Playing guitar for the Right reasons: Lesson 1

My name is Brandon and I am 22. I've been playing guitar from the time I was 10 years old and I absolutely love it. Having taking lessons for numerous years and performing for six or 7 years, I have some knowledge on becoming a better guitarist, whether that is from a perspective of learning guitar from scratch, upgrading your gear, scoping out gigs, recording music, and networking with individuals. I want every aspiring musician to know that there is someone in their corner.
Like you, I once started guitar, not knowing how to play a single chord. I would dabble on a string here or there, and learn licks from my favorite artists. I slowly learned guitar chords from some friends, and in high school, soaked up every piece of information I could gather online from playing in a wide variety of styles on the internet. After developing my style, I moved into teaching lessons to my friends so they could impress their girlfriends. However, this slowly became a minor obsession because I love learning and teaching allowed me to show those around me how easy it is to learn guitar. As I have found out, the catch to becoming a great guitarist is perservence and an upbeat attitude. Simply put, I have definitely had my downs as a guitarist. I've had those moments where I felt like EVERYONE knew the same licks that I did. I even had dreams of battling middle schoolers who could shred compared to me. In fact, thats probably the case today because I don't practice guitar 8 hrs a day like some kids do. What I am to teach others is that guitar players will get callouses on their fingers, their fingers will stretch, and they will build mechanical skill as they practice little by little each day. However, I have years of experience sifting through numerous methods and teachers, and I can definitely get my students learning very quickly because I have had so much experience absorbing. Becoming a good guitarist is alot in the feel of the music. As Miles Davis once wrote, "it has taken me my life to figure out what notes not to play". Music is a vehicle for your emotion, and to be a great guitarist from DAY ONE, you need to set goals for yourself but at the same time enjoy the experience and not get caught up in playing the most technical piece of music. I have a video lesson for guys I posted on youtube where I demonstrate the 5 different positions of a guitar chord on the neck of guitar. You can get totally different sounds playing the same chords all of the neck. This has great application for songwriters as learning these positions and alternate tuning of guitar can get you thinking quite differently on the same chord patterns.