July 17, 2025 • 19 mins
Every guitarist knows the struggle of maintaining motivation when progress seems elusive. What starts as passion can easily transform into frustration when we hit plateaus or lose sight of why we picked up the instrument in the first place.
The secret to sustainable guitar practice lies in finding balance between technical growth and genuine enjoyment. Setting mini-goals gives you frequent wins to celebrate rather than always focusing on distant mountains to climb. As I often tell students, look back occasionally to see how many hills you've already conquered. Whether it's cleaning up a chorus, perfecting a difficult riff, or simply maintaining consistency, these small victories fuel your journey.
Tracking your progress creates accountability and clarity. Without some system to monitor your development, it's easy to feel like you're spinning your wheels. Equally important is reconnecting with your "why" – that initial spark that made you pick up the guitar. Most of us, myself included, didn't start playing to master music theory. I grabbed a guitar because I was enamored with Kiss and Ace Frehley! When practice becomes a chore, revisit those feelings of excitement when you first played along with your favorite records.
Remember that plateaus aren't failures – they're natural parts of learning. Progress isn't linear, and sometimes what feels like stagnation is actually your brain processing new information. Bar chords nearly made me quit guitar entirely, until one day they suddenly clicked. Had I given up during that plateau, I would have missed out on a lifetime of musical joy.
Connect with fellow guitarists who motivate rather than intimidate you. Make practice enjoyable by balancing the "work" aspects with songs that give you goosebumps. And above all, show up consistently – even if it's just for five minutes on busy days. I tell people: practice on the days that you eat.
Ready to transform your guitar journey with personalized guidance and accountability? The GuitarZoom Academy exists to help you progress from where you are to where you want to be, with a structured approach that keeps you motivated and moving forward. Your best playing is waiting!
Links:
Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/
- Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
- GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
- Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve (00:00):
Hey, Steve Stine here and today we're going to be talking
about 10 tips to stay motivatedwith your guitar practice, and
I've got them written in frontof me.
We're going to go through thesea little bit.
It is very easy for guitarplayers to get frustrated and go
off the rails, and so I thoughtit'd be really nice to just
talk about a few things that youcan do to try and keep yourself
motivated.
Okay, I want you to be the bestyou can be.
(00:22):
There's no doubt about that.
We want to work on elevatingour skills to whatever degree,
but sometimes what happens is wejust get off in the weeds and
we forget why we're doing thisin the first place.
So the first thing I want youto think about, number one, is
set mini goals, not just big,big overarching ones.
My dad always used to say andI'm sure you've heard this
(00:44):
before too how do you eat anelephant?
You eat an elephant one bite ata time.
So the big thing is is justgiving yourself small wins,
recognizing the forward motionthat you're actually making.
I always tell students like youknow you what happens often
with students as they practice,and they're frustrated.
They're doing all these thingsand they're always looking
(01:05):
forward at the next biggermountain that they've got to try
and you know climb, and whatthey don't do is ever look back
and see how many hills andmountains that they've already
surpassed.
So, you know, think aboutlittle things like learning the
chorus to something cleaner, orlearning a section of a song
even better than what you've gotright now.
Or maybe you're writing thingsand instead of worrying about an
(01:28):
entire song, you're just goingto write some sort of riff.
It doesn't matter what it is.
Just learn to think aboutthings as smaller segments of
success and not always justthese big picture ones.
What I try and do is get peopleto think about both of those,
and let me use maybe, maybesoloing or scales as a, as an
example.
So, over the longterm, what wewant to learn how to do is
(01:52):
visualize this concept on thefretboard pentatonic or a
diatonic or a mode or a cagesystem or you know whatever it
might be, memorizing all thenotes on the fretboard.
What I mean maybe it'smultiples of those, right?
So those are those big termthings that we want to get to,
not just in a state ofacknowledgement I can see them
(02:14):
but a state of absolution whereI can actually use them
comfortably and confidently inthe real world.
But while we're doing that, wewant to work on in the real
world.
But while we're doing that, wewant to work on smaller wins as
well.
What I try and teach people iswhat I call real world approach.
So in the real world, sure, wewant to see the key of C major
(02:40):
across the entire fretboard, inwhatever capacity.
And then we want to see the keyof A major across the fretboard
in the entire capacity, and weuse phrases like well, you just
move it up or down the fretboardthe entire capacity.
And you know we use, you know,phrases like well, you just move
it up or down the fretboard.
