Overcoming
Frustration
By
Mike Philippov
It
is common for many guitar players to feel inferior and inadequate
with their skills. This feeling can lead to depression and it
also ruins any motivation to continue to practice and make music.
Having experienced many of such moments myself, I would like to
share several ways with you on how to deal with such situations
when they arise.
Turn the frustration into motivation
This is one of the best things you can do for yourself. When you
see or hear someone play who is much more advanced than you, the
first reaction of most people is to think (or say) things like:
“Well, there is no point in me trying to practice anymore
because I’m obviously not good enough.” Let me tell
you something: if you constantly say things like this to yourself,
you start to actually BELIEVE that you do not have potential and
guess what happens next? That’s right, you will stop practicing
and you will never reach your goals. Self Destructive beliefs
like this can destroy even the greatest amount of potential.
What
if instead of whining about your lack of ability, you used that
time to PRACTICE and say to yourself something along the lines
of: “I know that I am not quite at the level I want to be
yet, so WHAT CAN I DO TO CHANGE THIS?” Make a list of things
you want to improve in your playing and get to work! If you are
having trouble or feel like you’re not progressing, then
you can make use of the abundant resources that are available
to help you. A partial list of these things includes a good teacher,
instructional books/DVDs, articles online (like the one you’re
reading now), instructional web sites, online forums etc…
Right now, guitar players have it easy. Back when there was no
internet, you could not take lessons from teachers who lived in
different states or even different countries, and could not access,
within seconds, information about any guitar or music related
topic. So we have more tools right now than ever to enable us
to reach our full potential.
Do not compare yourself to other players
This
might seem to go against what I just wrote above, but comparing
yourself to other players is often not the best thing to do. Instead,
you should continually ask yourself: “Am I closer to reaching
MY goals as a player now than I was 6 months ago or a year ago?”
The answer should always be YES! If it is not, then something
needs to change about the way you practice. If you are familiar
with my past writings, you know I do not believe that Natural
Talent is a deciding factor in whether or not we become good or
great as musicians. Instead, it all has to do with the Efficiency
of Your Practice.
Other
players have goals different from yours and this may lead them
to develop skills that your goals do not require. For example,
if you are a metal/shred guitar player and you’re watching
a virtuoso country guitarist (or jazz guitarist or a classical
guitarist) who inspires and impresses you with their ability,
then you might feel inadequate. However, remember that they are
playing in a style completely different from what you play and
therefore they had to develop certain skills that are specific
to their style.
If
there is something that you hear a player of another style do
that is inspiring to you then this might cause your goals to change
slightly and you may feel the need to learn a little bit from
another style of music. And this is perfectly fine. It can become
somewhat of a problem though with some guitarists who are perfectionists
and feel like they have to be masters of EVERYTHING related to
guitar. Unfortunately most of the time this is not possible, simply
because there are not enough years in a life to dedicate to mastering
many different styles of guitar (you can “dabble”
in a lot of styles but it is very difficult to become very good
at many styles). So the point of what I’m trying to say
is, when you see or hear a great guitarist play, do not feel inadequate,
because it is an unproductive thing to do. Instead use that motivation
to continue practicing and developing your skills to reach your
goals.
Another thing you can do is think back to the time you first began
playing guitar and how much progress you have made since that
time. I guarantee that many of the skills you now take for granted,
you only wished you could at one point only dream about. This
is proof that your hard work is paying off. This is very useful
to do during the times when you feel down and are upset with your
progress.
Also
do not forget that players who are making you feel “inadequate”
very likely had been playing for twice the number of years that
you have. Therefore, they had much more time to develop their
skills.
Be
Patient! Let me say this again: BE PATIENT!
It is tempting for the vast majority of guitar players to rush
their progress. I myself am not perfect and I have done that in
the past as well. When you start playing, you want to play the
music that got you inspired to practice, however it is important
to realize that progress comes with time! Now I am more patient
and I constantly remind myself that the development of skills
on guitar comes with time just like maturity and intelligence
in human beings develops with age and cannot be gained overnight.
You can contact me at mike@mikephilippov.com
I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. I reply
to all e-mails.
Visit
Mike’s sites:
www.mikephilippov.com
www.enigmatheband.com
www.myspace.com/grimthesweeper
Mike Philippov All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
