The #1 Factor for Guitar Success - LIVE With Lauren Bateman!

Hello, everyone. Welcome, welcome. Saturday morning here, and I wanted to go live and talk to all of you here in the chat. Shelly, Jeff's here. Christopher wanted to talk to you guys about something I think that gets overlooked when you're learning to play guitar. And that is, what does it take to actually be successful with learning? It's. It's not talent. It's not a natural talent thing. I didn't have any talent. You know, I was in my private community the other day and someone was talking about, you know, I don't have a natural talent for playing guitar. And I said, you know what? I didn't have any natural talent either until I, you know, took the time to learn how to be better at guitar. 3pm in Nigeria. Hello. We have New Mexico in the house. 2. Talent is overrated. Exactly. It's overrated. So the biggest thing that I think students, you know, miscalculate is the actual belief that you can do this. And, you know, I. That's why students tell me all the time, you know, alarm. When I watch your videos here on YouTube. You make me feel like I can do it. You make me feel very comfortable. And I want students to know that this is totally possible. No matter how old you are, whether or not someone in your family plays an instrument. I have lots of. I mean, no one in my family plays an instrument. I think I found out that my dad played banjo in high school because he had to take a banjo class. But no one in my family really plays an instrument the way that I play an instrument. So we. I didn't have that growing up. You know, there's some people, they come from a musical family. Like, what does that mean? You know, musicians means that the household just, you know, they appreciated and prioritized music and learning of instruments. But just because you didn't have that growing up doesn't mean you can't do this. You know, there's people out there, I always remind people, there's people who don't have hands that play guitar with their feet. Okay? So if those people can do it, if you have hands, you're already way ahead of the game on this. Okay? So, number one, you have to believe that this is possible. And I tell all my students, I'm like, I believe that if you have a desire to play this instrument, it's totally possible. Okay? It's totally. It's got to start with that belief. Now, we all suffer from something called self doubt. Now, I want to share a few stories with you here today. I was in New York I think it was last week or a couple weeks ago and I was speaking to a group of entrepreneurs. I, I talk to them about self doubt because you know, for a lot of entrepreneurs when you're starting a business there is a lot of that self doubt. And I know I had that in the beginning. When I first started teaching guitar, I was, had so much self doubt I felt like I an imposter, almost imposter syndrome of I didn't think I was good enough to teach guitar, you know, because I hadn't really taken many lessons in my life. I was mostly self taught taught and I said, who the heck is gonna want to take lessons from someone like me? So in the beginning I only taught voice because I didn't believe that I could help people. I didn't believe that I could help people like you. Who else is on here? I see Cigar, I see Peter, Doreen, Brooke, you know, all of you on here who are like Lauren, you're helping me. Well, in 2010, 2009, 2010, when I started teaching, I didn't believe that I could help any of you that are on this call today because I have that self doubt in the back of my head just the way some of you have that little, it's that little voice. It's just this tiny little voice that whispers in your ear and says you're too old. That ship has sailed. I'm too old. You're not. I have students. Most of my students, believe it or not. And I know if you know me and you follow my channel, the majority of my students who take my course are in their 60s and 70s. I do have some students in their 80s as well. So if you're in your 40s like me or you're in your 50s, you're still a spring chicken. There is plenty of time to do this. I've even had students, I've had a few 90 year old students email me. I remember one of them, his name was Paul and he emailed me a few years ago and he was like, he was 92 and he was like, all I want to do is play Buddy Holly on the guitar. And he wrote to me because he was so excited. That was like his dream was to play Buddy Holly and he was able through the course, you know, to be able to play along to Buddy Holly song. So for him at 92, like he never expected that he was going to be able to do that. But he, he fought that self doubt. He gave it a chance and realized that it was possible. All right, that's Number one, you have to believe that this is possible, all right? You don't have talent. Listen, nobody has talent, all right? Most people who play an instrument are not prodigies, okay? Those