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Guitar Success 101 Your Worthy Ideal
The great motivator Earl Nightingale came up with the following definition of success...
"Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal." I love that definition! What does this definition mean to you? Let's take a closer look at the worthy ideal part of it...
Please spend a few minutes writing down what the words "worthy ideal" mean to you. To me it is my vision of perfection...a vision of how I would ideally like things to be.It is a vision that I find inspiring and energizing!
If your success with guitar is totally dependant on working towards a worthy ideal, doesn't it make sense that you first need to figure out what YOUR worthy ideal is? How can you progressively realize something if you don't know what it is? Let's do some exercises to figure your one out...
Please invest at least a couple of hours doing the following exercises. They will really help you to build a picture of your worthy ideal in your mind's eye...
Exercise 1:
Imagine how would ideally like to play.Try and imagine what your guitar playing would sound, look and feel like.What guitar techniques are you a master of? How does your improvising sound? What about your composing? Please write your answers down now.
Exercise 2:
Imagine your ideal guitar playing career. Would you be a master guitar teacher? What about an amazing performing artist? Or what about performing as part of a highly successful band? How about being an in demand studio guitarist? What do you TRULY want to do? Please write down your answers now.
Exercise 3:
Write down your worthy ideal. Write it down in the present tense, as if you have already achieved it.Try to condense it down into a one paragraph statement.
Exercise 4:
Invest 5 minutes every morning and night to read your worthy ideal. This will help you to stay motivated and focused on what you TRULY want.
Clarity is essential. Without it you won't be able to start developing an effective plan to work towards your worthy ideal.
You may find as you answer the questions that self-doubt starts to creep in. You may doubt whether or not what you write down is even possible! This is normal. Just write down your answers anyway :) You don't need to know right now HOW you will achieve your worthy ideal. All you need to do is figure out WHAT it is.
BONUS : Guitar Tip: Secret Benefits Of Using A Metronome.
I'm sure you've heard that it is incredibly useful to practice with a metronome. Most books and teachers make it abundantly clear that using a metronome is a great way to improve your timing. This is true. But did you know that there are other HUGE benefits to using a metronome? Let's take a look at a few now...
***Goal Setting***
Its been proven time-and-time again that goals need to be specific and measurable to work. If you dont know exactly WHAT you are trying to achieve, how will you know WHEN you have achieved it?
I use my metronome all the time to help me set SPECIFIC goals for my technique development. For example, let's say that you would like to increase the speed at which you can play a particular exercise. If you use a metronome you can set an EXACT speed for your goal. For example, you might say that when you can play the exercise using sixteenth notes at 160 bpm (beats-per-minute), then you have reached your goal. Can you see how powerful this is? The metronome setting gives you a clear target to aim for!
***Progressive Realization Of Goals***
Metronomes allow you to progressively achieve your goals. What do I mean by this? Put simply, it means start slow and GRADUALLY increase the speed of your metronome. For example, lets say you want to get a particular lick up to 200 bpm. You could first master the lick at 40 bpm. Once mastered at this speed you could then increase the metronome speed to 42 bpm, then 44 bpm, then 46 bpm. You get the idea! You would work up to the target speed incrementally over a period of days, weeks or even months.
***Developing Listening Skills***
One absolutely vital skill to develop is the ability to play your guitar while still being able to listen to the people that you are playing with. This is especially true in jazz, where a large proportion of the song may be improvised!
Metronomes really help you develop this listening skill. As you practice you will also have to be listening to the click of your metronome. If you dont, you will soon be playing out of time with it!
Obviously, youll develop this listening ability more fully by playing with other musicians, but playing with a metronome will definitely help as well. Its a great place to start and can often can help build your confidence to play with other people.
Hopefully this article has inspired you to dust off your metronome and use it. It would also be a great exercise to think of some other benefits yourself. Practice hard and have fun!
I'm sure you've heard that it is incredibly useful to practice with a metronome. Most books and teachers make it abundantly clear that using a metronome is a great way to improve your timing. This is true. But did you know that there are other HUGE benefits to using a metronome? Let's take a look at a few now...
***Goal Setting***
Its been proven time-and-time again that goals need to be specific and measurable to work. If you dont know exactly WHAT you are trying to achieve, how will you know WHEN you have achieved it?
I use my metronome all the time to help me set SPECIFIC goals for my technique development. For example, let's say that you would like to increase the speed at which you can play a particular exercise. If you use a metronome you can set an EXACT speed for your goal. For example, you might say that when you can play the exercise using sixteenth notes at 160 bpm (beats-per-minute), then you have reached your goal. Can you see how powerful this is? The metronome setting gives you a clear target to aim for!
***Progressive Realization Of Goals***
Metronomes allow you to progressively achieve your goals. What do I mean by this? Put simply, it means start slow and GRADUALLY increase the speed of your metronome. For example, lets say you want to get a particular lick up to 200 bpm. You could first master the lick at 40 bpm. Once mastered at this speed you could then increase the metronome speed to 42 bpm, then 44 bpm, then 46 bpm. You get the idea! You would work up to the target speed incrementally over a period of days, weeks or even months.
***Developing Listening Skills***
One absolutely vital skill to develop is the ability to play your guitar while still being able to listen to the people that you are playing with. This is especially true in jazz, where a large proportion of the song may be improvised!
Metronomes really help you develop this listening skill. As you practice you will also have to be listening to the click of your metronome. If you dont, you will soon be playing out of time with it!
Obviously, youll develop this listening ability more fully by playing with other musicians, but playing with a metronome will definitely help as well. Its a great place to start and can often can help build your confidence to play with other people.
Hopefully this article has inspired you to dust off your metronome and use it. It would also be a great exercise to think of some other benefits yourself. Practice hard and have fun!
