You know, I really sympathize with the feelings
expressed here, and this feeling of being "overwhelmed"
which is so immobilizing and deadly. I wrote about it a few weeks
ago, and everyone should read that essay
"What
Should I Practice". The points I made there are all valid,
and apply here, but the person asking this question needs to have
an answer that goes a little further, a little deeper into the matter.
Probably, Michael has achieved the goals that I mentioned there,
as being goals that I have all my students achieve as soon as possible.
In that essay, I was answering the question of a student who was
at an earlier stage of development than Michael, and yet still,
the word "overwhelmed" was present, and the deadly feeling
of immobilization was present also.
The first and most important thing to understand is that the danger
of getting stuck in this condition of "Overpowering Overwhelm"
is always present. It is not like at some point you are advanced
enough that you never feel "stuck". Many players get very
advanced, and then feel "stuck". They feel like they don't
know what step to take next, and they don't. BUT WHY???
The reason they don't know the next step, IS BECAUSE THEY DON'T
KNOW WHERE THEY ARE GOING!! And the reason they don't know where
they are going is because they have not done two vital things:
1) Figured out where they WANT to go, and
2) Begun to figure out how to get there.
Our direction cannot become clear until we have decided on our destination,
obviously. We must be able to state our destination, as clearly
as we can. What people usually don't realize is that our "destination"
will always be changing, and we must RE-CLARIFY, bring into new
focus, where we are, and where we want to go. The specifics that
Michael is asking for as to what to practice must proceed from his
clear vision of where he wants to go.
It is sometimes a difficult and confusing process, and I often go
through it myself. In fact, I have gone through it so much that
I have pretty much made a science of the entire process. As I do
with all things, I have looked at the essence of this process, and
endeavored to isolate it's essential features, those principles
that underlie the whole process of the subject we are really talking
about. And what is that subject? It is success, my friends, success.
And success is the achieving of meaningful goals. And you can't
achieve meaningful goals if you don't have any. What Michael really
needs is to re-create, and strengthen his goals. And, while he is
wise in following my advice from the before mentioned essay, which
says "know when to go for help, and get it", he will find
that the call to action, mental and physical, will still come back
around to him, which it always does. This principle of self-reliance
is primary.
Here is my system, worked out and refined over many years, for achieving
success, the attainment of Goals. I worked this out for myself,
and keep it at the beginning of my Business Plan. Following its
principles is why I, and GuitarPrinciples.com, are here talking
to you now. It begins where goals begin, which is with Desire, and
proceeds through it's logical steps, and returns to the beginning
again, in a circle.
Once you know how to move from step to step, and see the necessity
of doing so, you will achieve a new state of power: the ability
to "form" goals from the raw material of your Desire,
and the ability to materialize them by following the Law of Success,
which applies to learning the guitar, and everything else: Do the
right thing, and do enough of it. So here is "The Circle of
Success":
Desire - Goal - Plan - Project - Prioritize - Action - Review
- Retask
Below is a description and definition of what each one of these
words actually means:
Desire: Urge toward union with a condition.
Goal: Where condition can be obtained.
Plan: How to get there, road to take.
Project: Vehicle to drive on road.
Prioritize: Best way to drive vehicle, moment to moment.
Action: Drive, move, create change.
Review: Stop acting. Look around, assess.
Retask: Apply attention to awareness gained through review,
and re-generate entire cycle based on modified intention.
Notice in Michael's question he uses the words "journey"
and "direction". Yes, success is a journey, and we need
to have the vehicles to take, and know how to drive it. And when
it runs out of fuel, we have to know how to "fill 'er up".
I will show you how, for instance, I used the above steps when I
was in the early part of my development. Notice two things: the
strength of my Desire, and the clarity of my goals.
Desire: I want to be a great guitarist. I want to play like Segovia
or Bream. I want powerful artistic expression. I want to compose
music that moves me like the music I love to listen to.
Goal: I must learn the Classical Guitar, learn to read music, and
study music theory. I must understand music and the guitar so thoroughly
that I can do whatever I want musically. I will need great technique
and knowledge for this.
