You’ve decided it’s time to learn to play the acoustic guitar.  But before you spend a single penny, you need to ask yourself a crucial question.  If you fail to ask this question you’ll just be wasting your time and money.

So what is this vital question?

Well, the single most important question you need to ask yourself is: “What do you want to achieve on guitar?”

Why is this question so important?

Well, when you know exactly what you want, you’ll be able to focus your practice sessions around achieving your goals.  This means you’ll hit your goals much faster.  After all, you can’t hit a target you can’t see.  If you don’t know what you want, how can you possibly find the shortest most direct path to your goal?

When you know what you want to accomplish on the guitar it will make it much easier for you to determine the best guitar teacher, guitar course or guitar lessons for you to take.

There are certain things most guitarists must practice.  There are also some things that are a total waste of time.  There are also style-specific things that need to be mastered to play specific styles of music.  What you need to practice to play basic campfire songs is totally different than what you need to play popular rock songs or what you would need to master to play classical guitar or jazz guitar.

Now here are some questions that will help you determine your specific guitar goals:

Do you want to be able to strum along with some songs? If so, which ones?

Do you want to learn to play some, or all your favourite songs?   If so, which songs are they?

What about learning to play every song by your favourite band and learning those songs note-for-note?  Which songs are they?

Do you want to be able to write your own songs?

Would you like to really understand how music works?

Would you like to be able to listen to any song and reproduce it on your guitar, or on paper?

Do you want to be able to create your own killer guitar solos?

Would you like to play in a band?

Do you want to play professionally?

Would you like to get a degree in music?

Do you want to be able to impress your friends and family?

Or do you just want to play for your own personal satisfaction and to relax?

Now take 5-10 minutes to write down your guitar goals on paper. Make sure you have some short term (3-6 months) and long term goals (7 months and up). Once you’ve done this, place your written goals where you can see them when you practice.

So how does it feel?  It feels pretty darn good doesn’t it?  You’ve now done something that most guitarists never do—you have written goals.  This one seemingly little step will help you get what you want much, faster.

You now have one or more targets to work towards.  This will give you focus every time you practice.  Depending on how big the goals are that you set, you may be able to achieve them in as little as a day, or it may take several months or even years.  The important thing is that you’ve set them and can start to work towards achieving them. This will allow you to use your practice time much more effectively and get what you want out of the guitar.

If you’re ready to learn more about how to get the most out of every practice session and learn to play the acoustic guitar check out: 14 Easy Beginner Acoustic Guitar Lessons