Subject: Getting It Out There
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, Last week I wrote about the symbiotic relationship between stage fright and making mistakes to help us improve. We're instinctively afraid to make mistakes because we've been conditioned to worry about other people's perceptions of us.Just to be clear, the term "stage fright" is somewhat metaphorical, at least in my mind. You don't need to be performing on a stage to have stage fright. Any time you attempt something new and have the nervous jitters (or borderline vomiting!), you're experiencing a level of anxiety that can stop you in your tracks. This includes sharing your music - your "baby" - with the world. In order to grow and improve however, we have to be willing to take a chance and put ourselves out there - i.e. expose ourselves - for the world to experience. As musicians, this is the nature of the beast. We cannot hide our music - it requires physical mechanisms such as impulses and sonic waves, which exist in the air for all to hear (sure, you could argue using headphones as a way to keep your beats private, but the principles still apply). Like a tree in the woods, if a song is created in your cellar and there's no one to hear it, does it make any sound? Well yes, yes it does. It ain't philosophical - it's physics, baby! So what is the purpose of a song? Why do we make music? Learn over 400 songs from studio musicians! Let's think about this for a minute. There are so many possibilities why a musician is compelled to write a song. Here is a short list of ideas I've come up with - certainly not an exhaustive list, but this will get us started down the road. Songs can inspire. If you think about most musicals, many have songs written to showcase the character's "rise from the ashes." They're meant to lift the audience with hope and evidence of success. The music from "Les Miserables" is a perfect example - "One More Day" is filled with desperation and hope. Another song that seems to capture the essence of human potential is "I Sing The Body Electric" from the movie "Fame" (1980). I first saw the movie back in 1981, and I still get emotional to this day when I hear it. Many songs have been written to describe or share an emotion. Here's a great rocker from Donnie Iris & The Cruisers - "This Time It Must Be Love" (1982). Whether you like a song or not, certain music energizes us. We can't help but start to move and get excited when we hear songs like the title track from "Space Jam" (Let's Get Ready To Rumble) by Quad City DJs. Songs are fabulous vehicles to tell a story. If you think about it, a song is a poem with music to accompany it. Everyone loves a story, and when you put a story to music, you have a stronger opportunity to draw the listener in. Both "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot and "Billy Don't Be A Hero" by Paper Lace tell tragic stories, but it's the music that give the words the hooks to grab you. Songs also teach us, from our days starting out learning the alphabet to multiplication and politics. Sesame Street is a cornerstone in education; most children today spend time with Elmo and Big Bird on a daily basis. You can't go wrong having Ray Charles teaching you "The Alphabet Song". Schoolhouse Rock got us learning more advanced things. Here's one of my favorites: "3 Is A Magic Number". In fact, I still sing it to this day! But these are all incidental to the real underlying reason songs are created. Songwriters write songs to satisfy some inner need to be creative and ultimately, we make music to share it. Because songwriting is such a personal endeavor, many of us struggle to get past what we think of as our limitations. But that sensitivity can be a huge benefit, since music is such an emotional medium. By channeling our feelings from past experiences or placing ourselves in the mindset of someone else's experiences, we can really improve our writing and consequently make better music. Tapping in to those feelings can make our music resonate more strongly with the listener, but we won't truly know how we've done until we share the song with someone. Even the most reclusive of us feel a need to get our music and our ideas out into the world. And that requires action. [Side note: the Internet is awesome! We can collaborate with people from anywhere in the world, we can share our music without the need to go out on tour (although, I can see tons of benefits to that as well), there's access to any resource you may need and all you have to have is a computer and an Internet connection. It also can provide a way to get our music out in the world to "test the waters," anonymously if we're just too shy.] Action is the key to getting past our fears. That doesn't mean we won't be afraid to do something, but we will be able to better manage how we approach each scenario. Action leads to experience, experience leads to familiarity and eventually some level of comfort, familiarity and comfort allows us to do the work or passion without the fears we had when we started. We will probably never completely lose those feelings of stage fright, they just don't hold us back. There are many artists that continue having stage fright their entire careers - they've learned to manage it through action. In fact, many turn it around and choose to see it as the excited energy they need to get out on stage and do the performance. They have taken that feeling we usually characterize as nerves and turned it into a positive to help drive them towards giving the best show. They understand that their reason for performing is to share the music they have created If you think about it, that's a great way to approach any fear you have of sharing your music. Instead of concentrating on what's happening inside your body, focus on giving your audience the best show possible. Share your music, your gift, and let the passion you have for music show through. We musicians are a creative people. And as creatives, we are compelled to share. Most of us have to bulldoze past our own internal struggles to share our craft, but through action we can satisfy our need to bring more music into the world. Believe in yourself and move some hearts! Before I go, I just wanted to remind you of The Daily 5 Guitar Habit. If you want to play more guitar, you have to make it a habit to play every day. If you haven't signed up yet, jump here to get in! Lastly, I've talked about Guitar Tricks and shared some of their videos in the past. If learning popular songs by Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, The Eagles and so many more (over 400!) from studio musicians sounds cool to you, you have an opportunity to get an annual subscription to GuitarTricks.com for less than $9 a month! Check out the deal here. Rock on, Peeps! 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.
|