Plan: I will study and practice constantly. I will take lessons.
The guitar and music will be my FIRST priority, EVERYTHING else
will come second, third, so forth.
Project: I will have a daily practice routine. I will re-asses it
weekly. I will take lessons with so and so, etc. This step is where
specifics are decided.
Prioritize: I will constantly ask myself, "what are the most
important things for me to be doing RIGHT NOW to achieve my goals"
I will answer this question to the best of my ability. I will get
help in answering this question. I will get better at answering
this question.
Action: DO what I said I was going to do.
Review: Stop acting, judge the results of my action. Decide if my
actions are producing any results, or promise to.
Retask: decide on new actions to take, if necessary, or decide to
continue present actions, or a combination of both. Go back to beginning,
and re-connect with my Desire.
If any one of these steps are missing or weakened, the vehicle we
drive begins to slow down and eventually stop. The working of these
steps, on a continual basis, IS the strengthening of our Intention,
and our Attention, our Desire and our Presence, which is the power
that accomplishes all things in life, from getting up in the morning,
to playing the right notes on the guitar.
Summing Up For Michael
Michael, you must decide first of all what you want as a guitarist
and musician. Who do you like? Whose playing turns you on? What
music turns you on? What do you need to know in order to be able
to DO that music, and play in that style?
Everything proceeds from the answers to these questions. You must
CLARIFY your desire, otherwise, there IS no clear direction to follow,
and that is what you are feeling. Notice my goals proceeded from
the fact that I knew I wanted to play the classical guitar, and
write music. If I wanted to be a rock player, my goals would have
been different; it's a different road.
Getting very specific to your questions now Michael:
- You should be doing all the Foundation Exercises from my book.
The whole routine does not take much time at all once you learn
it.
- You should always be reviewing your technique and everything else
about your playing. There is no such thing "perfecting"
the left or right hand before moving on to something else. However,
you should set specific performance goals for yourself, e.g. scales
at 120 per sixteenth, etc. This can be done by taking on specific
pieces of music to master.
- You should always be reading my essays, and my book, even if it's
a few minutes here and there. You will see new things all the time.
You will make new connections, some of them unique to you and uniquely
usable by you.
Michael, your statement "I feel that I should definitely base
my technique around your thoughts before learning to practice properly
and play better" needs some comment. It is not a matter of
"perfecting" your technique before learning to practice
properly. You will ALWAYS be perfecting your technique. You will
ALWAYS be learning to practice properly. If you wait to "perfect"
one before doing the other, well, Michael, we'll never hear any
music out of you!
In closing, I will share with you a thought I keep written before
the Circle of Success in my Business Plan, a phrase I wrote to give
me power and focus:
"To Plan is my Pleasure, To Act is my Power, To Achieve is
my Nature"
Taking
Questions
Well, we are presently adding over a hundred new "Principled
Players" a month to the world's population of guitar players,
and that is good! It also means that a whole lot of people are
writing me with questions! And of course, to fulfill my stated
goal of "doing the most good for the most people", I
am having to devise new ways of dealing with these things, so
all my time is not taken up with answering individual people,
instead of completing the projects I have going for new resources
for developing players. So here are a few things I want you to
know about getting help with questions you may have if you are
a book user, or if you are that other type of guitar player, a
future book user!
All Questions: From time to time, I will use someone's question
as the starting point for an examination of a particular topic,
if I feel it is representative of the needs of many players. I
have already done this, as you will know if you have read my essays.
For Book Users: Questions related to my book, such as using the
Tools, and doing the Foundation Exercises therein, should be asked
in the Forum. I have put a special section there for that purpose
"Principled Players". There are a number of very astute
players now using my methods in their daily practice, and getting
better at using them all the time. I would like to have any book
users with questions to post their questions there, and get feedback
from the other participants, and then I will check in every few
days and give my answers on top of theirs. This has already started
to happen, and has yielded some very excellent discussions, so
I think it is a good way to handle things. As you will see, the
question that prompted this week's feature article is a candidate
for this approach.
