Page 2 - The Twenty Steps You Need
to Become a Great Guitar Player!
by Tom Hess - Click
here for Tom's web site.
11. Envision Your Success
Imagine yourself having the skills that you desire. Focus on that and
concentrate. Convince yourself that you can do it. Convince yourself that
you are already on your way to reaching your first goal - because you are.
Its easier to manifest your desires when you can imagine yourself already in
possession of it. Keep your positive mental attitude always.
12. Amateur, Hobbyist, or Pro?
Define what you plan to do with your musical skills once you have them. If
you plan on releasing your own CD or making a living in music. LEARN
AND STUDY MUSIC BUSINESS
RIGHT NOW!! The fastest way to do that is to actually take music business
lessons at a college and take private lessons from a pro (or at least
a semi-pro guitarist) Yes you can take lessons in this just like you
can for learning guitar, songwriting, etc. Do NOT wait until you are
a great player to start learning about this business!!!!!! I can not
tell you how many players make this mistake (I made it myself at first
and have been studying it intensely for the past few years to get my
own career where it is today.)
13. Study Great Players
Find out how your favorite players reached their goals. Often times
this is hard to do since you can’t always sit down and talk to some very
famous musicians. But interviews exist as well as a few biographies on some
musicians (especially dead ones). Despite the fact that many successful
artists don't really talk much about this, you can find some that do.
Believe me, becoming successful is a lot more than just practicing and luck!
REMEMBER that their strategies won't necessarily work for you because your
goals may be different than theirs were. Still you can learn from it.
14. Don’t compare yourself to others.
There is no need to do this anyway.
Music should not be a competitive sport among people, only within yourself.
Compare yourself only in relation to where you are in your strategy! Are
you on your way to reaching your next short term and medium term goal
towards your ultimate goals? Are you on schedule, does your strategy need
to be revised?
15. Make sure you are practicing efficiently.
Do you really know how to
practice the guitar? Are you focused on setting daily and weekly objectives
and then practicing in such a way that you will be working towards those
goals? These are questions you should ask yourself. The two biggest
practicing mistakes I have seen in students (besides not practicing enough)
are:
A. Practicing is not goal orientated.
B. Not understanding the difference between playing one's guitar and
practicing one's guitar.
If you are having any difficulties with practicing, talk to your teacher
about it. He/she should be able to help you.
16. Play with others in a band or some type of ensemble.
It is important to have experience playing with others. It can be in a band or some other
ensemble setting. Formal or informal. The main thing is to be doing it.
(at least once a month). Some things you just can't fully practice alone.
Besides the fact that this can be really fun, it will also help you overcome
stage fright if you have it.
17. Measure your progress.
Document your practice time. Keep a record of
how much you practice each day. For technique things, use a metronome to
see how fast you are able to play a particular scale, exercise, lick,
arpeggio, etc. cleanly. Write down the result, practice it all week and see
if you can play it one or two beats per minute faster by next week (or next
month). Keep a record of all the technical things you are currently working
on. You will clearly see if you are progressing and at what rate. For
other items that are not so easily recorded with a metronome, paper and
pencil, record yourself on tape or your computer each week. Keep the tapes
for a long time. Listen back in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2
years, 3 years, etc. Listen to how much you have grown.
18. Do not pander to your strengths while ignoring your weaknesses.
It is not necessary to be able to play all styles of music or every technique to
be a good player, but certain aspects are universal, such as: technique, ear
training, knowledge of theory, creativity, improvising, etc. Some musical
styles will rely more heavily on certain aspects than other styles,
regardless, its important to be balanced. If you are a heavy metal
guitarist, chances are sight reading won't be as high on your list of
priorities as technique. Likewise, a strict classical guitarist won't have
much use for improvisation (unfortunately). But make sure you don't avoid
weaknesses that you should be paying attention to because if you do - you
will be sorry, sooner or later.
19. Discipline yourself.
Unlike a sport, you do not have a coach or a
trainer to work with you all the time. Nobody is there to make sure you are
practicing the way you need to, when you need to, and how often you need to.
You need to be totally self reliant. If this is not a normal part of your
personality, fortunately there is help for you. Only you can stop yourself
from procrastinating. Take the initiative now to go forward.
20. NEVER GIVE UP!
Never say can’t. Never say I can’t. Never say
someday. Never say if... If your IQ is higher than room temperature, if
you have all of your fingers and if you really want to succeed, you can.
It seems strange to me how many incorrect assumptions and teachings there
are about becoming a better guitarist. Here are a few things that are often
NOT true.
1. You should be a well rounded player and learn lots of different
styles of music to become a good guitarist.
