Be tough - mentally tough. survive |
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Feb 8 2007, 02:34 PM
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Being a Guitarist is hard.
Anyone taking up playing the guitar has to be tough, mentally tough. Playing guitar is not about picking up a guitar, and simply strumming a few chords Oh no, playing guitar is so much more that that. Playing guitar is about laying your soul bare for others to see into. Every time you perform for someone (and that’s what playing an instrument is about, its about giving sound to someone else) you ask the audience (who may be as few as just your mum) “rate me” and believe me, they will. You have to be mentally strong enough to take what they say. And that’s not easy. In order to be able to strum your first acoustic 4 chord song and sound *good* to others takes 2 years of your life to practice. Those that hear you play may simply say, that was nice and walk away. No one realises the work involved, playing guitar is common currency, almost anyone it seems can do it. Start to write or play something *original* and you need to have skin like a rhino, because you *will* get critics that dont like it. And thats not just beginners, how many professional guitar players/bands/groups have *you* heard and said "crap" after 20 seconds and written off as rubbish?. How many times have you heard a new bit of music by your "favourite" and thought "rubbish" and then gone on and listened more and grew to like it. Imagine how they feel when years of practice is criticisised and rubbished by others. How strong did the Beatles have to be to keep changing style, how many people hated what they did at the time they first did it?....they had lots of critics at the time, fans hated some of their stuff when it was first released. In order to carry on you must be able to accept criticism. Just because someone criticises what you do, dont despair, if they dont like it, it is their problem. Keep going, only by keep putting your soul on the line can you grow as an artist. Until you have been rubbished by 5 million people you are nothing, after 5 million, someone finally says, Actually thats not bad, and suddenly everyone else thinks so too. So start collecting criticism now - and tick off each one, only 5 million to go. your nearly there, soon you will be a star. Nest time you rubbish a guitarist, just take half a moment to think about what went into what you heard. You may not like it and thats fine. But just appreciate what work went into it. Its easy to be a critic - no practice required. -------------------- its not easy
banging your head against some mad buggers wall. Variax 300. Pod XTL & Crate amp some of my recordings are here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/petergb/ |
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Feb 8 2007, 09:30 PM
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When i'm at those moments I usually say to myself:
just keep practicing and enjoying it, i'll kick there asses later on. than you can keep going again for a few months 
This post has been edited by ezravdb: Feb 9 2007, 05:38 PM -------------------- The coolest new community: Lockerz Wanna join Lockerz? Send me a PM with your mailadress. |
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Feb 9 2007, 12:20 AM
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Hey Fretdancer - cool text!
Really something to think about!! I wonder what pushed you to write this post 
This post has been edited by Pavel: Feb 9 2007, 12:20 AM -------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
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