What People Think Guitar Players Do All Day

We guitar players deal with a lot of different perceptions from the people in our lives. Whether it’s the disapproving eyes of our parents, the unrealistic expectations of our peers, or even our own distorted self-image, being a guitar player can be difficult.

Think about it: How would your best friend (who isn’t a musician) describe what you do? He or she might think that if you play music for a living, you must be a rock star who’s flying on private jets to arena shows every night.

What about your boss? When you told him “I play guitar” in your job interview, what was his first thought? There’s a 99 percent chance he envisioned you rocking out in front of your TV while furiously tapping your Guitar Hero controller.

There’s a strong chance a majority of society thinks you spend your time in the smoky haze of a dingy apartment and you’re probably a few months behind on your rent. Society might or might not be close to the truth… but in the end we all know what it really takes to be guitar players.

Playing guitar is about passion, and anybody who doesn’t play music will never understand that. But don’t worry, fellow guitarists—anyone who forms an opinion about us without really understanding what we do isn’t worth paying attention to anyway.

Tyler Larson is the founder of the guitar-centric brand Music is Win. His insightful, uncomplicated guitar lessons and gear demonstrations along with entertaining, satirical content about life as a musician receive tens of millions of video views per month across social media. Tyler is also the creator of the extremely popular online guitar learning platform, Guitar Super System. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Tyler has been teaching guitar for over a decade and operates a production studio in Nashville, TN.