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Articles, music tips and advice
to get your guitar playing moving forward! |
Guitar
tips from GuitarMadeSimple.com |
Goals, goals, goals. Anyone
who knows me is aware of the fact that I'm a goal-driven
person by nature, regardless of what the particular
quest may be. Of course, I'm not exactly the only
individual with a fondness for setting goals,
but I am routinely reminded of how important it
is to have our priorities aligned properly, if
we wish to fulfill them. The purpose of this article
edition is to reiterate this importance, and to
help you determine what you need to know in order
to achieve your goals.
As I've mentioned many times in the past, music
is too broad a field for any of us to do everything
we'd like to do at any particular point in time,
not that we can't gradually expand our scope of
accomplishments. But to make solid, consistent
progress, it is paramount that we periodically
take time to weigh the past, look to the future,
and consider the present path as a means to move
forward and truly feel a sense of successful achievement.
It's important to be aware of our past, present,
and future to really comprehend what needs to
be done. So, in a sense, what we need to know
first is simply what we're trying to accomplish.
Examples? Sure. Maybe your goal is to perform
solo. Maybe your goal is to write songs. Maybe
your goal is to form a band, or to arrange tunes,
or to transcribe solos, or to become a better
improviser, ad infinitum. Now, for every one of
these goals, or for almost any other that you
can think of, there is an optimum way to go about
it, and certain things that you need to know in
order to reach that goal. The problem is that
we often get misled by others or our own false
assumptions, and end up wasting valuable time
with things that we really don't need to know.
Now, in order to further illustrate the process,
let me expound a little bit on at least a couple
of the scenarios above. I'll start with performing
solo, not for any specific reason, although I
did have a couple of students express an interest
in this area recently, so my thoughts are fresh.
If your goal is to perform solo, you need to know
tunes and you need to know how to learn them.
You also need to know which tunes you'd like to
perform, and you further need to know why you're
doing this and therefore who your target audience
will be. Yourself? Your family and friends? A
local venue? All of the above? I realize that
this is a lot to digest, but it's well worth the
effort to plot your course of action based on
the "need to know" factor, because reaching your
goal will certainly involve time and energy on
your behalf, and you don't want to waste time
spinning your wheels and not moving forward.
What if your goal is to write songs? What you
need to know, in this case, depends on the type
of songs that you intend to write. Pop? Rock?
Latin? Blues? Jazz? Will there be lyrics? And
once you've determined that, I'm a strong believer
that you need to know existing, popular songs
in that style in order to have what you really
need to know in writing your own. Make sense?
Without going into the specifics for some of the
other previously-stated goals, I should also make
the obvious point that making progress towards
one goal can have a dramatically positive effect
on another goal. For instance, being able to arrange
your own versions of standard songs can greatly
enhance your ability to acquire material for your
solo act. So therefore you can view the goal of
arranging as a "need to know" for performing solo.
The same goes for the relationship between transcribing
and your goal of becoming a better improviser.
Want to really reach your goals? Put yourself
on a "need to know" basis!
About
the author
Mark Stefani is a jazz guitarist and eduactor
in Portland Oregon. He has written many books
in the guitar educational field. In 1987 his
career was spotlighted in Guitar Player Magazine
where he was described as possessing a 'versatile
style on both electric and acoustic guitars'
in addition to having a 'master's touch'. For
more info and to contact Mark go to www.visionmusic.com |
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