Music Information

Guitar Players...Learn About The Point Of Discipline


Have you ever started learning a lick or exercise and stopped practicing it before you had mastered it? Now I don't know you, but my guess the answer to the question is yes! Why is that? Why did you stop, when it was something that you REALLY wanted to learn?

There are quite a few reasons for it, but the one I would like to mention now is what I call the "point of discipline". This is the point when the initial enthusiasm of learning that new lick/exercise wears off. It is no longer so new and exciting. This is the time when you will have to use your self-discipline to complete the task at hand.

A lot of guitar players will tell you at this point?"Hey man, guitar's supposed to be all about fun! If I have to use my self-discipline, I'll no longer enjoy it." If anyone says that to you, have a look at their playing. Most of the time they are not very good :)They have not reached a virtuoso level of playing, so why listen to them!

The point of discipline is when most guitar players quit. Rather than using their self-discipline to TRULY master the lick/exercise, they stop practicing it and move onto something new. It's tempting isn't it? We've ALL done this at some point in our development as a guitarist. But what's the cost of doing this?

Some of the negative consequences of quitting at the point of discipline include:

1.You'll never reach the virtuoso levels of guitar playing. Can you imagine virtuosos like Yngwie Malmsteen, Rusty Cooley, Michael Angelo etc, quitting before they have mastered what they are working on? I don't think so! They didn't become so incredible by being quitters. They have learned to tap into their self-discipline.

2. You'll never have that feeling of pride that comes with truly mastering something.

3. You won't learn to confront your present technical limitations and overcome them. This will mean that you'll learn a lot of new things but your overall level of playing won't become elevated.

4. You'll know about 1007 bits of songs, but if someone asks you to play a song from start to finish, you can't.

Not a pretty picture is it? So what are some things that you can do about it? Here are a few ideas?

1.When learning a new lick or exercise, set a speed goal. Keep practicing the lick/exercise until the speed goal has been reached. Realise that this can sometimes take weeks, months (or even years!).

2. Learn to enjoy using your self-discipline. Feel proud about yourself every time you follow through and master something.

3. Use visualization. See yourself in your mind's eye becoming a guitar virtuoso. This will help keep you motivated and enthusiastic!

4. Make a commitment to completion. With everything you learn, refuse to quit. Keep working on it until it has been mastered.

I guarantee that if you learn to tap into your self-discipline your guitar playing will improve at an accelerated rate! Of course, if you want to sit on the couch watching TV and eating bags of potato chips,dreaming about one day becoming an awesome guitarist, that's cool also!

Copyright 2005 by Craig Bassett. All Rights Reserved.

Craig Bassett is a professional guitarist, guitar tutor and author living in Auckland, New Zealand.

Master the notes on the guitar fretboard...
Master the Guitar Fretboard.


MORE RESOURCES:

KCBY.com 11

Eddy Arnold, at 89; crooner widened appeal of country music
Boston Globe, United States - 17 hours ago
Singing such crossover songs as "Make the World Go Away," Eddy Arnold delivered country music to a national audience. In all, he had 28 hits reach the top ...
American country music superstar Eddy Arnold dies at 89 Xinhua
Country music superstar Eddy Arnold dies at 89 The Associated Press
Country Music Hall of Fame Member Eddy Arnold Dies at Age 89 CMT.com
Bloomberg - Reuters
all 581 news articles


The Money Times

Warner Music Loss
New York Times, United States - 18 hours ago
By AP The Warner Music Group suspended dividends Thursday after reporting that higher costs and a shift to digital music resulted in a wider second-quarter ...
Warner Music quarterly loss widens, drops dividend Reuters
Warner Music axes payout after grim quarter Times Online
Warner Music Group 2Q loss widens on increased expenses The Associated Press
Independent - The Money Times
all 130 news articles


MLive.com

Buck Wilder illustrator develops innovative music instruction program
MLive.com, MI - 35 minutes ago
Herrick of North Star Productions is marketing a music program designed for sixth-grade students to adults that makes understanding music easy. ...


Padres.com

@-bat music: San Diego Padres
MLB.com - 2 hours ago
Music and the Padres can be linked by one song with its funeral-dirge opening of bells slowly ringing as if from a town square tower. It is, of course, ...
Padres | Edmonds opts not to have walk-up music KFFL
all 3 news articles


New music festival comes to Saint John
CBC.ca, Canada - 5 hours ago
After a summer music festival was cancelled, an organizing committee in Saint John has announced it will go forward with a new event. ...


OverTheLimit.info

MIKE WENDLAND
Detroit Free Press, United States - 17 hours ago
To get the new song trading feature, users have to subscribe to a $14.95-a-month mobile music service Microsoft calls Zune Pass. With it, subscribers have ...
Digital Wrongs Management tuaw.com
Microsoft's Zune music player coming to Canada to take on iPod The Canadian Press
Canadians can soon plug into Microsoft's Zune Vancouver Sun
FOXBusiness - PVRblog
all 333 news articles


Vinyl Cutter Etches Music Grooves onto Unwanted CDs
Wired News - 1 hour ago
Attendees of the Manchester Futuresonic 2008 Festival were invited to bring their unwanted CDs and DVDs to his display at the event to have music physically ...


Uganda: Senegalese Music Star Akon in Town
AllAfrica.com, Washington - 7 hours ago
INTERNATIONAL music star Akon finally flew into the country late last night for the long-awaited show at Lugogo Cricket Oval tonight. ...


AIG Chief Faces the Music
TheStreet.com - 1 hour ago
Sullivan got a break from AIG shareholders after he replaced the legendary Maurice "Hank" Greenberg at the helm of the global financial giant amid scandal ...


Music execs stuck in old time rock'n'roll
guardian.co.uk, UK - 7 hours ago
... the start of some sort of revolution - in years to come, might people actually download music, in the way that they do software, directly over the net? ...

Music - Google News

home | site map

Visit our other sites:
GamesBlog | GamingDepot | GimmeaRide | GimmeNetwork | Golf Biz | HotorNotGame | I Want Computers | I Want Games | I Want Hosting | I Want Music | I Want Security | JokeBox | ScriptShock | Wantedfonts | Webalize
© 2006