General Questions: You can still send me any questions, but please
understand a few things. I WILL read all questions, but because
of economic laws of time (unlimited things to do, limited time
to do things), I cannot answer them all personally anymore. But
in keeping with my stated goals, I will use your questions to
steer the direction of future writings. Your questions, and comments,
are valuable feedback for me on the needs of my readers (which
I have a pretty good idea of, given almost 30 years of teaching).
So please keep sending them, they will be read and used. BUT also,
ask your questions in the Forum, and take advantage of the advice
of other Principled Players.
The Ripple Effect: Here is something that gives me a lot of pleasure.
I like to see that my work extends beyond the boundaries of the
guitar world. You may already know that my personal conviction
is that God intended all people to play the guitar, that's why
he gave them two hands, (and index fingers to hold the pick!).
Of course, you have free will, so He has to wait until you realize
that you playing the guitar is part of His Universal Plan. Now,
of course, the problem is that usually I am preaching to the choir
in my writings; people who read my work usually have already figured
out that God wants them to play the guitar. What about all those
other people?
So the other day, I got this letter from someone who apparently
is or works with teachers, wanting to use a piece of mine. I thought
this was a good opportunity to speak to those non-guitar playing
human types!
Jamie-
My son called my attention to your article entitled "Teaching
by Travel Brochure." In a couple of days I will be talking
with 120 middle school teachers and I would like them to understand
the concept of teaching that you have described in that article.
They have heard these ideas many times before, but your article
is written in such a way that I think some of them would actually
internalize those ideas because of your travel brochure analogy.
So - would you please permit me to give them a copy of that article?
In appreciation for that permission, I would be sure to include
your name and website address on every copy. Perhaps some of their
children are interested in guitar and would check out your page
as a result.
Thank you.
Sally S
Read "Teaching
By Travel Brochure"
From the
Practice Room
I have put an mp3 of a piece I have been working on lately, reviewing
actually. I will do this from time to time. Since I am spending
so much time on this website, I have not been doing any concerts
for awhile, and that is affecting me in various ways. First, I
just plain miss the intensity of the flesh and blood experience
with other people. Second, with no performances upcoming, one's
practice can become unfocused, because there is no NEED to do
the kind of practice that results in a polished finished product.
So, as I have always done in my life, I CREATE the need.
So I decided to occasionally record something I have been playing,
and share it with you. This one is a piece by the great English
lutenist and composer John Dowland. These will be very intimate
recordings, me in front of my computer, playing out to the world!
In fact, I noticed on listening back to this one that it is so
intimate, you can hear me breathing during a left hand shift!
This is an mp3 download, hope you enjoy it!
John
Dowland, My Lady Hunsdons Puffe
Praise
for the Principles
I have been meaning for awhile to put up some of the many letters
of praise I get from people who have begun to use my book, and
also those who have just discovered my site. And not just because
I like to spread good news about myself! I think it is important
to get the message out to all players that these methods WORK,
and that they are UNIQUE. Of course, you hear me say it all the
time, but what would you expect, it's my book! So I thought it
would be good to hear REAL people, other than myself, verify this.
And I think it is always good to learn what other peoples perceptions
are about things we are involved with ourselves. I want you to
know what other peoples feelings are about the things I write
and teach, and I want you to know how THEY are using these ideas,
so that you might see something you didn't see before, or think
of a new way to use these ideas yourself. So I will be putting
up a number of such letters, and add to it as things come in.
Many people have told me they like to read Testimonials, so they
are there if you would care to look at the Testimonial
Scroll.
"Every Mistake I Ever Made Is In Your Book!"
Hi Jamie,
I got my book just two days ago and ever since I have been reading
it, I have been laughing out loud nearly every paragraph, with
absolute delight. Every mistake I have ever made is in your book.
So I am approaching things as an absolute beginner even though
I have played for many years.
I haven't even picked up my guitar since getting your book and
I already think it was well worth the cost.
Thanks again and I'll drop you a line as soon I get around to
actually picking up the guitar, but it's so difficult to put the
book down.
Tim B.
Chicago Illinois
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material copyright © 2003 by Jamie Andreas, GuitarPrinciples.com
