Guitar Lovers

You Just Have to Play
 When I  started playing the guitar, I  felt it was necessary to sit down and make myself write a song. I had all these ideas about how the song should be written. I would pound my head against the wall trying to come up with something. I would listen to the radio or my CD collection looking for answers on how my song should sound. I tried writing Heavy Metal, Rock, and even Blues. I was so desperate to write a song. When I would sit down to try to write a song, I would get so frustrated that I would actually start to hate playing the guitar. I wanted to throw it aginst the wall. I would put it down and not pick it up for weeks. Don’t get me wrong – I did get plenty of riffs written and even a few lyrics, but something was wrong. It just did not sound right and it surely did not “feel” right for that matter. I was trying so hard to make a great song like the Allman Brothers, or Eric Clapton, or one of the 80’s or 90’s  hits on the radio. I felt hopeless.
If you believe in yourself and the music you create, other people will believe it too.
Then, one day I decided to pick up the guitar, kick on the drum machine, and just play. I put no thought to what I was doing. I just let it happen. It was then that it all came out. The more I just sat and played, the better I felt, and the music just poured out. I did not need to concentrate on one genre or how I wanted to the song to come out. It just did. All my musical influences from early childhood on just poured right out with my individuality. It blew me away. I recorded everything I did. I was writing 3 songs a day. Then, one day I sat back and listened to the music I had created and I started to question it, even though I absolutely loved what I had created. I though to myself This has an awful 80’s ring to it. I do not sound like the music that’s out today. I do not sound as good as Eric Clapton.” My leads are nothing compared to the Allman Brothers. I almost got myself right back in the rut I was originally in – frustrated.

Why? It was because I questioned myself and thought that I had to sound like someone else to write a good song. I came to the realization that what I wrote was from within; it’s what was in my heart. Even if no one else liked the music, it did not matter. I had to be happy with it – not everyone else. Of course I was unable to sound like Eric Clapton. That is because I wasn’t Eric Clapton! Of course my leads were not going to sound like Eric. Eric was Eric and no one else on earth could touch that. It was his heart talking through the music, not mine. Of course I wasn’t going to sound like today’s music; I grew up in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Why would I sound like the 90’s? What I played and the songs I wrote were from within, not from someone else, but from me. They are comprised of all the music I grew up with along with my own individuality. I did not have to work at them – I just sat and played and they came out. I absolutely love the music I have written. I love to play it and get a great feeling from it. To me, that’s the key, no matter what it is you write, what genre, how many chords, full chords, power-chords, or single notes. As long as its what you feel, it’s right. You have to be happy with what you write. Not me, not John Doe, You! To me this is the greatest achievement any musician could strive for. To create music that is from within you, not this group or that group. Of course your influences will come through since this is only natural. But don’t kick yourself for not sounding exactly like them. It’s impossible because you are not your influences.

Strive to be yourself through your music; you cannot go wrong. No one can ever doubt what is in you heart but you. If you believe in yourself and the music you create, other people will believe it too. You do not have to work at it; it’s right there inside of you. Just sit down and play and eventually it will all come out. And it will be beautiful music to your ears.

Every once in a while, I’ll see the frustration with the progress on their guitar. I hear something like;

“That’s it – I’m quitting. I’ve been practicing guitar for months now and I’m not getting any better. How long is it going to take for me to learn this thing?”

With so many concepts and techniques to learn such as scales, chords, rhythms, strumming, picking, fingerstyle, bending, and slides, it’s only natural to question yourself “what should I learn now?”), or “should it be taking this long for me to learn the guitar?”. It’s hard enough to stay focused enough to learn and absorb a particular concept without continually questioning whether the manner in which you are learning is actually working.

For me, the most effective way to deal with these anxieties is to get back to why you are learning the guitar in the first place: the music. When I say “the music“, I mean the execution of a musical idea. It can be a song, a melody, a riff, a lick, part of a solo, a one-bar phrase, or any other things you can play that feels good and sounds good. When a musical idea fits this, it takes on the characteristics of what I like to call a groove. It doesn’t matter if the groove doesn’t contain scale or chord, or use concept. The only thing that matters is that when you play it, you dig it, other people dig it, and it reinforces why you play music in the first place.

If you begin to feel these type of emotions, try the following steps in order to “lock in” a groove or a musical idea that moves you:

Choose a musical idea for your “groove”. As stated above, it can be a snippet of a song, a rhythm guitar part, a lick, part of a solo, something you saw a friend of yours play, etc. The main thing is to not “bite off more than you can chew”. You want to focus your attention on playing a small amount of music well, and not on playing a lot of music poorly. 

Get a metronome and set it to a tempo that is significantly slower than you would normally try to play your selected groove. This is important because it will reinforce the playing of the groove at a steady tempo. 

Play your selected groove at the given tempo. If you find that you are missing notes or having a hard time playing it, slow the tempo down until you can execute the groove from start to finish with no mistakes. 

When the groove feels comfortable to the point where you can play it in your sleep, increase the tempo by a small amount, and practice your groove at the new tempo. One good run-through at the new tempo is not sufficient. Play it over and over at the new tempo until it’s a permanent part of your brainwaves. 

Repeat the alst step until the tempo has reached the normal tempo at which your groove should be played.