Well, that is true to a certaindegree.
But when you move it up or downthe fretboard, the
visualization changes and so youreally need to spend some
quality time trying to work onthe visualization of that
particular key, of thatparticular scale or that
(03:02):
particular concept, to really,you know, get it in your brain
to again an automated state.
But while you're doing that,you should be working on some
smaller wins as well, likelearning how to take just one
position or maybe two positionsand learn how to play musically,
not just learning the scalesand things, but actually
(03:23):
learning how to create somethingthat sounds like music.
You know just an example offthe top of my head.
If you were to take someonelike Joe Walsh, for instance,
from the Eagles, it's not likehe's completely obsessed with
just moving around the fretboard.
Now, that might be your thingand that's great, but the point
is is that he or Eric Clapton oryou name it it doesn't matter
who you put in there doesn'thave to navigate across the
(03:45):
fretboard to make music.
They can stay in one place andcreate that music.
So that's working on somethingthat's a larger frame and then
something that's a little bitsmaller, okay.
The second thing I would tellyou is track your progress.
Okay, even if it's just alittle bit, don't just wing it.
Keep track of what you'reworking on and how it's going
and any frustrations that you'rehaving, that sort of thing, so
(04:08):
that way you can revisit it.
Maybe you've got a practice loghere in the Academy, in the
Guitar Zoom Academy.
We create a practice log foryou and then we help monitor
that practice log and work withyou to make sure that
everything's actuallyfunctioning the way it should be
and you're moving the directionyou should.
If you're doing this on yourown, you want to make sure that
you've got some sort of systemin place where you can go back
(04:29):
and see am I making progress, amI working on the right things?
Or if you just practice day today and you don't really think
about it, it's easy to kind ofget off in the weeds again.
Okay, the third thing I wantyou to think about, which I
think is really important, isrevisit the why.
Why did you start playing guitarin the first place?
Did you start playing for fun?
(04:49):
Was it a stress relief thing?
Most people, including me,didn't pick up the guitar
because I wanted to learn musictheory and go to college.
I picked up the guitar becauseI was enamored with Kiss and Ace
Frehley.
So you know, it's easy for usto get on the journey and then
get so obsessed with thetechnicality or the theory and
(05:13):
again, there's nothing wrongwith any of it.
There's nothing wrong with anyof it, okay.
But if we forget why we startedplaying, sometimes we start
forgetting the passion and thefun that we used to have.
I remember sitting around thiswould have been 1983 when I
started playing, so 1984, rightaround there, you know I was.
I would pull out records andput them, you know, on my record
(05:36):
player and try and learn stuffby ear, you know, off pyromania
and off um diary of a madman,and you know, know, there was
all kinds of different albumslike that that I would work with
.
Back in Black was one rightaround that time too.
That was really big for me, andI remember just loving the
feeling of playing the songsthat I listened to and, you know
(05:58):
, inspired me, and you know Iwas a rock kid.
That's what I was, not that I'mnot now as well, but we forget
that along the way.
We get so obsessed with allthese other things.
Now again, if it's serving yourpurpose, that's great, but I
want you to remember what itfelt like to be a kid or to be
when you first picked up thatguitar, how you felt to play
(06:19):
some of the things that youloved.
So, number four, that's what itis.
Play what you love, okay,technique and theory matter, but
don't forget to play the stuffthat gives you goosebumps, okay,
whether it's a solo or a riff,or you know, for me, like I love
the Beatles, don't get me wrong, but I don't sit and listen to
the Beatles every single day.
(06:40):
There's a million other thingsI listen to as well, but when I
grab an acoustic guitar, onething I love to play is
Blackbird.
There's just something about itthat feels wonderful to me.
Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac MoreThan Words by Extreme you know,
there's Dust in the Wind, like.
There's just certain thingsthat I love to play that make me
(07:03):
feel good.
They're just.
You know, it's not like I'mgoing to jam them in my car
turned up or whatever, butthey're things when I grab the
acoustic guitar, they just.
That's what inspires me to play.
I enjoy that, so don't forgetabout that.
Okay, number five embrace theplateau.
Okay, progress is not linear.
It doesn't do this all the time.
(07:23):
Okay, there's going to be timesthat you get stuck, and that's
normal.
That's the way it is, and don'tget frustrated about that.
It's not like every single day.
You're going to keep gettingbetter.
Okay, the goal is to maintain.
