Subject: Getting Good on Guitar
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, Whether you are a "rusty rocker" trying to regain your chops from years ago, or you are just getting started with guitar, the first few weeks of practice and lessons can be brutal.Your fingers will ache. Chords will be hard memorize - even harder to play clearly. Switching between two chords will be painfully slow. Your body is going to fight you in the beginning because it doesn't know how good guitar is for your soul. You can easily find yourself thinking aloud, "How long is it going to take to get good playing this thing?" While most people are thinking of the physical aspect of playing guitar (and consequently the technical ability), it's the mental approach to learning guitar that will really determine how long it will take. I have good news and bad news... Bad news first. I can't tell you how long it's going to take. For every person that picks up a guitar, the length of time is different. Why? Consider this... First the physical. Some people have a lot of dexterity in their fingers. Others can quickly remember chord shapes and locations. Most of you youngsters are quick, nimble and have lots of energy to burn. Guitar might come easily to you. Some of us have physical limitations that make it difficult to stretch across the fingerboard. Whether you've got old wounds, or are just getting old and crusty (hey, I resemble that remark!), it might take some extra stretching to make the fingers obedient. Maybe you've been "graced" with small hands and have to work extra hard to reach the sixth string. Or you could have the opposite "problem" - great big hands that make the guitar neck look like a toothpick in your grip. I say these are only limitations as long as you allow them to be. There are countless examples of people who have not allowed the physical "reality" to stop them from reaching their goals. Now for the mental... To you, what does it mean to be good? You have to define that for yourself. Obviously there are going to be differences in what you consider good versus what someone else considers good. As you're deciding what level you want your skills to be, take some time to think about the type of player you want to be. Do you aspire to be a guitar virtuoso like Steve Vai or Andy Timmons? That's going to take years and a singe-minded focus to achieve. If your goals are more in line with "singer/songwriter," playing guitar at that level is not going to be necessary. You'll want to have the ability to play along to a beat and understand creating cool chord progressions and melodies, but you're not going to need to have that technical skill to accomplish your dreams. If you're more interested in guitar as a hobby, as long as you can get the basics of chords and rhythm, you can carve out good enough chops to accompany family and friends in the camp fire sing-along. The problem is, most of us have some mental chatter getting in the way of allowing it to just happen. This is where the real battle has to be fought and won. We hear things in our head like "Oh, this is too hard for me to do," or "gosh, that didn't sound like how the song should sound," or "I'll never get this right." BS. When we let that chatter go on, it slows us down and keeps us from having the breakthroughs we want. Let it go. Set your mind to ignoring any of that negative crap that's telling you you can't do what you want to do. Here's the good news... There is always a way to get what you want. In anything you want to do - guitar included. I'm not going to tell you it will be easy, and I'm not going to tell you it'll be quick, but you can always find a way to reach your goals. It really doesn't matter what I say about the amount of time it will take. You control how quickly (or slowly) you progress to reach the guitar goal you've set for yourself. I believe a good starting point is this... Decide what "being good" means to you. Decide on when you want to achieve that level. Start with some fundamentals to begin to grow your physical chops. Memorize the open chord shapes and some basic scales. Learn some simple songs. Find yourself a good teacher, whether online or in your town. Then get to work. If your teacher tells you to play a chord change of C to Am 500 times, just do it. Don't quit after the twentieth time because you get bored. Remember what happened when the Karate Kid did the monotonous chores in a very specific way (as instructed, even though he didn't like it)? When it came time to need those movements, he didn't have to think about it. His muscles just acted. The more you can work at it, the faster it will be yours. Rock it out! 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.
|