are people with natural talent. Prodigies who, like you, teach them something, they absorb it and they're like doing crazy stuff on their instrument. I think in the entire. So some of you know, I own a music school here in the Boston area and we've taught, you know, probably thousands of students at this point in person. One on one instruction. Anyone? I think there might have been one, one kid that we would consider a prodigy. Of all those students we've taught, only one of them was naturally inclinated to play an instrument. The rest of our students just had to work hard. Okay? So it is there, you know, there is a work component to learning to play guitar. You know, you see all these advertisements and like, you know, play guitar in five days. The easy, you know, learning guitar is easy. It's not easy. Let me be honest with you. You know, it's something my students love about me, that I'm honest. It's not easy. The guitar is not easy. There are easier ways to go about doing things. And if you learn things in a specific order, it can make things easier for sure in the process of this long term. But if you're coming at this and you're saying, I'm going to learn guitar in 30 days, I'm going to learn guitar in 90 days, you're setting yourself up for failure. It's not going to happen. Can we teach you some things? Yes. Can I get you playing some songs and using some simple, simple strumming patterns? Absolutely. Can I get you, you know, playing the way you want or envision you should play in 90 days? No. It, it does take years. Learning guitar is a lifetime experience, you know, and a lot of students, you get to that point, you know, and it's usually around 90 days. All right? It's usually around 90 days. And if this resonates with you, you know, put a little one in the chat for me. But around 90 days, you start kind of plateauing because you start realizing that this is actually hard. This, this is hard. That C chord stinks. I hate the D chord. Ah. I, I can't get my strumming in time. And then that self doubt, that excitement that you started with in the beginning starts fading and that self doubt starts creeping in a little bit and you're kind of trying to, you start reinforcing of, you know what? I was right. I'm not capable of doing this. I can't do this. All right? I was right. I am too old for this. You know, that teacher that I had 20 years ago who told me that I stunk at guitar was right. So that's what happens with a lot of students. And why students quit is they get into it. Yep. Thank you, Clifford. Appreciate you putting that one down there. Just so people, you know, you're not alone, okay? We're not alone in this self doubt that creeps in because you're like, you're going along and then you hit a point, you hit a rough patch, and that's just life. Right? You know, students always tell me, like, Lauren, you don't just teach guitar. Thank you, Kipper. You don't teach guitar. You also teach a life. And that's kind of what one of what this is today. This kind of like a life lesson today. But we get that self doubt that creeps back in when things get tough and we start trying to reinforce some of those false beliefs. Okay? And I. I just want to reiterate that, you know, I didn't have anyone in my family that played music. I had no natural. I stunk at the guitar, I stunk at singing. Let me tell you a story because this one sits with me. When I was younger, I think I was like 11 or 12, and we had a talent show at my elementary school. And now look at all now. The ones are really pouring in. We had a talent show at my elementary school and I really wanted to sing. I really wanted to sing. I hadn't taken any singing lessons yet. I never made the choir. They did choir tryouts and I. I tried out for the choir at my, you know, very strict Catholic school. And, you know, I wasn't good enough to make the choir in third grade. And then I tried out for the talent show and one of the moms said, you know, maybe. Maybe just like singing's not your thing, you should try something else. And in retrospect, you know, because I look at it and I say, yeah, I didn't have any singing lessons yet, but it wasn't that. It wasn't my thing. It was my thing. I wanted to do it, but I had someone else tell me, you know, that I wasn't good enough to do something that I wanted to do. And that kind of came back later.

When I tried to take voice lessons. I was taking piano lessons at the time and. And my piano teacher had a recital and there was a student there who did singing. And I was like, oh, wow. Singing Lessons, Great. Okay, I can start taking singing lessons so I can go after this thing that I really, really want to do. And the teacher said no, essentially, that they weren't going to teach me to sing, because again, probably didn't think I was going to be serious about it, you know, because I wasn't so serious about the piano lessons and her defense. But also, you know.