Right, that's the initial goal.
The small term goal is to makesure you're not slipping
backwards, but the reality isthat sometimes you have to.
(07:46):
You might be learning someconcept or working on some
technical aspect of something,and something about it keeps
failing on you.
Up a little bit and figure outthe cogs that make up what it is
(08:06):
that you're trying to do andthen refine what's happening
there, like is it a pickingthing or a direction thing or a
finger thing or what's going onthere, and so it feels like
you're kind of taking you knowbackward progress, but you're
really not.
You're just deconstructing whatyou're trying to do to figure
out where the problem is.
And once you figure out thatproblem, you can start pushing
forward again.
And the benefit of that, ofcourse, is that in doing that,
(08:26):
once you've thought about thatand you've analyzed it and
you've figured out how it worksinside your head and your
fingers, oftentimes that samething will present itself in
different forms, different songs, different scenarios that
you're in, and you might noteven realize it.
But because you've already kindof you know micro, broken down
this concept, now that you'vegot it figured out, it'll make
(08:49):
things more efficient in thelong run, and that's a lot of
times what happens with yourpractice.
So it'll feel like you'replateaued and you are until you
develop something.
Okay, I always think aboutpractice like working along with
a metronome is a great example.
I would practice certain thingsand sit at the same frigging
speed, you know tempo, over andover and over and over and it
(09:11):
never felt like it was gettinganywhere was sitting on that
plateau and then all of a suddenit would.
It would get better Bar chordsfor me, for whatever reason.
When I was a kid I could notplay bar chords and just about
stopped playing guitar becauseof it.
I hated, hated bar chords andthen one day it took me way
longer than it's taken any of mystudents.
(09:33):
Of course, I was trying to dothis on my own, which probably
didn't help either, but one dayI woke up and I could do them
and thank God I didn't stopplaying, because I've I've
played my whole life and I loveit.
But that's what plateaus do forus.
Okay, the other thing is justinteracting interacting with
other musicians, finding otherlike-minded people, not always
looking at everything as acontest, but finding other
(09:55):
people that motivate you and areon the same.
You know interest, maybe, asyou and things like that.
Here in the Guitar Zoom Academywe have a community.
It's a very small community.
Our intention is not to have alarge academy, it's to keep it
relatively small and personable,and so what's really fun for me
is when people will post in theacademy.
(10:17):
They'll post their progress orpost a success or even post a
frustration and ask forassistance from other fellow
academy members and just to haveconversations.
We forget that, living in thissocial media world where
everybody's trying to one-upeverybody else, it's really nice
to just be able to findsomebody out there that goes
dude, I've been where you are,you'll get through this, it's
(10:39):
okay.
Let's figure out what we'redoing so find people out there
that can help you and canmotivate you in a positive way.
Next thing I've got numberseven is switch it up.
Sometimes If you get reallyfrustrated with something or
something doesn't feel like it'sworking or you're stuck on a
plateau again.
I'm not saying you have tonecessarily abandon it, although
(11:01):
you do have to ask yourselfwhether now is the right time to
be trying to develop that Again.
In the academy, our goal is tofigure out what is it that you
want to be able to do and whatdoes it take for you to be able
to get there.
And in that process of analysis, oftentimes we'll find other
things that you're working on.
Because, listen, people go onYouTube and just you know, watch
(11:26):
God knows what and there'll beall over the place and the trick
is to figure out what it isthat you really need to be able
to get to where you want to go,and what stuff are you working
on that maybe is bloating whatyou're trying to get to and it's
kind of getting in the way.
You know, if we could trim thatfat and streamline that process
, you'd get there quicker.
You'd be able to focus moreintently on what that is.
You know what I mean If youwant to be an auto mechanic and
(11:47):
you're working on this thing andthen all of a sudden you're
working on like I don't know.
I mean something that'scompletely non-related, but
you're not really aware of it,but it has to do with
automobiles.
You know what I mean, orwhatever it might be.
Sometimes you have to take alook and go what am I actually
doing?
And again, that's half thebattle for us in the academy is
just figuring out.
What is it that you need?
How do we get you there?
(12:08):
And let's try and stay focused,okay, so switching it up
sometimes means this techniqueisn't working.
So what is there something elsecompatible that I could do?
Or I'm really bored with thesong I've been working on for a
long, long time.
Maybe switch it up, trysomething else, try a different
routine, you know, somethingfresh.
It doesn't make any difference.
