A lot of parents UNDERESTIMATE what kids can do! And one for certain area is on the guitar, or any instrument, for that reason. Let’s explore how to make them turn from average players, to GREAT!
It ALL starts down to the ENVIRONMENT the kid is in, that can determine whether he is going to be great at the guitar, or ANYTHING for that matter.
It ALL Starts With The Environment The Kid Has
YES, sometimes when a kid is growing up in a bad environment he can and sometimes does succeed but it is best if he grows up in a good environment, if possible.
Because some kids, “grow up in tha hood’’ as they have been known to say of those that grow up to be super stars and such. Such as Justin Bieber, who’s environment was that of a poor upbringing and living in public housing at a young age.
In which his dad installed into him a fighting spirit after being bullied in school which changed his environment to where he wouldn’t let anyone bully him anymore because every time they bullied him, he pushed back, as ice hockey toughened him up also to give him a fighting spirit.
At two years old his mom bought him a set of drums and then later on, she bought him a second hand guitar. And eventually he just started to play the piano on his own without any instructions or lessons, as he would just listen to things on the radio.
And then he would just go away and get a keyboard and just work on it himself. He never read music, he said he could just feel it, it just seeps through his skin because music is completely in his bones.
Then he discovered Michael Jackson. Listening to his musical heroes like Michael Jackson in his bedroom, he dreamed of escaping his small town environment.
Quite how he was gonna do that remained to be seen, at the time. Like a lot of young people, Michael Jackson had a HUGE influence on Justin Bieber, as was told in the Documentary on YouTube title: Justin Bieber: Rise To Fame (FULL Documentary), below.
Then he discovered Michael Jackson. Listening to his musical heroes like Michael Jackson in his bedroom, he dreamed of escaping his small town environment.
People can have a HUGE influence on us to propel us to GREATNESS. We just gotta get off our butts in order to achieve them, as you know most of us never will because we are to lazy too.
But those willing to overcome laziness can and will achieve greatness, such as will your child..
IF he is willing to put the work in and cause his or her vision to come to pass, (come true,) if that’s what they so desire because not everyone is willing or wants to become famous or great, they just want to live normal lives, as there is nothing wrong with wanting to be that way.
People can have a HUGE influence on us to propel us to GREATNESS. We just gotta get off our butts in order to achieve them, as you know most of us never will because we are to lazy too.
But some kids want greatness as well as fame. Whether that is the fame of just a group of friends and acquaintances seeing it.
Or maybe they just want small town fame because they live in a small city. Or maybe they want big time fame because they live in a big town.
Or maybe they want it ALL like Justin Bieber, and they want WORLDWIDE fame. Whichever one they want is perfectly fine.
So how do you create an environment like this for kids? And if you’re a kid reading this, how do you, yourself create this environment? Good question!
Creating The Environment To Become Great!
Ever wonder how great or famous people became that way? Was it because they woke up one day and sha-bang! They were great?!! Like that old show Shazam, where he could just go into his full size R. V. or, if no one seen him, just all of a sudden call out, Shazam!!! And in one split second he would be a Super Hero, able to accomplish any task set forth in front of him? Not quite.
Not quite, it doesn’t work like that for us. Whether it took them a short amount of time to achieve this status and level. They too also had periods of struggle at first.
We’ve ALL seen a person that at one time sucked and then a few months down the line, they were great. How’d they do that? We say. I just beat him in basketball a couple of weeks ago and now they are, “Tha man!”
We’ve ALL seen a person that at one time sucked and then a few months down the line, they were great. How’d they do that? We say. I just beat him in basketball a couple of weeks ago and now they are, “Tha man!”
I just cleaned his clock out in P. E. class by beating him around the track and now he smoked me, beat me!
HOW ARE THEY DOING ALL THIS? You ask! It’s quite simple, they got away and practiced their skill or skills and kept improving on them often getting help from friends and acquaintances of how to improve.
They put themselves into an ENVIRONMENT where they could improve. Such was the case with Justin Bieber. His Mom, his busking environment, as well as himself caused him to improve, vastly, REAL quick.
His love of what he was doing also played a role in his environment, that caused him to greatness.
Because you need a mixture of help from others, an environment of people around you at times, that are better than you and a LOVE for what you do to cause you to go OVER the hump and propel you to become better, to become, “Tha Man!” As they say.
The powerful Wilt Chamberlain 
Even the master LeBron James needs help
But of course, keeping your ego in check as people hate it if you gloat about and try to act like, your ALL that.
I Became GREAT Without Even Knowing It!
Kinda like what happened to me when I was in the 4th grade, this guy had a BIG ego and everyone was telling me he had a big ego and I didn’t even know what a ego was at that age.
And all the kids kept telling me he wanted to race me and that he could kick my butt in racing, in running. I was on the football team and so was he. And he kept taunting me to race him.
And me, in my own kid mind didn’t think nothing of it. I honestly didn’t have it really catch my attention of it being a big deal, like everyone was making it out to be.
And it was a big deal to them, but me, I never really noticed it as being such. So this went on for like a whole month of him saying and telling others he wanted to race me because when we did run in football practice he would be at the other camp, so we never could race each other.
Finally the day came when he was practicing around me and the team and everyone kept saying, race him, race him. And I remember it quite well, like it was yesterday, of how he looked, as well as that ego looking, look on his face. It was as if he was getting this power from somewhere, where his ego was supplying him strength and energy.
Finally the day came when he was practicing around me and the team and everyone kept saying race him, race him.
I still didn’t know it was a big deal and it was just a normal day for me. I guess he must of been watching me for like a whole month and was watching me run in football practice, as well as the tiring laps they kept making us run after practice.
Well anyway, as I thought about it over the years, I do realize that he was looking at me running and saying to himself, “MAN! I can beat this fool!”