It was just adults thinking, like, this kid's not going to do it. And I lived with that for a long time, thinking, like, I'm not good enough to sing. I shouldn't be singing. And then when I was in my early 20s, I decided to start taking voice lessons so that I could be good enough. And that's the same thing for all you here on YouTube or whether you're in my course. I do have. Just so you guys know, I do have a beginner course. It's called the seven level system. I think there's a link pinned on the chat there. You guys can go check that out. But that's why you're here, because you have this desire, you know, in your heart that you want to do this on guitar. You've dreamed about it for years, for decades. You know, maybe someone gave you a guitar. I, you know, I had a student the other day who wrote to me from Hawaii, and they, they, I, I apologize that I'm forgetting the town, but it was the town that had the fires and, and burnt down, and, and they lost all their guitars. And they were telling me this story about how their mom gave them a guitar when, when he was younger. And, you know, he was able to save one of his guitars from the fires, but it was just something that he had always wanted to do from when he was younger and finally taking those steps to do it. Because, you know, let's face it, life happens. You have kids. I know a lot of you here are a lot of my students in the course, military veterans. All right, you went off to Vietnam, you came home, you started a family life happens, work. So things get. Things do get in the way. But for a lot of you, or at least a lot of my students, they're older now, they're getting into their 50s, 60s, they're retiring, and they're saying, there's this thing in the back of my head that I've always wanted to do, always wanted to do. But I remember I had that teacher who told me I couldn't do it. All right, I remember I played something for someone and they laughed at me. Or I played something for someone and it wasn't as receptive as I thought it was going to be. So you get disappointed and you take the guitar and you put it back in the closet or it ends up back in the basement and it starts collecting dust again. And then years go by and then you're like, I really want to do this. You know it in your heart. You know it in your heart that you want to do it. You're just not sure yet how to get there. All right? And I want you to know that all of this stuff is normal. This self doubt thing that you feel, it's normal. I still feel self doubt sometimes too. You know, when I watch someone like you got someone like Tommy Emanuel or those amazing guitar players, the tappers that, you know, they're doing these crazy amazing things on the guitar and you're just like, wow, you know, what am I doing with my life? You know? But I understand that I have an ability. I might not be able to do tapping, I might not be an Eddie Van Halen. All right, I might not be an Eric Clapton, but I have an ability to help students. And when I finally got out of that self doubt that I had about my guitar playing skills and my teaching skills, I don't have a degree in teaching. I don't even have a degree in music. Full transparency if you're shocked. I don't even have a degree in music. My degrees are in archeology in biology. Okay. I was, I come from a science background, not a music background. But you know, I got over that self doubt and I was like, you know what? Maybe I can't help someone become like an Ingv Malmsteen or like one of those shredders, but I can help someone strum along to Wonderful tonight. I can help someone play Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett. Rest in peace, Jimmy Buffett. You know, I can help someone play songs around the campfire and, and know, play happy birthday for their grandson at their birthday party. I can do those things. And when I finally realized that I was able to help people, I got over my self doubts as a teacher. So for you, you know, when you're feeling those self doubts with the guitar, you have to go back to the why? Why am I doing this? What is that desire? And we all have it. We all have it deep in here. There's this desire, There's a pull. That's only way to describe it is like there's a pull, a gravitational pull that keeps pulling you back to this instrument. Whether it's the music you listen to, memories from when you were younger. Whatever it is, there's something that keeps pulling you back to the guitar. And I want you to lean into that. I want you to lean into that and know that no matter what you're going through, no matter what handicaps you might have, you can do this. I have students who are missing fingers. All right. I'm very lucky. I still have all ten of my fingers. I have some students who are missing fingers. They're actually in my course. I have, because they asked me all the time, Lauren, I'm missing my middle finger. I'm missing my index finger. What do I do? I'm missing my pinky. Can I still do this? Can I still finger pick? And the answer is yes, you absolutely can. You absolutely can. You might have to modify things a little bit to adjust for the handicap. So for some students, I have many students, you know, they're mechanics or they lost a finger. And I, I recommend. Hey, switch around. All right. If you are a right handed person, all right, and you're missing digits on your left hand, flip it around, play lefty, because now your right hand has all the digits. Okay, Lauren, can you do that? Yes, you can do that. All right. You will overcome any deficiencies as you practice. It's always better to go with your dominant hand, I believe. But if that handicap is big enough, it might be better to flip it around. All right. Some of you might know Django Reinhardt. He was a, I think, gypsy jazz guitar. And he came up with those stuck like glue chords that I teach you about because he was in a fire and his pinky finger and his third finger got fused together so he. He couldn't play guitar like everyone else. So he figured out how to play guitar for himself with his handicap and his disability. And that's why I tell people, oh, thank you, Henry. I appreciate that. S. Henry, I don't know the first name, but hate the G chord. I know you might like the stuck like glue G chord, but someone like Django, he could have given up and said, you know what? I've got this handicap. I can't do this. And instead he let his desire that pull for this instrument. He let the pull lead him and he created all these.

