As I frequently mention in my Guitar Mastery Blueprint speaking presentations, I have been coaching guitarists pretty much full time for 20+ years. After spending this kind of time, 30-40 hours per week with all kinds of different personalities that have an almost identical goal in mind, it really becomes quite easy to start identifying certain behavioral patterns and traits that invariably lead to VERY specific results – either positive (rarely) or negative (much more often…) So, I will start a series of posts dealing with the issue of being a self-taught guitarist. However, before I continue, I want to make 2 very important clarifications 1) This post refers to people that are self-taught by CHOICE – not for any other reason 2) I am referring to those that wish to become excellent at the [ Read More ]
A farmer had only one horse. One day, his horse ran away. All the neighbors came by saying, “I’m so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.” The man just said, “We’ll see.” A few days later, his horse came back with twenty wild horses. The man and his son corraled all 21 horses. All the neighbors came by saying, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!” The man just said, “We’ll see.” One of the wild horses kicked the man’s only son, breaking both his legs. All the neighbors came by saying, “I’m so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.” The man just said, “We’ll see.” The country went to war, and every able-bodied young man was drafted to fight. The [ Read More ]
Being a full-time, professional guitar coach is an amazingly interesting and fulfilling job. It has been my dream to do that for a living since I was a little kid – I started teaching guitar at age 15. Therefore, I decided to write a short series of mini-posts on the most usual mistakes people will do when learning to play guitar. These are mistake that will SERIOUSLY hinder your progress, and I suggest you find ways to avoid them at pretty much all costs…. So, in essence, this is something similar to FAQ – or rather an “F.M.” – Frequent mistakes. You literally CANNOT believe how many times I’ve heard these exact stories… so let’s see if I can help a little bit in “preventing” these from happening again… Mistake #1: Waiting to get “good” [ Read More ]
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Why do they? Is there a specific reason or is it just the roll-of-the-dice, governed by a totally whimsical fate? Well, from my experience, the main reason why most people fail, is LACK OF BALANCE! (in their skills and approach to music) This lack of Balance manifests itself in many different areas that manifest in a multitude of ways eg. going CRAZY on technique and never learning the other important skills in music… Focusing SOLELY on lead guitar and neglecting the craft of rhythm guitar… playing only by ear and never learning any theory… learning ONLY one musical style and not diversify your approach…
