What Makes a Good Guitarist?

Many people want to be good guitarists. To be clear, when I say "good guitarist" I mean guitar-hero-good, not local-bar-playing-good. However, there are few people out there who actually achieve this level of ability. Certainly, I have not. However, I would still like to comment on what I think makes a good guitarist. It is not the focus of this essay to comment on lightning fast fingers or a solid rhythmic ability. I do not believe that a good guitarist needs to have perfect pitch or supersonic sight reading abilities. My goal is to identify qualities of great guitar players that transcend any stylistic considerations. There are great guitarists in every genre of music and my goal is to identify what they all have in common.

The first and probably most important quality of a good guitarist is desire. Whether you are a finger-pickin' country hillbilly or a death metal shredder, you have to want to be a guitarist. A lot of people wish they were guitarists - like when a chick is around that they want to impress, or right after they get their favorite artist's new album - but I am talking about a real burning desire to only play guitar. You have to eat, sleep, and think guitar. This desire is what will drive you to continue practicing when all your friends are out on the town or when the newest movie hits the theater or when the home-team makes the play-offs. Ask any great guitarists out there, guitar is number one.