He just played chords in a different way so that he was always kind of using these two fingers on the bottom strings. Okay. And there's lots of songs, guess they're also kind of called your cowboy chords and stuff, but there's lots of songs that you can play that way. And he was a very, very famous guitarist. And he had a deformity on his fretting hand and was able to do it. So someone says the F chord is appropriately named. Yes, yes, that F chord. Oh, I'll tell you the progression so that you guys know the self doubt that these are the things that make you start second guessing. So usually when I start students, if you're in my seven level system, you know, we start with like the easy C chord, G, E minor, D. And usually the first chords people hate are the C chord and the D chord because there's usually like one string that's muting somewhere. Not a lot of people hate the G chord. And there's different ways to go about playing the G chord and the E minor chord. People are usually fine, but people tend to hate the C and D chord until they learn the A chord. Because then they have to figure out what's the best way to play the A chord without that, the string muting. So then you figure out how to play the A chord and then you learn an F chord and you're like, C and D are easy compared to the F chord. But that's, that's the process of learning. There's always going to be something that's going to push you out of your comfort zone, that's going to challenge you and it's going to make you second guess. Yeah, we got a lot of people in the chat talking about that F chord. If you hate the F chord, put a 1 in the chat right now. If you've tried playing that F chord and it sounds kind of like that, totally normal, okay? And that's another thing about self doubt is we think we're the only one experiencing this. Yeah, look at the ones, okay? You are not the only one who can't do this. Okay? We play the F chord and we're like, this stinks. And then you put the guitar down, you're like, I'm not gonna play it again because I can't play this F chord. Look at it. Look at all the ones in the chat. Oh, Tom says, learn to love the F. I like that. Tom. Tom, I'm gonna see you in a couple weeks at the Boston. Can't wait. But look at all these ones in the chat. Okay? So that is something you need to understand when you're hitting a plateau point. When you hate the C chord, you hate the D chord and your timing's off and oh, I just can't get it. Now I'm learning this bar chord and it sucks. And it's the F chord and I Know why it's called the F chord now. You're not alone. You're not alone. And that's why, you know, I have the private community with my course, so that you can reminisce with people. Tom is, you know, he's one of the people that's in the community and we share our ups and downs there. You know, people will post, I'm, I can't do this. I'm ready to give up. And then, you know, you'll get four or five responses from other students being like, I know exactly how you feel. That's how I felt. I was in the same point as you, but now I'm over it and this is how I overcame it. And I'm just going to turn.

My phone off so I don't get any more texts. I, you know, knowing that you're not alone is so important. Is so important. And that's what we think. We think when we start making these mistakes or that we can't get the upstrom, the timing's off a little bit. We in that little self doubt pops into the head again. You start thinking, I gotta be the only one, I have to be the only one who's going through this. Right. And the answer is no. The answer is probably everyone has gone through the same challenges you're going through on learning the guitar. It's not easy. It's not an easy answer. If anyone tells you it's easy, they're lying to you. Okay. It's not easy. Like I said in the beginning, are there things we can do to make it easier? Yes. So if you hate this three fingered C chord, hey, we can try a two fingered C chord. We can try a one finger C chord. People are like, oh, you can do that? And it's like, yes, it's a C chord. That's a C chord. Also a C chord. Okay. This is also a C chord. You know, we can do, we could do a bar chord. This is also a C chord, you know, and there's many other ways to play a C chord on guitar. But I just want you to understand that what you're going through, you're not going through it all by yourself. Every guitar player in the history of guitar playing has gone through the same trials and problems. Yeah. Still avoiding the B chord. That's understandable. That B chord is, is a B.

