As we all know, there are a gazillion, trillion things to practise on the guitar.
…At least potentially anyway.
I mean, we have YouTube, books, and lessons with an infinite number of things out there.
All this can be like staring into an abyss.
…And to quote Friedrich Nietzsche, who once said:
“If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Ouch, that is heavy stuff.
(Is quoting Nietzsche fancy or pretentious? Haha. I’ll let you decide).
I love that quote because it is very relevant to the guitar and the possible pitfalls we face.
So, how do you avoid the abyss and its icy stare looking back at you and chilling your soul?
I’ll be revealing a very special way soon and I’m putting the finishing touches on it.
For now, though, the simple advice is to stop being distracted.
I don’t like to use YouTube too much because of “shiny object syndrome”.
If I go on there, I can go down a rabbit hole of different things to learn.
(This happened the other day for the first time in a long time when I typed in ‘extended chords’ and ended up spending half an hour looking at jazz blues!)
It was interesting stuff, but was it relevant to me right now?
Not really.
I’m lucky I’m at that point in my playing though, where the odd random distraction isn’t too bad.
Once you’ve got super confident on the guitar, all those random lessons can be a bit of fun.
But if you’re not there yet, the last thing you want is random distractions.
Instead, here’s some advice:
Learning five songs from start to finish is a great first big goal.
Develop your “Core Fundamental Technique” as it will stand you in good stead forever.
Spend time fixing your weak areas – technically and musically.
Play something fun on the guitar every single day.
These are the things that are non-negotiables in my experience.
Then, once they’re nailed, it’s okay to browse YouTube, learn random chords, jazzy stuff, and dabble with different things here and there.
But for now, if you’re not there yet, aim to get the above things sorted.
For more help on doing so, you might want to…
Find out more about the 7-Day Transformation and Breakthrough Beginner Courses
Both of those will help you avoid the abyss and show you everything about the basics and having more fun on the guitar while playing real tunes.
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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