(12:31):
But there's lots of things thatyou can do to reignite that
motivation instead of just beingstale and stagnant with things.
Okay, number eight the wholepoint of really all of this is
trying to make practiceenjoyable.
Okay, I really try and avoidwords like fun, although
sometimes things really can befun on the guitar.
Okay, if you feel like you'remaking progress that motivates
(12:51):
you, if you feel like you'reconnecting to something that
tends to get you excited andmotivates you.
And motivation is half thebattle.
So, you know, make practiceenjoyable.
Again, don't just do theory andscales and drills and all this
kind of stuff and again, I'm notsaying there's anything wrong
with that.
Yeah, you want all that stuff,but play a song you enjoy.
(13:13):
Play a song that your spouseenjoys or your kids enjoy or
your best buddy enjoys, you know, do something fun, you know.
Play at a campfire or have abackground, you know.
Or a backyard jam with some ofyour buddies or jam along with a
backing track.
Or, you know, write a song,even if you're not.
You don't feel like you're verygood at it.
The rest of the world doesn't?
(13:33):
It doesn't matter.
Enjoy yourself a little bit,make it enjoyable.
Okay, maybe you make a video ofyou playing something and you
send it to somebody that youcare about and you know it's
meaningful or it's fun and silly, or you know you're a human
being.
You have X amount of time onthis planet.
Try and enjoy some element ofwhat it is.
(13:54):
And, yeah, be like most guitarplayers and have some element of
you know obsessive, compulsivenature and you're trying to get
so good at this and learningthis.
You want to do all that, butdon't forget all the stuff in
the middle.
Okay, number nine don't compare, connect.
Okay, it's easy to compareyourself to other people and get
(14:15):
discouraged.
Your journey is your journey.
Your life is not exactly thesame as anybody else's.
Your interests are not exactlythe same as anybody else's.
You get people that will say Iwant to be able to play like
Eddie Van Halen.
To be able to play like EddieVan Halen, you have to have gone
through all of the experiencesthat Eddie Van Halen had.
You have to mirror the brain ofsomeone like Eddie.
(14:39):
We can't do any of those thingswe could learn from Eddie Van
Halen.
There are things that we couldreplicate from Eddie Van Halen
to a certain degree, but wecannot, obviously.
We can't be anybody but us.
So, instead of comparingyourself to other people,
connect.
Look at these people.
See what it is that you can dowith information and how you can
(14:59):
absorb it and make it somethingof your own.
Don't just make your worth as aguitar player based on how fast
you are or how smart you are orhow often play live or all of
these different kinds of things.
They're useless comparisons.
Figure out what you really wantto be able to do and who you
(15:20):
really want to be able to be,and compare that to how much
time you're actually puttinginto whatever it is.
I find it interesting.
I do tell this story quite abit, but a couple of years ago
my family and I went to thislike street fair in Fargo, north
Dakota, where I live, and therewas a gentleman playing guitar
(15:41):
and there was a girl singing andmy daughter and I do this on a
regular basis as well and therewas a bunch of people sitting
around watching them play and,you know, clapping after the
songs and they're telling somejokes and doing their thing and
it was really interesting to mebecause in that moment I have no
(16:02):
idea how talented they are,other than what they're
presenting songs.
And he's playing these songsand there you go.
Right, he might be a closetmetalhead and does all these
other things, but what you'reseeing at that moment in time is
them doing this thing.
So when I see that it's not myjob to sit and, you know,
compare whether they're good ornot good, or he should be faster
(16:26):
, or he should know more musictheory, no, at that moment in
time he's playing songs andshe's singing songs and people
are enjoying the songs and mostlikely, they're probably making
some sort of you know incomefrom what they're doing.
You know, whatever it might be,but they're making music.
They're making real music infront of real people and having
(16:48):
a real experience, realexperience.
And you know, sometimes we getlocked up in our you know
practice room and we're justdoing all this stuff and we
forget about that realexperience.
Okay, it doesn't always have tobe this.
It again.
Maybe for you it does.
I'm just saying are you happy?
And if you are, god bless you.
But if you're not happy, yougot to rethink this thing a
(17:10):
little bit, okay?
So, uh, number 10, show up,even for five minutes.
Okay, I tell people practice onthe days that you eat.
Okay, if you got 20 minutes,give it all you got for 20
minutes.
If you've got an hour, that'sgreat.
If you got three hours, heck,that's wonderful.
