Shred Academy – Free Guitar Lesson by Kole

The
Beginners Mind

By
Kole

In my
article “Artist Awareness,” I mention the phrase ‘The
Beginners Mind,’ however I never actually explained what
its definition was. I received an e-mail with a question about
this and I am gearing this article towards the answer and explanation
of ‘The Beginners Mind.’ I will list the question
below and then my answer with an explanation of this subject.
I believe it is easiest to learn the definition of ‘The
Beginners Mind’ in the question/answer format. However,
if anyone else is still confused or would like to learn more about
‘The Beginners Mind,’ feel free to e-mail me.

Question:

"Hello,
In your article titled ‘Artist Awareness’ published on the Shred
Academy website you mentioned the term ‘The Beginners Mind’ a
couple of times. Would you please explain what you meant by that
term? I believe I know what you mean, but, I am interested in
your explanation."

Answer:

Well,
I’m very glad you asked. ‘The Beginners Mind’ is actually a concept
in Zen philosophy that deals with the frame of mind one is in,
when approaching something that they could possibly learn from.
This concept is shared by many different cultures, philosophies,
and teachers/instructors; however it may have a different title
like "Open Mindedness."

I like to define ‘The Beginners Mind’ as approaching everything
you do (it doesn’t even have to be guitar or music related) without
any pre-conceptions, limits, or knowledge that will hinder you
from learning about that specific subject. I will give an example
of what I mean.

I remember when I bought my first guitar, I was very excited and
eager to learn anything and everything about the guitar and music
that I possibly could (this is the case for many beginners). I
went into every lesson/practice session with the mindset that
I was going to learn as much as I could and I never thought about
things like "I don’t play *insert genre of music here* so
how could learning anything about it, be beneficial to me?"
There were no boundaries or walls that were established in my
mind so that I would deny learning certain things, because of
my ignorant perceptions.

————~-~-~————

This is how
I define ‘The Beginners Mind,’ and I think it is extremely wise
and beneficial to discard your ego and allow yourself to approach
any possible situation with ‘The Beginners Mind’ and learn from
it.

Website:
http://www.KoleMusician.com
Contact: Kole@KoleMusician.com