The F chord is an F chord for a reason. And the B chord is a B. Yep. So, you know, but those are, those are natural challenges that come up with the guitar. So the Bottom line that I want you to understand is one, you have to start with the belief that this is possible, okay? Especially if you're an older learner. Look around. Are there other people who are older than me who are learning the guitar? The answer is yes, and I know because I'm teaching them. I will guarantee you I have someone in my program that is older than you that is learning guitar, that is strumming and playing along to songs they know. I will guarantee it. Okay? Unless you're 100, I don't think I have any hundred year olds in my course yet. But if you are, I would love for you to take my course, because then I can say, hey, I had a hundred year old, so none of you have any excuses. But like I said, the majority of my students in my course, 60 years old, 70 years old. I do have a number of people who are in their 80s, so if you're any younger than that, you definitely got no excuses. The best time to learn to play guitar was 20 years ago. Okay? But the next best time is right now. Okay, I'll tell you a story. I actually just sent an email out about this the other day. I had a student that worked with me in. In Covid. And I found out recently, a bunch of us in the community found out that she had. She had passed away. And I don't know. I don't know what happened. I know she was in the hospital for a while, but she was only 57. Okay. And I read her obituary because I was trying to understand. Maybe they put in what happened. What. You know, was she sick? And there was a line in the obituary that said her favorite. One of her favorite pastimes was playing guitar. And I read that line, and it made me feel. I'm gonna. I'm gonna. Don't. I'm not gonna cry. It made me feel so. I don't even know how to describe it. I was so happy. I was very sad, you know, that she's not with us anymore. But I was so happy that. I'm sorry. Whoa. Just so you can see how much I care about my students, I was so happy to see that that made her obituary, that her. Her family realized how important that was to her. And I was so happy to be a part of her life for that. So just goes to show you that one. We none of us know how much more we have on this earth. Okay? Covid was only three years ago. And I'm so happy that during COVID she decided that, you know, now is the time that I'm gonna do this thing that I always wanted to do. She loved music. She was always posting about, you know, what concert she was going to. She was a spitfire. And, you know, it's just an example of, you know, some of, you know, I had cancer when I was younger, when I was 16. And that's something that's always in the back of my mind is like, when is this thing gonna come back? You know, that's whenever you have cancer, that's your number one thought. I don't think about it all the time, but it comes back. You're just like, when is this gonna come back? Like, am I gonna make it to 80 or am I gonna die at 50? Because my aunt died of pancreatic cancer when she was 51. And, you know, I. I hear students say all the time, someday I'm gonna do it. Someday I'm gonna do it. Someday. And eventually someday becomes never. So if you're one of those people, even if you can't afford my course, that's why I do so much for free here on YouTube and on my website. I'm sorry. Gonna, like, just clear my tears for here a little bit. I. That's why I do so much free here on YouTube and on my website. I have so many students who write to me like, I can't afford your course. And if you are a military veteran, we do offer a military discount on my course. I think it's 20 or 25% off the course. If you are a military veteran, just shoot us an email and we'll give you the coupon code. I don't know it off the top of my head, but just shoot an email to info infoaurenbatement.com. if you are a military veteran, just let us know where you served, what you did, and we'll give you that coupon. Because I really do appreciate all of our veterans out there and what you've done for us. Even if you're not in the United States, if you served in a. In a different country, you know, you were serving your country. So just. Just let us know. We will extend that out to anyone.

That is a veteran and fought for their country.