Okay, everybody's lives aredifferent, but you have to be
(17:30):
realistic about the amount oftime you're putting in and what
you're going to be able to getout of that, okay.
So again, balance the obsessive,compulsive nature of your
practice with something thatreminds you that it should be
enjoyable All the fruits of yourlabor.
You could make your familyreally happy by doing something
fun, right, or getting togetherwith your neighbors and doing
(17:53):
something right.
It doesn't have to be at thislevel all the time.
So I just wanted to remind youof that, all right.
So again, if you're interested,check out the Guitar Zoom
Academy.
This is the whole point is toget you from where you are to
where you want to go, but to beable to do it in a meaningful,
motivational, encouraging way.
But yet keep you moving forward, keep you accountable, give you
(18:21):
assessments of your plan, allof that kind of stuff to get you
where you want to be.
That's the whole point.
So, take care, stay positiveand I'll talk to you soon, okay.
Hey, Steve Stine here and today we're going to be talking
about 10 tips to stay motivatedwith your guitar practice, and
I've got them written in frontof me.
We're going to go through thesea little bit.
It is very easy for guitarplayers to get frustrated and go
off the rails, and so I thoughtit'd be really nice to just
talk about a few things that youcan do to try and keep yourself
motivated.
Okay, I want you to be the bestyou can be.
(00:22):
There's no doubt about that.
We want to work on elevatingour skills to whatever degree,
but sometimes what happens is wejust get off in the weeds and
we forget why we're doing thisin the first place.
So the first thing I want youto think about, number one, is
set mini goals, not just big,big overarching ones.
My dad always used to say andI'm sure you've heard this
(00:44):
before too how do you eat anelephant?
You eat an elephant one bite ata time.
So the big thing is is justgiving yourself small wins,
recognizing the forward motionthat you're actually making.
I always tell students like youknow you what happens often
with students as they practice,and they're frustrated.
They're doing all these thingsand they're always looking
(01:05):
forward at the next biggermountain that they've got to try
and you know climb, and whatthey don't do is ever look back
and see how many hills andmountains that they've already
surpassed.
So, you know, think aboutlittle things like learning the
chorus to something cleaner, orlearning a section of a song
even better than what you've gotright now.
Or maybe you're writing thingsand instead of worrying about an
(01:28):
entire song, you're just goingto write some sort of riff.
It doesn't matter what it is.
Just learn to think aboutthings as smaller segments of
success and not always justthese big picture ones.
What I try and do is get peopleto think about both of those,
and let me use maybe, maybesoloing or scales as a, as an
example.
So, over the longterm, what wewant to learn how to do is
(01:52):
visualize this concept on thefretboard pentatonic or a
diatonic or a mode or a cagesystem or you know whatever it
might be, memorizing all thenotes on the fretboard.
What I mean maybe it'smultiples of those, right?
So those are those big termthings that we want to get to,
not just in a state ofacknowledgement I can see them
(02:14):
but a state of absolution whereI can actually use them
comfortably and confidently inthe real world.
But while we're doing that, wewant to work on in the real
world.
But while we're doing that, wewant to work on smaller wins as
well.
What I try and teach people iswhat I call real world approach.
So in the real world, sure, wewant to see the key of C major
(02:40):
across the entire fretboard, inwhatever capacity.
And then we want to see the keyof A major across the fretboard
in the entire capacity, and weuse phrases like well, you just
move it up or down the fretboardthe entire capacity.
And you know we use, you know,phrases like well, you just move
it up or down the fretboard.
Well, that is true to a certaindegree.
But when you move it up or downthe fretboard, the
visualization changes and so youreally need to spend some
quality time trying to work onthe visualization of that
particular key, of thatparticular scale or that
(03:02):
particular concept, to really,you know, get it in your brain
to again an automated state.
But while you're doing that,you should be working on some
smaller wins as well, likelearning how to take just one
position or maybe two positionsand learn how to play musically,
not just learning the scalesand things, but actually
(03:23):
learning how to create somethingthat sounds like music.
You know just an example offthe top of my head.
If you were to take someonelike Joe Walsh, for instance,
from the Eagles, it's not likehe's completely obsessed with
just moving around the fretboard.
Now, that might be your thingand that's great, but the point
is is that he or Eric Clapton oryou name it it doesn't matter
who you put in there doesn'thave to navigate across the
(03:45):
fretboard to make music.
They can stay in one place andcreate that music.
