Music is a Practice

Published: Sat, 04/30/22

." I've been feeling a version of that the past few weeks whenever I look over at the case my Hybrid 7-string guitar resides in. You know how it is – I got busy, I quit practicing for a few days to get some things done; a few days turned into a week, then two weeks. Then, on a particularly gnarly morning when I just wasn't getting anything done, I turned on a timer and told myself, "ten minutes. Just play for ten minutes and see what happens. It beats clicking through stupid web sites for ten minutes, right?"

While it's been great to just pick up that instrument and goof around, trying to see how it works, I've known for the past month or two that it's time to start practicing. And that's going to mean A) figuring out what I need to know how to do and B) coming up with exercises to start making those things tangible. So the next day, I sat down for another ten minutes, and this time I started to look at what I couldn't do yet. And that led me to look at the neck a little differently, and that led me to a first exercise.

And as routine and specific as that sounds, it was thrilling to identify: "oh, this is the puzzle I'm going to start solving." There's a very specific feeling I sometimes get with guitar playing, when I start to feel the moves in my hands, and to see how those moves will get the result I want. In those moments, things go from frustrating to exciting in an instant. When I catch that first glimpse of "ohhh, I might actually be able to do this," I feel like I did when I first started playing, like I hate to put the guitar down and I can't wait to pick it up again and keeping trying.

Which is part of why I set a timer that first day instead of practicing until I burned out or felt frustrated: if I have to set the guitar down when I still want to play, I'm excited to pick it up the next time. That's why I teach fingerstyle guitar in small, incremental steps – because I want you to feel the same way, like you hate putting down your guitar, and you can't wait to pick it up the next time. To me, that feeling is way more important than how fast you're moving forward or how hard the music is you're playing. If you're digging the process, if you know why you're practicing what you're practicing, if the situation feels finite and doable, you'll show up regularly, put in good, focused effort and feel a sense of satisfaction more often than not. Music is a practice. Start showing up, work on a few small, tangible goals at a time, and the results should gradually take care of themselves.

If you're looking for a practice to help you learn fingerstyle blues, and would like the specific details on how my Fingerstyle Five membership works and what it includes, I've posted a video on my web site that spells out all the details in under ten minutes. You can find it here:

www.fretboardconfidential.com

More soon,

David

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