This is one of the most ridiculous
statements I have ever heard on the subject. Segovia (the classical guitar
master) wasn’t well rounded - he didn’t waste his time to master jazz or
bluegrass for example. Yngwie Malmsteen didn't study intense jazz guitar.
Most great jazz guitarists don’t study classical guitar or heavy metal
guitar. Stevie Ray Vaughn never learned to play fusion or metal. Great
country players usually don’t study Progressive Rock. Of course there are
examples of players that do learn and play in more than one or two styles,
but most of the really great guitarists are known for the style they
focussed on. They are masters of their style, they are specialists, not a
jack-of-all-trades type of player. Don’t listen to people who say something
like, ‘You must learn blues before you can learn heavy metal or classical
guitar.” You do not have to be well rounded.
The only time one needs to learn lots of different styles of music is
because your goals REQUIRE it. If you truly love a lot of styles and want
to learn them all, then go ahead and do that. If you want to be a studio
musician or a jobber, then you will need that versatility. Its very hard to
be REALLY good at many styles.
2. You should be able to play all the techniques of the guitar.
Van Halen did tapping but not with all his fingers as others have done. He didn’t
play finger style much either, but we still regard him as an important
guitarist, the same thing can be said for Vai and many others. Classical
guitar master John William's probably doesn’t play well with a guitar pick
(I am assuming this to be true, I have no proof of it), but he is considered
one of the greatest classical guitarists alive today. Skills like
improvisation, songwriting and playing with a guitar pick or not going to be
high on his list of skills to acquire. This is because classical guitarists
generally don't do those things - and don't need to in order to be great at
what they do. These players are great players in their own ways and they
have spent many years developing their skills. Learning everything about
guitar playing would have taken away precious practice time from the things
they needed to focus on to reach their goals.
3. Teaching yourself is the best way to be original.
This is so obviously false its hard to believe that anyone could actually believe it -
yet some people still do. Don't fall into the trap of thinking this is the
best way to learn. This is the most close-minded philosophy I can think of.
Musical skills are tools. One should want to obtain and master as many of
these tools as will be needed to reach your goals. Doing that alone won't
work well and even if it does eventually work, it will take 10 times as
long! Besides, how will you know if what you are trying to do is original
if you don't learn about what has already been done?
4. To be GREAT means I have to be BETTER than everybody else.
We already
touched on this one above, but it is worth mentioning again here. What
matters is reaching YOUR goals, not someone else's goals. Who cares if you
are or are not better than someone else? This is not the olympics. Music
is the art of expression (or for some people, the science of entertainment).
5. You need natural talent to be a great (or even a good) musician.
Don't believe this. It is true that some people possess more natural
abilities in one skill or another. For example, some athletes are naturally
fast sprinters. Others are great marathon runners. Others can swim faster
or longer. Others can jump higher. Others are stronger. Others are
smarter. Others have faster reflexes. Others can through a football
better. Others can shoot a basketball better, etc. The point is athletes
with great abilities have them usually in one area. For example, Michael
Jorden (arguably the world's greatest basketball player of all time) was not
very successful when he tried to play baseball (or golf for that matter).
Think about athletes in the olympics, they are specialists. They have found
their natural ability and developed it to its greatest potential, but that
natural ability is usually limited to one skill.
Music is very different from a skill or a sport. There is no such thing as
musical skill. There exists only a large set of musical skills. Think
about some of the very different types of skills a musician needs to have:
a highly developed ear, good physical technique on his/her instrument,
heightened creativity, the ability to improvise well, songwriting/composing
skills, the ability to play in time, the ability to play with others, the
comprehension of music theory, a good memory, the ability to read music,
etc. The list goes on and on. Some players have a natural ability to play
fast, some have naturally good ears, some have good voices, some are
naturally more creative than others, some are natural improvisers, etc.
NOBODY has natural talent in all of the necessary areas to be a complete
musician.
Think about the masters of music. Mozart was probably most naturally
gifted in only three of these areas: technical skill, a great ear (perfect
pitch), a great musical memory. But he had to work hard at all the other
areas of music just like everybody else.
Chopin's natural ability was his ability to improvise. He was the master,
but he worked very hard to become the virtuoso pianist that he would later
become. Chopin also was the master at small forms, but struggled with large
scale forms.
Beethoven probably had no natural ability known to himself for a long time.
He didn't even begin composing much until around the age of 30! He was not
a child prodigy like Mozart and Chopin were. Beethoven was, of course, a
master, but did not enjoy the fruits of any natural talents. He constantly
edited his works over and over, trying to perfect them. Mozart , by
comparison, very rarely ever edited anything he wrote.
Each of us has some natural ability of some kind. You may already know
what yours is or you may not yet discovered it. If being a better musician
is not coming easy for you that simply means you are like the rest of us.
In reaching your goals: There are only two real players in
this game ....
You and Time.
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