My first guitar came via Santa Claus enclosed in some very nicely wrapped and subsequently and savagely torn apart wrapping paper one Christmas morning some time in the 1980s. It was a small, nylon-stringed classical style acoustic guitar. I was pretty excited to rock from that first moment but, of course, couldn’t really rock much because I didn’t know how to play the thing. Within weeks, I was going to weekly guitar lessons at the local music store in the majestic, scenic, and bustling metropolis of Enumclaw, WA. (Population about 6000)

About a month later, I begged my mom to let me stop taking lessons and she obliged.

That guitar sat around in a bedroom closet at my grandma’s house for several years after that.

When I was 12, Guns ‘n’ Roses happened. I got a shiny red electric guitar this time. It, too, ended up in the closet. Before long, I had enough closeted song-makers to fill a studio audience for an episode of “Glee”.

Finally, at the age of 14, Santa sent me a Guitar World magazine with a picture of a really smiley Eddie Van Halen on the front and a transcription of “Yesterday” by the Beatles on the inside. I went into my bedroom, grabbed my shiny red neglected electric guitar and learned how to play the verse melody. I wasn’t very good. It was the first song I had ever tried to learn. I played it for my mom and she said that I had no guitar playing talent and that I should give it up.

Can you believe that?

You shouldn’t.

It’s not true.

My mom was very encouraging and because of her encouragement, I practiced lots, had fun, and got better. I imagine that if my mom had actually told me that I had no guitar playing talent and that I should give it up, I may have done just that. Moms are very important people.

For some reason, the above, heartbreaking scenario plays itself out time and time again when it pertains not to guitar playing, but to singing. Far too often, moms, dads, brothers, sisters, friends, and other people tell people that they have no singing talent and that they should give it up. I’m sure they don’t mean any real harm by it. Maybe they don’t realize that the voice is an instrument just like a guitar. Maybe people think that since they’ve owned their instrument (their voice) for a long time, they should be able to play it well without practice. I’m living testament to the fact that you can own an instrument for a long time and not be good at playing it. (See the story above.)

Here’s what I’m getting at. You’ve owned your voice your entire life but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to sing well the first, second, third, or fourth time you try. You’ve got to study and practice. I don’t often like to speak in absolutes, but I will tell you that if anyone tells you that you can’t sing, it’s not true. Don’t believe them. If you think you can’t sing well, don’t believe yourself. If you want to sing, you can. It requires studying and practice just like any other instrument. If you want to sing, you should. If anyone tells you that you can’t, they’re wrong. If you were to pick up a guitar or a tuba for the first time you probably wouldn’t be able to play it well and if someone told you that you had no chance of ever being good at it, you probably wouldn’t believe them. So, why would you believe it when someone tells you that you can’t sing?