So that's working on somethingthat's a larger frame and then
something that's a little bitsmaller, okay.
The second thing I would tellyou is track your progress.
Okay, even if it's just alittle bit, don't just wing it.
Keep track of what you'reworking on and how it's going
and any frustrations that you'rehaving, that sort of thing, so
(04:08):
that way you can revisit it.
Maybe you've got a practice loghere in the Academy, in the
Guitar Zoom Academy.
We create a practice log foryou and then we help monitor
that practice log and work withyou to make sure that
everything's actuallyfunctioning the way it should be
and you're moving the directionyou should.
If you're doing this on yourown, you want to make sure that
you've got some sort of systemin place where you can go back
(04:29):
and see am I making progress, amI working on the right things?
Or if you just practice day today and you don't really think
about it, it's easy to kind ofget off in the weeds again.
Okay, the third thing I wantyou to think about, which I
think is really important, isrevisit the why.
Why did you start playing guitarin the first place?
Did you start playing for fun?
(04:49):
Was it a stress relief thing?
Most people, including me,didn't pick up the guitar
because I wanted to learn musictheory and go to college.
I picked up the guitar becauseI was enamored with Kiss and Ace
Frehley.
So you know, it's easy for usto get on the journey and then
get so obsessed with thetechnicality or the theory and
(05:13):
again, there's nothing wrongwith any of it.
There's nothing wrong with anyof it, okay.
But if we forget why we startedplaying, sometimes we start
forgetting the passion and thefun that we used to have.
I remember sitting around thiswould have been 1983 when I
started playing, so 1984, rightaround there, you know I was.
I would pull out records andput them, you know, on my record
(05:36):
player and try and learn stuffby ear, you know, off pyromania
and off um diary of a madman,and you know, know, there was
all kinds of different albumslike that that I would work with
.
Back in Black was one rightaround that time too.
That was really big for me, andI remember just loving the
feeling of playing the songsthat I listened to and, you know
(05:58):
, inspired me, and you know Iwas a rock kid.
That's what I was, not that I'mnot now as well, but we forget
that along the way.
We get so obsessed with allthese other things.
Now again, if it's serving yourpurpose, that's great, but I
want you to remember what itfelt like to be a kid or to be
when you first picked up thatguitar, how you felt to play
(06:19):
some of the things that youloved.
So, number four, that's what itis.
Play what you love, okay,technique and theory matter, but
don't forget to play the stuffthat gives you goosebumps, okay,
whether it's a solo or a riff,or you know, for me, like I love
the Beatles, don't get me wrong, but I don't sit and listen to
the Beatles every single day.
(06:40):
There's a million other thingsI listen to as well, but when I
grab an acoustic guitar, onething I love to play is
Blackbird.
There's just something about itthat feels wonderful to me.
Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac MoreThan Words by Extreme you know,
there's Dust in the Wind, like.
There's just certain thingsthat I love to play that make me
(07:03):
feel good.
They're just.
You know, it's not like I'mgoing to jam them in my car
turned up or whatever, butthey're things when I grab the
acoustic guitar, they just.
That's what inspires me to play.
I enjoy that, so don't forgetabout that.
Okay, number five embrace theplateau.
Okay, progress is not linear.
It doesn't do this all the time.
(07:23):
Okay, there's going to be timesthat you get stuck, and that's
normal.
That's the way it is, and don'tget frustrated about that.
It's not like every single day.
You're going to keep gettingbetter.
Okay, the goal is to maintain.
Right, that's the initial goal.
The small term goal is to makesure you're not slipping
backwards, but the reality isthat sometimes you have to.
(07:46):
You might be learning someconcept or working on some
technical aspect of something,and something about it keeps
failing on you.
Up a little bit and figure outthe cogs that make up what it is
(08:06):
that you're trying to do andthen refine what's happening
there, like is it a pickingthing or a direction thing or a
finger thing or what's going onthere, and so it feels like
you're kind of taking you knowbackward progress, but you're
really not.
You're just deconstructing whatyou're trying to do to figure
out where the problem is.
And once you figure out thatproblem, you can start pushing
forward again.
And the benefit of that, ofcourse, is that in doing that,
(08:26):
once you've thought about thatand you've analyzed it and
you've figured out how it worksinside your head and your
fingers, oftentimes that samething will present itself in
different forms, different songs, different scenarios that
you're in, and you might noteven realize it.
