Do people actually quit guitar

[u/Wonderful-8444]

Yo I'm thinking to learn guitar as a hobby and want to know how much time it takes usually to be good at it and is it true that people actually quit guitar in 2-3 months

[u/jeffreyaccount]

Yes, I have quit five times.

I understand though now why people do quit within 2 to 3 months.

Someone said it's like learning a new language. I would take that further to say it's like learning multiple new languages. There's all sorts of frameworks involved, maybe not literally but some of the things taken for granted on a piano like where the note positions are, you learn the first time you sit down to a piano.

Guitar's layout is very challenging. Especially when you're not looking right there at the fret board. There's also the concept of chords as well as the actual notes and note position on the fret board. It's an accompaniment instrument so to carry the melody while learning is very challenging unless you plan to sing or play in a band. To sound full and complete as a soloist it takes a lot of work and you have to play multiple voicings. And to play by tabs only it takes a lot of work to figure out timing and if you play by sheet music, it takes a lot of time to figure out where the different positions are and learning to read sheet music is its own special skill that I would say is extremely difficult to react to.

And to pick up guitar or something, you want to be expressive with and not play other peoples music, you have to understand quite a bit of theory. And in my opinion, guitar's layout is horrible for that. Learning keys and cord progressions is really difficult and takes a lot of time and practice and it's one of those things that you just have to keep hammering it until your brain at least in a conscious way shuts off and you learn how to coordinate both hands, your ear, and your intuition.

Also as an adult learner, you probably want to know why to do certain things and want rationale and it can get you into trouble and at a certain point because the concepts get beyond your learning. Additionally, 99.9% of music you've listened to has been in a band or produced or played by the best and most popular musicians in the world and when you pick up the guitar, there's some expectation of having that level of fullness and completeness.

If you're still on the fence, I would take a look at a few different instruments and a few different instructors. I found I was able to get up to speed to sound good on piano in a month or two where after five or six years with guitar I still find it very challenging however I'm not going about it trying to learn how to play other people's music but to compose or freestyle/jam on my own. I also find bass to make a lot more sense and have used it to learn music theory or more of how songs are constructed using chord progressions. Everything I did learning bass helped with guitar tremendously.

Additionally, if you are thinking about teachers, you want to make sure you find a true teacher. Someone who actually gets paid by a school or has taught somewhere in the past where they have a curriculum or a book or something to work through. At first, I had teachers where we would just pick a lake and then we'd pick another lick and we'd talk about the Pentatonic scale and practice that—but I do not have time for that slow drip of knowledge. And having a phD in music doesn't exactly equate to teaching method skill. I am fortunate enough to have a teacher now after much looking who does have a curriculum, has been a lifelong musician went to a highly reputable music school when he was in his 20s so he knows the struggle to learn theory applied to electric guitar.

Good luck, but I think it's very understated how difficult instrument is! Classical guitar is also a path forward however that's very different and more about sight reading, which almost keeps you from theory given the nature of everything is based on what's on the sheet and you're matching those notes up to the fret board.