Here are two more interesting emails I have got lately. I hope you find the emails and my thoughts useful…
Email #1…
Last week I sent an email talking about not beating yourself up when you have a bad day. Chris emailed a great reply….
“I definitely have the odd day when I feel my playing is rubbish and I get angry and frustrated with myself because I know I can do better!
Sometimes we all get an off day when we just can’t get into the zone and be at one with our guitar.
When that happens to me, I just put it down and play my keyboard for a bit as it is so different from the guitar that it is like a completely different activity whilst still producing something nice to listen to (hopefully!).
Your advice is spot on, as usual!
Have a great Saturday mate!”
Cheers
Chris
That was a great email to get.
There were quite a few replies to my original email, so it clearly resonated with many of you.
What I enjoyed about Chris’ reply is that even on a bad day, he still did something musical and got something positive out of the day.
Sometimes a bad day of practice simply cannot be rescued, and on those days, it’s fine to switch off and come back tomorrow.
Some days though, you just need to throw a changeup.
When teaching, if things are not working for a student for some reason, that’s what we do.
Little changes can make a difference.
Sometimes I get them to swap their acoustic for my electric (or vice versa), jam one of my ukuleles, or I get them to play a song they love, fingerpick a simple and new chord progression, mess about with something totally different to what they have just done, or I get them to have a blues jam (this is usually a winner), etc.
Those are just some quick ideas, but the list is endless.
Remember, if things aren’t working, switch it up and have some fun!
Onto email #2
New Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy member, Barbara, left a comment in the members’ area saying this:
“I cannot explain exactly why but since I have opened my account here, I wake in the mornings wanting to start playing my guitar as soon as I can.
I have opened other accounts like Great Courses Plus, for example, that I enjoyed using sometimes but nothing before has been this motivating for me. If I figure out why, I will let you know.
Meanwhile, I will just continue to enjoy this”.
Barbara
It is different for everyone of course, but there are probably multiple reasons why Barbara is enjoying her membership.
One being that I have tried to make learning guitar as fun as possible.
Another more subtle reason may be the investment she made in it. While it is far less expensive than private lessons, it is still more expensive than most guitar membership platforms, so cost plays a part.
The more someone invests in something, the more likely they are to use it after all.
Other reasons why Barbara may be enjoying it are because there is structure and guidance on what to do inside…
Like a 30-day plan, the structured In Focus course to take you from beginner to intermediate, songs to learn, and fun stuff including two-minute challenges, musical quizzes, and more…
The main thing is it doesn’t matter all that much why Barbara is enjoying it, the key thing is that she is enjoying it and…
Enjoyment, after all, is one of the main factors in making progress when learning any instrument.
If you want to enjoy your practice and make progress, you may want to check out the membership too. Here is the link to find out more:
The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. The new lessons for the month of July are released tomorrow and include a challenge on using dynamics to make your playing more exciting quickly, a 7-day plan to learn the fretboard, and…
If you join before midnight tonight, you get the free bonus for July on how to make learning any song more enjoyable and more musical right from the get-go.
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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