“Music is a thing for kids that aren’t good at other things”: Ed Sheeran on how playing guitar helped him discover his self-worth
Ed Sheeran has opened up on how music helped him to build his self-esteem, as he felt he “wasn’t good at anything” as a child.
Sheeran – now a global pop mega-star, known for his smash hits Shape Of You and Perfect – now gives talks in schools to help inspire young people, and let them know that they only need one thing they’re good at to make a successful career, in the hopes of dissipating some of the pressure put on them to be multifaceted learners.
READ MORE: “We had permission to do this!”: Ed Sheeran gig shut down as police officer literally pulls the plug on his guitar
During an appearance on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast (via The Independent), he explains, “I’d love my legacy to be [that] any kid, anywhere, literally anywhere, goes, ‘I can do that too,’” he said. “Music is a thing for kids that aren’t good at other things, who don’t have a lot of self-worth or self-confidence…
“[Music] gives you so much worth and confidence in yourself as a human being and in school there’s so much importance put on, ‘You must be good at this subject [to] actually be a good human being and to go out in the world and achieve’, and I just wasn’t good at anything as a kid and I didn’t have a lot of self-worth because of that – I felt like I was stupid.”
He adds, “I was only good at music and that became my career, and when I go into schools and talk to people, I tell them you only need one thing that you’re good at, and then that is you for life… that is your career. And that is what I would love my legacy to be.”
Sheeran has also been known to perform music and donate guitars during his school appearances. He donated five guitars to a school in Brighton last May. He also works on his own guitar gear, having launched his own PA system with buskers in mind, and a number of loop pedals.
You can find out more about the Sheeran Loopers brand, or view the full list of his 2025 tour dates.
The post “Music is a thing for kids that aren’t good at other things”: Ed Sheeran on how playing guitar helped him discover his self-worth appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
