The founder of justinguitar.com lends GT his insight as one of the world’s most successful guitar teachers. This Month: Do Not Try.

There are as many questions as answers this month confesses Justin

you don’t feel it, you don’t do it. Do not try. Do not try to write,”

"W I heard my hero Neil Young say on a TikTok clip. It echoes a brilliant poem by Charles Bukowski called So You Want To Be A Writer. Look it up. It holds a lot of truth, but not the whole truth. Is developing expression something that takes time and practice? There will be many questions here and a few stabs at answers, but this article is about uncertainty and an elusive definition…

When you first start doing anything it’s likely to be clumsy - you need time to learn the fundamental skills that make the art. Right? But is expression related to skill or technique? When a child dances along with music, they are feeling the music and expressing themselves, and probably in a much purer way than an adult might. They’re not worried about how things ‘should be done’, or that others might judge them… they’ve not been burdened with rules yet. So why do we struggle so much to tap into that feeling of expression when we learn an instrument?