But because you've already kindof you know micro, broken down
this concept, now that you'vegot it figured out, it'll make
(08:49):
things more efficient in thelong run, and that's a lot of
times what happens with yourpractice.
So it'll feel like you'replateaued and you are until you
develop something.
Okay, I always think aboutpractice like working along with
a metronome is a great example.
I would practice certain thingsand sit at the same frigging
speed, you know tempo, over andover and over and over and it
(09:11):
never felt like it was gettinganywhere was sitting on that
plateau and then all of a suddenit would.
It would get better Bar chordsfor me, for whatever reason.
When I was a kid I could notplay bar chords and just about
stopped playing guitar becauseof it.
I hated, hated bar chords andthen one day it took me way
longer than it's taken any of mystudents.
(09:33):
Of course, I was trying to dothis on my own, which probably
didn't help either, but one dayI woke up and I could do them
and thank God I didn't stopplaying, because I've I've
played my whole life and I loveit.
But that's what plateaus do forus.
Okay, the other thing is justinteracting interacting with
other musicians, finding otherlike-minded people, not always
looking at everything as acontest, but finding other
(09:55):
people that motivate you and areon the same.
You know interest, maybe, asyou and things like that.
Here in the Guitar Zoom Academywe have a community.
It's a very small community.
Our intention is not to have alarge academy, it's to keep it
relatively small and personable,and so what's really fun for me
is when people will post in theacademy.
(10:17):
They'll post their progress orpost a success or even post a
frustration and ask forassistance from other fellow
academy members and just to haveconversations.
We forget that, living in thissocial media world where
everybody's trying to one-upeverybody else, it's really nice
to just be able to findsomebody out there that goes
dude, I've been where you are,you'll get through this, it's
(10:39):
okay.
Let's figure out what we'redoing so find people out there
that can help you and canmotivate you in a positive way.
Next thing I've got numberseven is switch it up.
Sometimes If you get reallyfrustrated with something or
something doesn't feel like it'sworking or you're stuck on a
plateau again.
I'm not saying you have tonecessarily abandon it, although
(11:01):
you do have to ask yourselfwhether now is the right time to
be trying to develop that Again.
In the academy, our goal is tofigure out what is it that you
want to be able to do and whatdoes it take for you to be able
to get there.
And in that process of analysis, oftentimes we'll find other
things that you're working on.
Because, listen, people go onYouTube and just you know, watch
(11:26):
God knows what and there'll beall over the place and the trick
is to figure out what it isthat you really need to be able
to get to where you want to go,and what stuff are you working
on that maybe is bloating whatyou're trying to get to and it's
kind of getting in the way.
You know, if we could trim thatfat and streamline that process
, you'd get there quicker.
You'd be able to focus moreintently on what that is.
You know what I mean If youwant to be an auto mechanic and
(11:47):
you're working on this thing andthen all of a sudden you're
working on like I don't know.
I mean something that'scompletely non-related, but
you're not really aware of it,but it has to do with
automobiles.
You know what I mean, orwhatever it might be.
Sometimes you have to take alook and go what am I actually
doing?
And again, that's half thebattle for us in the academy is
just figuring out.
What is it that you need?
How do we get you there?
(12:08):
And let's try and stay focused,okay, so switching it up
sometimes means this techniqueisn't working.
So what is there something elsecompatible that I could do?
Or I'm really bored with thesong I've been working on for a
long, long time.
Maybe switch it up, trysomething else, try a different
routine, you know, somethingfresh.
It doesn't make any difference.
(12:31):
But there's lots of things thatyou can do to reignite that
motivation instead of just beingstale and stagnant with things.
Okay, number eight the wholepoint of really all of this is
trying to make practiceenjoyable.
Okay, I really try and avoidwords like fun, although
sometimes things really can befun on the guitar.
Okay, if you feel like you'remaking progress that motivates
(12:51):
you, if you feel like you'reconnecting to something that
tends to get you excited andmotivates you.
And motivation is half thebattle.
So, you know, make practiceenjoyable.
Again, don't just do theory andscales and drills and all this
kind of stuff and again, I'm notsaying there's anything wrong
with that.
Yeah, you want all that stuff,but play a song you enjoy.
(13:13):
Play a song that your spouseenjoys or your kids enjoy or
your best buddy enjoys, you know, do something fun, you know.
Play at a campfire or have abackground, you know.
Or a backyard jam with some ofyour buddies or jam along with a
backing track.
