How many songs have been written about playing the guitar? From Bryan Adams and his Summer of ’69 to The Beatles, the guitar is one of the most famous instruments on the planet. With its huge versatility and iconic status, it is no wonder so many of us want to pick one up and start strumming.
But as well as being great fun and highly satisfying to play, learning the guitar has some surprising extra benefits for us. The skills needed to play the guitar well mean we have to focus on our hand-eye coordination – or even our hand-mind’s eye coordination as we progress in our abilities to play without having to look at what we are doing.
These movements do not come naturally to us – we have to work hard to develop our fine motor skills to accommodate the new techniques we are learning. Since precision motor skills are essential in so many aspects of our daily lives, from writing – whether by hand or keyboard – to doing up buttons and tying laces, our guitar practice has a big benefit to us in helping us improve in other areas whether work or recreation.
And it is not just our physical skills that improve – our mental skills have been shown to be honed and sharpened by learning the guitar as well. Our brains are complex and are continually developing and learning – and the challenges posed by learning guitar are ideal for improving our skills of concentration and memory as we focus on the task at hand.
This is another vital transferable skill into our daily lives as who does not benefit from having a better memory or being able to focus on a task for longer? Learning and memorizing chords, scales, tunes, lyrics and musical theory are all ideal fodder for keeping and strengthening our minds.
And music is not just about making great noises, it speaks to us on a spiritual and emotional level – creating music, whether an original composition or nailing a much loved classic lets our emotions be released.
It has been shown in many studies that if we have a good emotional balance in our lives then we enjoy other health related benefits as well, from lower blood pressure and heart rate to less stress, depression and anxiety.
Learning the guitar also requires discipline, which is a very helpful life skill to possess – holding oneself accountable for what we do – or not do – is highly valuable. Choosing to learn the guitar means choosing to hold yourself accountable for practice – you are the one who signed up for lessons and pays for them every week.
Freedom Through Discipline
Admittedly, learning how to play guitar doesn’t necessarily nurture discipline. However, getting good at playing guitar definitely does because the path to get really good at something requires a lot of discipline and dedication.
As I mentioned before, the learning curve for music is pretty steep, and each stage of your development will present new and more challenging obstacles. I’d love to say that it eventually gets easier, but the truth is, the initial stage of learning guitar is probably the easiest, and as you progress through your musical journey, noticeable improvements and “eureka” moments are harder and harder to come by. This means that in order to keep progressing and improving your guitar playing skills, you have to be very disciplined in your approach to practice.
Many pros often stick to a set practice schedule with hours of practice a day! The legendary Steve Vai even has a 10-hour guitar workout that is available online. 10 hours may sound like an insane amount of time to practice guitar in a single day, and it probably is, but that’s the amount of time and dedication it takes to become a Steve Vai.
Of course, most of us are not trying to become the next Steve Vai, and many of us just want to play guitar casually. However, even the most casual players have to practice to see any improvements at all. The ability to stick to a practice schedule, especially on the days where you don’t want to practice, will undeniably nurture discipline. Discipline is the defining trait that all great musicians, artists, and athletes have in common.
Human Connections
It’s definitely possible to spend your entire musical journey jamming alone in your bedroom, but the best musical moments come from playing and performing with other people.
Finding people to jam with, or even participating in an open jam, can lead to meeting a ton of cool like-minded people. The shared experience of playing music together can also strip away a lot of psychological barriers and often leads to close and long-lasting relationships. On a personal note, most of my closest friends are people who I’ve played music with. Some I’ve known since my childhood, and some I’ve only met in the past year.
For those of you who have children at home, playing music with your kids is also a fun bonding activity. In fact, Sebastian Kirschner and Michael Tomasello have found that group music activities promote greater group cohesion, cooperation, prosocial behavior, and empathy towards other preschoolers in the same musical group. Besides, having social benefits, it’s also a ton of fun for the kids. After all, children love dancing and making a whole bunch of noise.
Wrap up
Some of these benefits may seem obvious in hindsight, but they’re often overlooked. Most people get into playing guitar simply because they want to pick up a new hobby or impress their friends and family (many guys I know did it to impress some girl). However, we should be aware of the deeper and more powerful benefits of picking up the guitar, or any musical instrument for that matter.
If you’d like to check out a simple and comprehensive course on how to get started on playing guitar, be sure to check out Liberty Park Music’s Intro to Guitar and Rhythm Guitar courses!