Hey Friend,
Hello...
Is this mic on?
Yeah, I know it’s been a few weeks since I connected with you. It’s not because I’m not thinking about you…
On the contrary, you've been on my mind quite a bit.
I’ve been looking at some ways that I hope can add more value to your guitar learning journey
Begin rant...
There are some guys I think you know about that have something to say about how you learn guitar.
Van Halen… Satriani… Vai… Malmsteen… Hendrix…
Wanna know how they got to become Rock guitar masters?
Lean in, I’m gonna give you the secret RIGHT NOW.
Are you ready? Listen closely…
They picked up their guitar and PLAYED.
If it didn't sound good or right to them, they played it over and over until it DID sound right/good.
They didn't keep starting and stopping, looking for the next shortcut or video (Youtube wasn’t even a thing yet) to getting better at guitar with as little effort as possible.
If it was easy, everyone would be Eddie Van Halen...
It’s not easy, so quit looking for that Silver Bullet, that little trick to breaking the guitar code.
Listen, full disclosure. My practicing habits have sucked, too. I’ve got the attention span of a 5 year old in FAO Schwarz (what the heck, I just saw that Toys ‘R Us closed the iconic toy store in 2015 - glad I got to visit it before then!).
Discipline is a muscle you have to develop. Disciplined practice is refining that workout to get the biggest results out of your session.
It comes down to focus. Without it, you might as well not even bother starting.
Think about a fire hose. When they’re trying to put out a fire, firemen don’t set the hose nozzle to a wide spray or mist - they narrow the stream down to the fastest possible flow of water out of that hose.
They want to get that fire put OUT!
The same goes for your guitar practice (or anything you want to master in short order).
Pick ONE thing you want to improve. It could be a single chord, a little lead riff, even just playing a single note clearly.
The key is to pick the ONE thing you’re going to focus your effort on for 5 minutes.
Set a timer and ONLY do that one thing. Make it sound as good as you can. Repeat it over and over for the full 5 minutes. When the timer goes off, put your guitar down and take a little break.
When you pick it back up, that one skill will be stronger. It may not seem like very much, but you will have strengthened that one thing.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Have a great Sunday.
Peace~
Dave
P.S. Happy to report FAO Schwarz is re-opening in time for Thanksgiving this year! So if you’re in NYC for the holidays, check it out. It’s truly an experience, even for big kids like you!
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