How did Eddie Van Halen get so good on guitar?

The obvious answer of course is practice but Eddie was not your typical guitar student. Where most guitar students do 30 minutes to an hour a day Eddie was more like 6 hours a day. The Van Halen brothers were fortunate because their father Jan was a trained musician who played clarinet, sax and piano. As children both Eddie and brother Alex were forced to do piano lessons which obviously paid off but at the first opportunity they switch to guitar and drums. Eddie actually started out as the drummer and Alex the guitarist but apparently Alex turned out to be a better drummer than Eddie. When Eddie made the switch to guitar he became an obsessed with practice. Van Halen hit the major music scene in the late 70's. I was a teen at the time and the first time I heard Van Halen's Eruption I had no idea what he was doing. At the time I was still very much a beginner guitar player and Van Halen was like some kind guitar playing alien. It became apparent to me some years later that Eddie was simply the result of thousands of hours of serious guitar practice.

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Your child not practicing guitar? 5 things NOT to do

1. Do not stop their guitar lessons. Some parents will use this tactic out of frustration but the result is nobody wins. Talk to their guitar teacher and if they are unable to help then find a new guitar teacher.

2. Do not yell at them. Some parents resort to screaming at their children but its never a good strategy because it more often than not brings about a negative association to learning guitar.

3. Do not leave it up to them. Children learn best when they have support. Young children especially will rarely want to practice guitar if it means being sent to their room by themselves. If a parent sits with them and gets involved in a positive way you will see a far better result.

4. Do not just accept it. If your child is to succeed on guitar practice is essential so you need to be persistent in finding a solution. If you have tried everything then email me at g4guitar1@gmail.com briefly explaining your situation.

5. Do not buy into their excuses. Children have plenty of free time so claiming they have no time for guitar practice is rarely if ever true. What they are probably saying is they don't feel like practicing and that's something that needs to be discussed.

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Guitar is easy...

Many people have the false idea that guitar is difficult. I also felt the same when I first begun to learn. Guitar to me seemed impossible. I recall seeing Tommy Emmanuel and couldn't believe that human fingers could move so quickly with such precision. But Tommy of course is no ordinary guitarist. Wanting to be like Tommy would be near impossible for most of us and few beginners especially are aiming that high. To be reasonably proficient is not such a daunting task. It just takes a few years of committed daily practice. The difficult part is having the discipline to practice everyday for two years. If you can do it then guitar is easy.

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Why do so many people want to play guitar?

Today there seems to be a guitar phenomenon. Is there a more popular musical instrument in the world? Guitar is so popular that even the game Guitar Hero has out sold every other game on the shelf. They now have Air Guitar competitions and its serious business. Where are they coming from? Why do so many people want to play guitar.

I can only give you an educated guess at best. I strongly believe the guitar has become fashion. So often now I see images of guitars in the media. Look at almost any advertisement aimed at a teenager and 8 of 10 times there will be a guitar in the background. Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift are popular girl sensation and unlike say Britney, Kylie or Madonna of the previous generation they perform with a guitar. Guitar is part of her image. This guitar image can be seen everywhere and guitar equals cool. Anyone who is anyone plays guitar right? So in short guitar has become a fashion accessory and as far as I am concerned its much more attractive than any other accessory.

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Predicting behaviour and how it affects guitar learning.

It turns out we are better at predicting the behaviour of other people than predicting our own behaviour. According to various experts when we see others we consider environmental influences but when we assess ourselves we don't take the circumstances into account as much. We like to believe that the influences of others does not affect us as much as it affects others. We like to believe that we are fully in control of our decisions. 

I know you better than you do

Emily Balcetis (Assistant Professor New York University) and David Dunning (Professor Cornell University) conducted a series of studies to show the difference between predicting our own behaviour and that of others. In short their was a significant difference between the two. This means that if predicting your own behaviour is less reliable than asking others for advice we should be seeking more advice. If for example I was to teach you guitar I am quite confident that I will be a better predictor of your future behaviour than you. Let me explain why.

"I want it now!"

I have spent 25 years working with thousands of guitar students. I have studied their behaviour and I have learned to recognise the predictable signs of students who are about to quit or who will likely want to quit at some point in the future. In fact it only takes one or two conversations for me to determine what kind of behaviour you are likely to display in the coming week. For example students who call up to inquire about lessons with one question 'Can I start today?' have about a 50% chance of quitting within a month or two. This is because they are impatient. The reason they wanted to start lessons today is because by later that same day that want to be a guitar master. When this doesn't happen they move on to something else.

