Passion is one of the most amiable human traits. Most times people associate passion with their favorite pastimes such as sports and hobbies. We almost instinctively bring together passion and music because of the countless times artists have expressed their feelings for music through their work. One kind of musician, the guitarist, knows the trials and tribulations of learning an instrument inside and out. It isn't pure expressionism all day long. Guitarists can come off as unreasonable and excessive from time to time. However, being that I consider myself a part of that group, I may have insight into the problems guitarists run into.
So, here are the struggles every guitar players can relate to:
1. Developing calluses.
When you start playing, no doubt, it's a painful experience. From learning barre chords and dealing with that perpetual ache in your hand as you try and stretch your index finger across all the strings properly to sliding your fresh, unblemished and soft fingertips over wound metal strings and effectively tearing the skin off time and time again until it comes back in hard, it's painful and there's no escaping it.
2. People who pretend to be interested in guitar.
We have all made the mistake of bringing our guitars to try to entertain people. But no matter how hard you try to introduce anyone to the cool new jazz riff you have been working on or that old rock song that you learned, all you get is constant requests for the same songs over and over again. The song "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz makes me, frankly, sick at this point from the amount of times I have played it.
3. Guitars as ornaments.
Nothing drives guitarists crazier then when they go to a local coffee bar and see a guitar hung on the wall, painfully pierced right through the neck, abandoning all hope of ever being played again. So sad, so sad.
4. Seeing an abused guitar.
I have seen way too many "family" guitars that parents bought for their children when they were young from Target and thought "hm, maybe my child will learn how to play guitar!" And then they never do. And the guitar just sits there in the basement and rots. And you can't help feeling sad every time you see that out of tune piece of plastic just sitting there gathering dust. (Until you secretly steal it from your friend's house and rescue it from years of neglect).
5. That one impossible song
You can spend months trying to learn a certain riff or song but sometimes it just does not stick. Playing guitar is a skill that takes years to master, however, some feel that they should be able to break out into "Stairway to Heaven" on month two. So, you end up practicing until you are just a condensed ball of pure hatred with sore fingers.
