Have
you ever done any of the following?
1.
Made excuses for not practicing because you
“didn’t have time”?
2. Practiced the same licks and exercises
that you did last year?
3. Felt like you had hit a brick wall in your
progress?
4. Felt unsure as to what to practice?
Unless your name is Steve Vai, chances are
you’ve done at least one of the above!
They
are all symptoms of having a lack of vision.
What
do I mean by vision? Vision in this context
is having a clearly defined picture in your
mind’s eye of how you would like to play.
It must be a crystal clear, exciting and inspiring
picture!
Without an absolutely clear picture of what
you would ideally like to sound like, you
will not know what you need to practice in
order to realise that vision. You will also
probably lose the drive and motivation to
practice daily for many years until you can
play like your vision. You may even start
using the loser’s mantra which is “I
don’t have time to practice”.
Exercise
One:
Think about how you would like to play in
10 years time. Close your eyes and try to
see yourself playing exactly how you would
like to play. Write down what you see now.
Make
sure that it is detailed. What techniques
are you a master of? What songs can you play?
What bands are you in? How many students do
you teach? How does it feel when you play
like you do?
Exercise
Two:
Now write down what areas of your playing
you will need to start working on in order
to reach your vision. What techniques do you
need to start practising? What chords do you
need to learn? What music theory do you need
to start learning about? Do you need to start
doing ear training? What books, teachers,
CDs and other tools will help you realise
your vision? How much time every day do you
think you will need to practise in order to
play like you want to play?
Exercise
Three:
Spend 10 minutes a day for the next 30 days
imagining yourself playing exactly how you
would like to play. Do this with your eyes
shut. Don’t worry, it won’t make
you want to start eating tofu or go around
the neighborhood hugging trees!
At the end of every
time you do this, write down one small new
detail about your vision. By the end of 30
days you should be feeling so excited that
you'll want to practice 24/7!