Why my students rarely quit

The good news is that even the impatient can be saved if the teacher knows what to look for and how to respond. I rarely lose students in the critical first year and there are two reason for this. No.1 is I look for those early signs and address them immediately. In other words I never book in a student on the same day. I also ask the question "How long do you think it will take to learn guitar?" to set them straight before we even start. No.2 is I require students to keep a daily practice log. This is like a health chart and keeps aware of how consistent you are about your practice.

Test the theory for yourself

All in all when it comes to making a behavioural change in life you will always do better with a coach than without one. If you doubt this why not try it. Decide on two goals that will take at least 6 months to achieve (E.g. run a marathon and learn guitar) and do one with a coach and one with out and see what the result is after 6 months. 

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"Who needs a guitar teacher when you've got Youtube?"

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I recently spoke to a guy who said he was a self professed cynic when it came to guitar teachers. He claimed that there was nothing a guitar teacher could teach him that wasn't somewhere on the Internet for free. He claimed anything and everything you would ever want to know about guitar is probably on the net somewhere. While I understood what he was saying I pointed out that there was one very distinct and critical element missing. 

The Internet doesn't care

The net can't see your mistakes or really understand what your next best step should be. The net supplies information but offers no feedback. While the net may save you a few dollars the cost of a good teachers is made up in time. If you work your time is money and if it takes you one hour a day of surfing the net to find what you need (assuming it is what you really need) thats 5+ hours a week in lost time. Surely that's more expensive than a weekly guitar lesson.

"It's too hard!" 

Any great coach knows that information accounts for about 10% of success. The rest is psychology.  The net for all it's knowledge doesn't understand your emotions and how this plays a major role in you ultimate success. More than 90% of beginner guitar students will give up within 12 months and the reasons are related to the mind. Typically students who fail to follow through will say they didn't have time or it just wasn't for them or it was boring. The truth is we give up our goals when we are not seeing  results as quickly as we would like. We become disillusioned and lose faith and when we rely on the net to be our teacher we are unlikely to get that much needed pep talk.

Accountability

I am yet to meet someone who can't spare 30 minutes a day to practice guitar. If the average person spends 5 hours a day either surfing the net or watching TV or Youtube they can surely find 30 minutes a day to practice guitar. A good teacher will hold you accountable. They will be waiting for you each week to check whether or not you have put in the time and will be asking why not if the practice is not done. We all do better when we have someone checking up on us. 

If you are a serious find a good teacher

Those who don't value a good coach I find are those who aren't truly serious about achieving their goals. When we are committed to our success we do whatever it takes. Many claim that they cannot afford a guitar teacher but this is rarely true. The cost of a lesson is well within the budgets of most people today. If you are genuinely not able to afford guitar lessons perhaps you can speak to a guitar teacher about working for your lessons. Remember guitar teachers are in business so maybe you can exchange some of your time for their time. There is always a way.

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Popular Guitar Songs

Here is a list of popular guitar songs you might want to learn. If you have any suggestions please add via a comment below. Thank you.

Always with you always with me
American pie
American Woman
Are you gonna go my way
Back in Black
Better be home soon
Black Betty
Black Magic Woman
Blackbird
Bohemian Rhapsody
Brown Sugar
Come as you are
Comfortably Numb
Couldn't stand the weather
Crazy little thing called love
Day Tripper
Enter Sandman
Eruption
Eye of the tiger
Hells Bells
Hotel California
Johnny B Goode
Kashmir
Knockin on Heaven's door
La Grange
Life in the fast lane
Little Wing
Lola
Long way to the top
Master of Puppets
Nothing Else Matters
One
Purple Haze
Revolution
Run to you
Satch Boogie
Satisfaction
Shook me all night long
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Smoke on the Water
Smooth
Stairway to Heaven
Stand by me
Still got the blues
Sultans of swing
Sunshine of your love
Sweet Child o mine
Sweet Home Alabama
The Ocean
Thunderstruck
TNT
Under the bridge
Whole lotta love
Wish you were here
Wishing well
With or without you
Yesterday
You really got me

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