So going back to that. Sorry, I just went off on a tangent on that. But, you know, whatever you can afford, okay? If you can do the free route, I'm here. Okay, I'm here. I'm uploading new videos every week. I'm here live with you guys if you can afford the course. Awesome, Great. Go do it. Whatever you can to make this Happen. I couldn't afford lessons in the beginning. I was mostly self taught myself. Okay. I didn't come from a rich family. I took piano lessons. I wasted them. We couldn't afford, you know, when I wanted to play the guitar, they're like, we're not going to waste the money because we didn't have a lot of extra money. I think my, my grandfather actually paid for my piano lessons. My parents didn't pay for my piano lessons. I found one of his checks after he passed away. I found an old check and I, I think I still have it in my office somewhere. And it was like $80 for that month for lessons or it might even been less. I think it was like $15 a lesson back then. But he paid for it for the lessons. So my family, we couldn't really afford to pay extra money for lessons. So I did what a lot of you here on YouTube are doing, okay? You're trying to just get what you can for free. And I'm here to help you guys. I'm here. Go over to my website, laurenbatement.com. there's tons of songs over there for you to learn for free. There's lots of tips and techniques. Go take my free crash course. Okay? Go to laurenbatement.com There's a button that says, you know, get your free course. Take the free crash course. Get a good foundation, get a good starting point. Okay? Whether you pay me money or not, that's not important. The most important thing is that you get started today. Get started today and dedicate. Make this a priority. Because if it's not a priority, it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. And that's why, you know, I tell students, if you can afford to buy the course, buy the course. Because when you put money into something, I know when I buy something like, you know, when I buy a nice guitar, I'm like, I better play that guitar. I'm not gonna waste all that money on the guitar. But hey, if you're someone who's on, you know, a limited income, I got, you know, there's people here from all over the world. Again, put where you're in from the chat. I got people who live in, in Thailand. I have people who live in the Philippines. There's people from all over where, you know, $297 US is a lot of money when you convert it. Okay? So there's a lot of people in this chat right now that can't afford to buy the course because the conversion is, is just too high. But they're here. You're on this chat right now. You are here. You are showing up, okay? You are showing up. Keep that energy. Don't lose that. Because the moment you lose that, this thing ends up back in the closet, back in the basement, gathering dust, okay? That's where it goes. So if you're doing something, keep going. Don't stop. I support you no matter what. I just want to let you know that I believe in you. You can do this. You can 100% do this. Because I've taught so many people who were told they couldn't do it to actually play the guitar, okay? I used to teach in person all the time, and I would hear the sob stories that people. I had a voice student one time who came in. She had an opera teacher in Boston, okay? This, this older opera teacher who was, like, very renowned. And she said at the end of one of my lessons one day, my, my teacher said, we're done. We're done. And she just didn't sing for two years. This student, this teacher destroyed this student's soul, essentially because this student just wanted to sing. So when she finally came to me, I think she was in her late 50s. She came to me and she's like, all I want to do is sing. But I had this teacher who made me feel really bad about my voice and the fact that I could do this. And I said, listen, I, I, you, I'm never going to tell you you can't do this. And I said, as long as you show up here every week, I will do everything in my power to help you sing. And she did. She took lessons for years. She performed in a band, okay? She ended up taking piano lessons later. And it just goes to show you, just because you had one person in your life not believe in you doesn't mean you should stop believing in yourself. So if you had someone in your life that told you you weren't good enough, you couldn't do it. I had lots of people who told me that. And it's having someone that believes in you. So I'm going to be that person for you, okay? Whether you're in my course, Whether you're a YouTube person, whether you're on the mailing list, I don't care if you've, even if you've never given me a penny in my life, I believe in you, okay? And you can do this. We all can do it. All right? So if you're having some self doubts, I know you can do it. You got this. Keep going, Keep going. Because once you get over that hump, it's amazing. It's amazing. It is. Lovely. So the number one factor for success in guitar is just the belief in yourself, that you can do it. It's that Thomas the Tank Engine. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. You can. I'm telling you, you absolutely can. Do not give up on yourself. It gets hard, all right? It's not easy. It gets hard. Don't give up. You've got this. I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday. We have some new lessons that are going to be coming out. I'm going to be doing some recording tomorrow, so I look forward to seeing you all in a lesson video real soon. Bye, everyone.