Hey Friend,

One of the nicest things about an acoustic instrument is the ability to play it without electricity.

Even with all the power outages, I was still able to get in some playing time in the midst of storm prep and keeping things going around the house.

It was strange - we rely so much on electricity and technology, and not having any of it was both stressful and freeing.

We obviously couldn’t keep tabs on the storm progress or news (except for what was happening right outside our door), but all the noise and distraction was temporarily lifted.

My brain had nothing to tempt and distract it on a computer screen. I was able to just sit and play guitar with my mind focused on what my fingers were doing. 

I even got back to reading a couple actual, paper books - not Kindle versions on the old iPad! 

There’s something to be said for eliminating as many distractions as possible when you're working on something. When you do that, you allow your mind to focus on what is directly in front of you. 

You know I’m not a big fan of multi-tasking, and I think getting rid of everything except what you’re actively working on right now is another key to reaching your goals.

When you practice your guitar, remove everything you don’t need from your environment. Turn off email, internet, social media, cell phones. If you need your computer, only open what you need for guitar work. Close out everything else.

If you don’t need your computer, put it to sleep. I know we have a lot of apps that we can use for guitar, so it’s important to close out anything unnecessary to guitar work.

Despite everything, I didn’t mind the downtime, but it makes me all the more thankful for the possibilities technology affords us.

Tomorrow, I will be sending you a link to a very short survey. 

In the survey, I’ll be asking you to help steer the direction we’re going to go next.

I’m a big chord guy - I love chords and all the possibilities you can create with them, and we’ve spent a bunch of time looking at the chords of various keys. 

But guitar is also a great instrument for melody and rhythm. The notes you play and the way you play them are very important in the music creation process.

So in the survey, I’ll give you the opportunity to tell me what you’d like to focus on next.

Do you want to work on more harmonic stuff (chords), or are you interested in exploring melody or rhythm next?

I’m keeping the survey short and sweet, and I’d really appreciate your feedback. I’ll also give you the option to comment, so if you have suggestions, I’m all ears.

Thanks for all your patience, and I’ll be catching up with all of you that sent me emails soon. Thanks again!

Peace~

Dave