Subject: Cut Yourself a Break, Man (Part 2)
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, In the last email, we talked about managing your expectations with regards to playing guitar. A quick recap: If you are trying to play songs without taking time to learn some guitar basics, you're going to be frustrated. This could lead to the early demise of your rock star aspirations (heck, any guitar playing ambition), and we don't want that happening!Playing guitar isn't the most intuitive endeavor. Sure, it looks like you can just pick it up, contort your fingers into weird positions on the neck and start strumming. But you find out in the first five seconds of trying that approach there's more to it than that - much more. Pro players make it look so easy! We forget that it took them years to develop their style. This fact can be discouraging to think about when you want to play right now, but I challenge you to change your mindset and instead be encouraged. You should be excited that you too can learn to play just like those pros. You just have to be willing to do the work to get there. I've read interviews with guys like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, both of which have said they were very average players. Neither one had any extraordinary talent or ability. They just decided guitar is what they wanted to do with their lives and then did the work to become great. And today they are each considered guitar virtuosos. The sooner you realize it's going to take a bit of time and practice to get past apparent blocks, the better. This knowledge alone can save you from making a decision you might come to regret in time (like quitting). So as I've said before, you have to build up a skill set of techniques that will allow you to play the guitar parts you're anxious to learn. That's one of the reasons you might choose to work with a guitar teacher - so they can guide you and give instruction in doses that will provide you the best opportunity for growth. Humans in general tend to be very impatient. At least in western culture, we want everything yesterday, and clever marketing has told us we CAN have everything, right now. That works fine for external things (providing you have the resources to pay for those things), but it doesn't usually work out too well when we're talking about learning a new skill or changing a habit. Wouldn't it be great if we had technology like in "The Matrix"? If you've ever watched the movie, it's really easy to learn a new skill in the Matrix. Just select the program you want, plug yourself in and the knowledge and expertise gets downloaded to you brain. Neo (the main character) was able to learn advanced martial arts in a matter of a couple hours. But the real training began when he squared off against Morpheus (Neo's mentor). Neo found out learning and applying are often very different things, not to mention 'mastering' something. Alas, not so easy here in the real world. Believe me, if there was a way to download all of Jimmy Page's or Joe Satriani's skills into my brain, I'd be figuring out a way to get it! My point: we first have to learn before we can begin to apply and master. And this takes time and practice. The old saying "Slow and steady wins the race" truly applies - here's why. If you can't play things at normal speed without making mistakes, you're not going to improve by continuing to struggle at that speed. All you're doing is training your muscles to remember those mistakes. Your finger muscles don't care what position your brain is putting them in (unless you're hurting yourself), and they will happily remember your improper technique. The more you play with poor technique or inefficient movement, the more engrained it becomes in your muscle memory. This applies to any guitar technique, whether it's learning chords, lead soloing, finger picking, scales or strumming. You can fix it, but only by changing your approach a bit. Go with the unconventional approach to learning guitar - slow down and play everything perfectly. From there you can begin to build up speed incrementally until you play perfectly at normal speed. The great benefit of this approach is that as you master each skill, you won't have to continue repeating the process of building up to speed. You will accelerate your ability, all because you slowed down and played perfectly. So that's my advice to you - slow down and enjoy the process. If you are learning on your own (teaching yourself - excellent beginner guitar course here), you're going to get a lot further with your skills by being focused on learning things correctly. You do this by playing something slowly and perfectly. Teach the muscles in your hands and fingers the proper movements and you will save yourself from having to correct bad habits later on. It won't take as long as you think. However, it will require discipline to implement this practice technique. Like I said before, we want to be able to do things yesterday. We don't want to wait or do the work. Don't be lazy and cheat yourself by continuing to play sloppy. You can do it - I know you can. And when you do, you'll be happy with the results. Rock on! Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. If you buy a product based on my recommendation, I will receive a commission. However, my emails also contain links that don’t require any investment on your part and are jam-packed with "juicy, guitar learnin' tastiness". We don't rent or share your name with anybody. Feel free to forward this issue to any friends you think would enjoy its contents. They will thank you. So will I.
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