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Articles, music tips and advice
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Guitar
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Think back to the
time when your interest in playing guitar was born. Remember
the time when you got your first guitar and actually started
playing it. For most of us, even when we were totally beginners,
clueless about how to play anything, it somehow didn't matter
because we were just so excited about beginning our musical/guitar
journey. I can remember the exact day I bought my first guitar
(January 31, 1986). I was extremely excited about owning a
guitar and banging around on it making all kinds of terrible
noises at first.
That feeling most of us felt at the beginning of our guitar
days is what I call "Fire" or "Inner Fire". It is something
like the first weeks and months of a new romantic relationship
- very new and exciting and the desire to maintain that passion
feeling is strong. But over time (weeks, months or years),
that passion to play music weakens. Of course you still have
at least some interest in playing and becoming a better musician,
otherwise you wouldn't be reading this.
What I hope to do here is help you to get back your fire (or
if you still have it, I want to help you to never lose it).
The most important thing you must do is recognize what the
factors were that caused you to feel less motivated and excited
about playing music. Over time, some players begin to feel
inadequate in their ability to reach their goals. A more common
factor for some is not really having clearly defined goals
or a good strategy to reach them. It is important to remember
long term goals are LONG term. As long as you work to move
forward, you are progressing. If progress is slow, understand
this is normal. Of course there are things you can do to dramatically
speed this process up such as practice more, practice more
efficiently and work with a really good teacher that can show
you how to improve faster.) Other people become too focused
on getting better and lose sight of why they started playing
(to play and/or create music they love!). Keep reminding yourself
of why you wanted to be a musician in the first place. Besides
simply thinking about your early playing experiences, go back
to your roots and listen to the same CDs (or cassettes or
LPs (if you are old enough to have any of those). Listening
to my earliest influences always reminds me of my early music
days and I just can't help to feel that eager beginner feeling
again.
I've mentioned some of these next few points before in a previous
article, but it's worth mentioning again here.
Find out what truly inspires you to want to play music, write
music, jam with your friends, etc. Whatever it is for you,
go there and marinate in that inspiration. Get your mind in
that place and focus on it. Many classical composers (and
other serious artists) go to artist colonies for weeks or
months at a time. For them being in a beautiful environment
with serious artists of all kinds is extremely inspiring and
a great place to write music, practice, reflect among other
things. Personally, I like to travel to Europe in the summer
and do most of my serious composing there. There is a house
I stay in overlooking a valley with large trees and beautiful
sunsets. It is very inspiring and I always do my best creating
there. Your inspiration may be musical (listening to some
great players, bands or songs. It may be going to concerts.
It may be a set of things that are totally nonmusical (like
a special location or being around special people, etc.).
You must find whatever it is and go there, you might be surprised
at how fast you feel that burning desire to really play more,
write more, to be more.
NEVER EVER compare yourself to other musicians! If you sit
around and think about how much better of a player you are
compared to your friends, this will probably only lead you
to contentment and will steal away your drive and fire to
improve. If you think about how much your friend (or any other
musician) is better musically compared to you, this often
leads to feelings of dissolution about your progress and your
goals, which also can lead to a lack of motivation and fire.
When you began playing guitar, how good would you have to
be in order to be happy with your playing? And where are you
now? When I was starting out, I thought if I could play Iron
Maiden or Metallica songs, I would be happy for rest of my
musical life! Of course the time came when I could play all
those songs, but I didn't feel as happy as I thought I would
when I first made my goal. That is because, before I even
reached that goal, I had already set new goals. These new
goals were good for my progress, but I made the mistake of
never really appreciating and enjoying the success of reaching
my earlier goals. I robbed myself of the pleasure of feeling
happy about my hard work paying off. Of course by now I have
learned that lesson and do thoroughly enjoy each new goal
that is reached. It is my hope you will learn that lesson
now and not after several more years of playing guitar.
About
the author
Tom Hess is professional touring virtuoso guitarist, composer
and teacher. You can read more info about Tom at: http://tomhess.net |
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