3 Big Obstacles Stopping Your Jazz Guitar Progress (and How to Get Past Them)

Let me tell you something I see all the time as a jazz guitar teacher: passionate players working really hard… but still feeling stuck.

They’ve got all the right books. They’ve practiced their scales in 12 keys. They've memorized chord shapes until their fingers go numb.
And yet — they’re still not playing jazz the way they want to.

So, on a little walk through my neighborhood (yep, birds and all), I filmed this video to talk about the three big obstacles that stop jazz guitarists from moving forward. These aren’t technical barriers — they’re mental traps. And once you see them clearly, they lose their power.

Let’s dive in.

Obstacle #1: “I Have to Learn Everything First”

So many players tell me things like,

“I can’t play ‘All The Things You Are’ until I learn all my scales in every position.”

Wait — what?

You already know the melody and chords. You’re itching to improvise. But instead of doing the thing you want to do, you're waiting until you’ve mastered some abstract concept.

That’s like saying you can’t speak until you memorize every word in the dictionary.

Let’s bust this myth: You don’t need to master all your scale positions before you start improvising. In fact, you learn to improvise by improvising.

Play the tune. Ornament the melody. Try targeting chord tones. Start making music — that’s where the real learning begins.

Obstacle #2: “There’s Just Too Much to Practice”

This one’s sneaky.

Sometimes we convince ourselves we’re not progressing because there's just “too much to do.” We get overwhelmed. So we freeze up — or worse, we start thinking we're not good enough.

Years ago, a student told me,

“Marc, you gave me too much to practice!”

I had given him a time-based plan: “Practice X for 50% of your time, Y for 30%, Z for 20%.” No long list. Just percentages.

So how is 100% of your practice time too much to practice? 😄

Here’s the truth: You don’t need to master everything before your next lesson. Show up. Take the next step. Use the time you have and keep going.

Progress happens one bite at a time. Not by staring at the whole elephant.

Obstacle #3: “I Don’t Need Feedback — I Already Know What You'll Say”

This one breaks my heart.

I’ve had students not send in their video assignments because they think they already know what I’ll say.

“You’re just going to tell me to play it faster… or better, right?”

Nope.

When you send in a video for feedback (in our Accelerator Program or anywhere), the goal isn’t to shame or scold. It’s to show you what you can’t see yet. You don’t know what you don’t know — and that’s where a teacher can open doors you didn’t know existed.

Feedback is not “do better.”
It’s “here’s what’s working — and here’s the one or two high-impact things you can tweak next.”

Final Thoughts

The takeaway here?
Don’t let made-up rules or false beliefs hold you back.

You don’t have to know everything.
You don’t need 4 hours a day to practice.
And you definitely don’t need to figure it all out alone.

Just take the next step.
Then the next.
Then the next.

🎁 By the way — if you want help with this, grab the free Pinnacle Method eBook and video course I made just for jazz guitarists like you. It’s a full system to help you focus on what really matters.

Keep swinging,
– Marc