# It's Not You — It's Your Guitar
The worst mistake I've seen in 25 years of teaching has nothing to do with how you practice. Nothing to do with talent.
It has everything to do with the guitar itself. And the worst part — you might not even know it's happening.
And I'm not talking about playing a "cheap" guitar. Even a cheap guitar can be fixed with what I'm about to tell you.
Here's what I mean.
I've had students walk in, sit down, and struggle to play basic exercises and chords. They're pressing as hard as they can. The notes still sound like trash.
They start thinking:
"Maybe I'm too old."
"Maybe I just don't have it."
"Maybe my hands are too small."
But the second I pick up their guitar and try to play it...
I can barely play it either. And I've been playing for 30 years.
So what is the problem?
It's the action.
If you don't know what that means — it's how high the strings sit above the neck of the guitar. If they're too high, you have to press way harder than you should to get a clean sound.
It turns every chord into a fight. It makes practice feel like punishment. And it makes you think you're the problem — when you're not.
It's a super easy fix, but I never learned how to do it myself.
I watched my dad try to fix his guitar to save money, but he ended up making it even worse. Then he had to pay someone else to fix his mistakes. He would've saved money if he'd just taken it in.
If you're a DIY person, I'm sure you can find tons of tutorials on how to set your action.
But here's what I do, and what I'd recommend.
Find a local guitar shop or ask around for a good setup guy in your area. Tell them you want a "basic setup." They'll lower the action and adjust your intonation (tuning).
How low is a personal preference — I like mine as low as possible without causing fret buzz.
If practice feels harder than it should — it might not be you.
It might just be your guitar.