Welcome to a new Monday post with 3 random thoughts on all things guitar, music, and life, including thoughts on Sylvester Stallone and the guitar, inspiration, and more.
Here we go…
#1 – Sylvester Stallone and the guitar
I had a bit of banter with a student the other day about various movies and how they can be inspiring for guitarists.
We got on a roll talking about the movies of Sylvester Stallone.
He mentioned Rocky, and the thought of running up the steps with a guitar on his back with 1000s of fans running behind him cheering him on.
I talked about The Expendables movie. How an all-star cast team up to save the world. There’s a great community spirit in this film which all guitarists can take inspiration from. You know, being part of a group of like-minded others pushing each other further.
There is Cliffhanger, where Stallone was hanging on for dear life. That’s how guitarists sometimes feel. You know, like when it’s hard, you simply have to keep going and how never giving up is key.
Then, there is Rambo and instead of shooting bad guys, you can use your guitar and your musical skills to either scare the bad guys off or gently lull them to sleep with your soulful and delightful picking.
It was a random conversation, but a funny one, which I thought I’d share.
Interesting if you’re a movie geek like me, I think.
#2 – Appreciation!
I don’t think I’ve ever had such a big response to the email I sent on Saturday.
In case you missed it, it was from an angry subscriber offended by me and practically blaming me and my emails for all that is wrong in the world.
Well, there were a lot of responses to that email.
Out of the 14,000 people on this email list, there were 31 unsubscribes (higher than usual) and one who replied in total agreement with her.
He hated the idea of someone running a business and basically was offended by someone offering a product for sale, i.e., he wanted everything for free.
…But there were dozens of replies that were very supportive.
A couple of people were shocked by her email and even found it offensive that she would say that.
It was great to hear, to be honest, and makes me even more thankful to everyone on this list.
I get a lot of positive replies to most emails, but those were especially nice to read.
I don’t let negativity bother me too much and found when being in the public eye to some degree, a thick skin is essential.
Still, this year I want to create more valuable lessons and resources (some of which will be free like the upcoming podcast).
Anyway, as I often say, resilience is a key factor when learning guitar.
Sometimes there will be critics – either people not understanding how hard learning guitar can be or it may be the ‘voice’ in your head criticising you.
Either way, keep being resilient, it goes a long way on the guitar journey.
Thanks for all the positive replies.
#3 – An inspiring time
Yesterday, I mentioned a book I wrote when my son Archie (who is now 7) was a baby.
That was such an amazing time in my life and I was reminiscing a little about it with a friend the other day.
The sleepless nights, the excitement of bringing a new life into the world, the craziness of it all, and mostly the elation of being a parent.
When Archie would take one of his many frequent daily naps, I’d often play some little relaxing pieces of music for him.
He was like my own little audience.
Those were inspiring days and inspiration is incredibly powerful.
I definitely urge you to pick up your guitar and just noodle, jam, and create music whenever the moment takes you.
You can be inspired to create music from anything really.
From family events, stories from around the world, or a special little moment in time.
One of the best things about being a musician is, after all, being able to create music out of thin air from these moments in life.
Plus, how wonderful is it being able to play music to a loved one?
It’s definitely something I urge you to do when you can.
And if there is a baby in your life, you can play for them and you won’t get any negative comments.
Sure, they may cry, but let’s assume they’re tears of joy!
There you go.
I hope you enjoyed those random thoughts and you have a great week.
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. Just a little reminder. Don’t forget, you can get two books of mine if you join the Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy this month.
One of the books is Fearless Fingerstyle (which is the book I mentioned above). This will help give you endless ideas and 8 specific techniques you can use to jam the next time you feel inspired. If you want, you can find out what the other book is at the link below:
The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
P.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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