(s) in the first few weeks of playing.

Don’t expect too much in the first stages of learning the instrument. It will take time before you see results. There are some quick wins available though, so it’s important to give yourself little goals along the way. Maybe learning your first 3 chords and changing between them smoothly would be something to aim for? What about learning a simple song?

If you put aside just 15 minutes a day for structured practice, you’ll be well on your way.

2 – Loss of Interest

Losing interest in the guitar may stem from your lack of progress. Maybe you’re getting frustrated at how long it’s taking and you’ve lost the motivation needed to learn. If you’re having lessons, it could be that the teacher is concentrating on a musical style you’re just not interested in. If you’re into heavy metal and you’re practicing country music, it might be hard to keep up your enthusiasm.

It’s important to play music you enjoy, but there are times when you’ll have to learn things that aren’t quite as interesting as you may have hoped. Make sure you keep your interest up by asking your instructor to teach you to play something you really like now and again, just to pique your interest. If you’re learning the instrument yourself, follow an online lesson to a novice version of your favourite song.

3 - Lack of Time

A lot of beginners give this as a reason for giving up. Is it really a lack of time though? More than likely it’s lack of interest or motivation. If you love what you’re doing, you’ll find the time. If you put aside just 15 minutes a day for structured practice, you’ll be well on your way.

4 - Barre Chords!

You’ve been practicing hard and learning the guitar for quite a few months now. You know plenty of open chords and are pleased with the progress you’ve made so far. Then you hit the wall that is barre chords!

Some students really struggle with these, whereas others seem to pick them up quite quickly. It’s not essential to be able to play barre chords, but you’ll struggle and limit your playing if you don’t learn them. They do take time to master and are harder than open chords to get to grips with. The beauty is however, that once you’ve learned how to play one shape, you can move it up the fret board and play lots of different chords.

If you do hit a wall with your playing, be that barre chords or lead playing, it’s important that you don’t get downhearted about it. Whatever you do, don’t give up.

This brings us nicely onto the last reason that beginners give up the guitar.

5 - They Don’t Persevere

Even if you practice for at least 10 minutes every day, it will still take months before you can move on to the next level. It’s important that you accept this and come to terms with the fact that it will take time and dedication if you want to learn to play the guitar properly.

You’ll see a lot of progress once you’ve been playing for a few months and after a year (depending on the amount of practice you do) you should be at an intermediate level. One of the key aspects of learning a musical instrument is developing muscle memory, which is built up from repetition. This all takes time.

Don’t give up after a few months, because there’s every likelihood that you’ll be about to turn a corner in your playing. Keep practicing and keep it fun. Imagine if Jimi Hendrix had given up after just a few months?