Or, you know, write a song,even if you're not.
You don't feel like you're verygood at it.
The rest of the world doesn't?
(13:33):
It doesn't matter.
Enjoy yourself a little bit,make it enjoyable.
Okay, maybe you make a video ofyou playing something and you
send it to somebody that youcare about and you know it's
meaningful or it's fun and silly, or you know you're a human
being.
You have X amount of time onthis planet.
Try and enjoy some element ofwhat it is.
(13:54):
And, yeah, be like most guitarplayers and have some element of
you know obsessive, compulsivenature and you're trying to get
so good at this and learningthis.
You want to do all that, butdon't forget all the stuff in
the middle.
Okay, number nine don't compare, connect.
Okay, it's easy to compareyourself to other people and get
(14:15):
discouraged.
Your journey is your journey.
Your life is not exactly thesame as anybody else's.
Your interests are not exactlythe same as anybody else's.
You get people that will say Iwant to be able to play like
Eddie Van Halen.
To be able to play like EddieVan Halen, you have to have gone
through all of the experiencesthat Eddie Van Halen had.
You have to mirror the brain ofsomeone like Eddie.
(14:39):
We can't do any of those thingswe could learn from Eddie Van
Halen.
There are things that we couldreplicate from Eddie Van Halen
to a certain degree, but wecannot, obviously.
We can't be anybody but us.
So, instead of comparingyourself to other people,
connect.
Look at these people.
See what it is that you can dowith information and how you can
(14:59):
absorb it and make it somethingof your own.
Don't just make your worth as aguitar player based on how fast
you are or how smart you are orhow often play live or all of
these different kinds of things.
They're useless comparisons.
Figure out what you really wantto be able to do and who you
(15:20):
really want to be able to be,and compare that to how much
time you're actually puttinginto whatever it is.
I find it interesting.
I do tell this story quite abit, but a couple of years ago
my family and I went to thislike street fair in Fargo, north
Dakota, where I live, and therewas a gentleman playing guitar
(15:41):
and there was a girl singing andmy daughter and I do this on a
regular basis as well and therewas a bunch of people sitting
around watching them play and,you know, clapping after the
songs and they're telling somejokes and doing their thing and
it was really interesting to mebecause in that moment I have no
(16:02):
idea how talented they are,other than what they're
presenting songs.
And he's playing these songsand there you go.
Right, he might be a closetmetalhead and does all these
other things, but what you'reseeing at that moment in time is
them doing this thing.
So when I see that it's not myjob to sit and, you know,
compare whether they're good ornot good, or he should be faster
(16:26):
, or he should know more musictheory, no, at that moment in
time he's playing songs andshe's singing songs and people
are enjoying the songs and mostlikely, they're probably making
some sort of you know incomefrom what they're doing.
You know, whatever it might be,but they're making music.
They're making real music infront of real people and having
(16:48):
a real experience, realexperience.
And you know, sometimes we getlocked up in our you know
practice room and we're justdoing all this stuff and we
forget about that realexperience.
Okay, it doesn't always have tobe this.
It again.
Maybe for you it does.
I'm just saying are you happy?
And if you are, god bless you.
But if you're not happy, yougot to rethink this thing a
(17:10):
little bit, okay?
So, uh, number 10, show up,even for five minutes.
Okay, I tell people practice onthe days that you eat.
Okay, if you got 20 minutes,give it all you got for 20
minutes.
If you've got an hour, that'sgreat.
If you got three hours, heck,that's wonderful.
Okay, everybody's lives aredifferent, but you have to be
(17:30):
realistic about the amount oftime you're putting in and what
you're going to be able to getout of that, okay.
So again, balance the obsessive,compulsive nature of your
practice with something thatreminds you that it should be
enjoyable All the fruits of yourlabor.
You could make your familyreally happy by doing something
fun, right, or getting togetherwith your neighbors and doing
(17:53):
something right.
It doesn't have to be at thislevel all the time.
So I just wanted to remind youof that, all right.
So again, if you're interested,check out the Guitar Zoom
Academy.
This is the whole point is toget you from where you are to
where you want to go, but to beable to do it in a meaningful,
motivational, encouraging way.
But yet keep you moving forward, keep you accountable, give you
(18:21):
assessments of your plan, allof that kind of stuff to get you
where you want to be.
That's the whole point.
So, take care, stay positiveand I'll talk to you soon, okay.
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