We had three coaches on our football team and one of the coaches got real extremely upset with this guy over the month, the weeks of him constantly telling everyone he could beat me and clean my clock in the process of beating me.
Because not only was he gonna beat me, he was going to decimate me and beat the heck out of me in racing.
So we finally get ready to race and EVERYONE was watching. And the coach told us when I say go, you both start running and we will see who wins. So we get in our ready stances and everyone is making a big deal about, you would of thought I was on T. V. or something, all the hysteria, action, everyone was making.
So coach told us where to run to, where the race was going to end. So the coach says, GO! And I’m running, the guy who wanted to race me was running, and it was easy money for me because I was used to my coach tormenting us with constant drills of running and push ups and sit ups and things, so to me, this ain’t nothing to run.
So anyway, we are running and I was Way well ahead of him and I could see his ego slowly deflating from his face and as I beat him by a clear shot, a good distance, everyone starts yelling that I won and such.
And this guys ego just left his face completely, I never seen, even to this day of a ego this deflated. I didn’t even know I hurt him tremendously by beating him in running.
This guy had his head down in humiliation and just stayed that way the rest of the practice. Believe it or not, I STILL didn’t see what the big deal was that I beat him because I was just a kid.
But to everyone else including the kid who raced me, it was a big deal.
I said all that, to say this, is that I beat him because I was ALREADY practicing, applying my skills, through constant running around the track in football practice.
The constant starting and going. The constant push ups and sit ups and torture, the coaches put us through, in my side of the football camp, caused me to become this great, larger than life, person, I had become, by constant practicing.
The constant starting and going. The constant push ups and sit ups and torture, the coaches put us through, in my side of the football camp, caused me to become this great, larger than life, person, I had become, by constant practicing.
Because unbeknownst to me, I, without knowing it, was put into an environment where I was a beast of high proportions, so to speak (lol) because our coaches were all unbelievably mean and cruel to us.
Because if we made one little mistake in practice or even lost a game, it was immediate discipline of do 10 push ups, 20 push ups, 50 sit ups, run here, run there, do this, do that.
And that was for each mistake meaning if we did 5 mistakes that practice it was equal to 50 push ups and hundreds of sit ups and lots more running and such.
They constantly yelled at us, barked at us because they wanted to win games so bad, that they would do this to us. And it worked as far as us becoming great at what we did. As I had energy to take on the world because of it. Even at this young age.
Now am I saying you need to go through the wringer to achieve greatness? A torture plan of doing anything to become great and famous? Maybe you do, in order to become way, way, better than before.
This is why you see your friends, enemies and foes beating you at everything. Whether they know it or not, they are becoming better than you because of their constant practicing, playing of sports or instruments and things. And you maybe you haven’t practiced or played enough.
Now What A Minute You Bust Your Butt Trying To Become Great
Maybe you have practiced a lot, you have played a lot and you still are sorry at what you do. And if not sorry, then maybe you are just average, then what?
Well, when it comes to sports, you can’t always win them all because we all come in different shapes and sizes. Some are huge and tall, so they are able to play sports wayyyy better than you could ever dream….
But there is somethings that no one can ever beat us at, and it is an even playing field, and that is the playing of musical instruments,…. the guitar, the bass, the keyboard, the piano, any instrument, as well as our voice, we can hang with the best, if we practice enough.
But there is somethings that no one can ever beat us at, and it is an even playing field, and that is the playing of musical instruments,…. the guitar, the bass, the keyboard, the piano, any instrument, as well as our voice, we can hang with the best, if we practice enough.
Now am I saying you can be the best, better than everybody? No! But some of you WILL, There is ALWAYS someone better than us in EVERYONE of our lives but we must do the BEST at what WE can do, in order to become the best and famous, as far as doing our best.
How famous and great you become is up to you. By the practice you put into it, as well as the playing of said instrument you play. Reach for greatness, fame. Find out where you fit in the ladder of success.
Are you only destined for the lower part of the ladder, where it is only that of local fame, where only your friends and acquaintances notice you?
Or are you on the middle of the ladder, you are half way there on the ladder and you have at least city wide or statewide fame?
Or are you on top of the ladder, where you have worldwide fame? It’s up to YOU where you want to be on the ladder.
It’ll come only by working on your talents. How hard you work determines where on that ladder you will be…. as well as some NATURAL talents you have. As ALL of us have our own unique talents, that NO one has, but us.
If you need to look at getting a guitar instrument, look into these and tell your sons and daughters, or if you’re a kid, tell your parents that these are the best guitars for the price by clicking on my next article, hot and ready for you, to read now. Click here to see them.
Related Questions
What size guitar do teens need to play guitar? I would always recommend the normal size guitar only because if you get a smaller guitar, then when they grow bigger, they won’t be used to a playing a normal size guitar, causing possible frustration. Only get a smaller size, if teen is too small.
Can a small child play a normal size guitar? Yes, look at Justin Bieber, how small he was, when he was a child holding that big guitar, making beautiful sounds coming out of it. And it it didn’t impede his performance. Find it on YouTube by typing: Justin Bieber was poor 🙁 he looks so sweet!
How do I motivate my child to play guitar? One is by placing a guitar in your house, where your child can see it, as it will tempt them to want to play it, kids always like objects to play with. Also, take your child to concerts to see great guitar players, this may entice them to want to play it.
Photo credits:
Justin Bieber turning his head on stage photo courtesy of Joe Bielawa: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Shazam photo courtesy of Don Merwin/flicker.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Wilt Chamberlain public domain photo courtesy of Tullio Saba/flickr.com https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
LeBron James photo courtesy of Eric Drost/flickr.com https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Kid on ladder of success photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash
