Music Lessons, Little Rock
Are you a great musician or a circus monkey?
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Ask yourself the following question ... and before you answer, pretend that the answer you choose will come true:
Which would you rather be - A great musician or a circus monkey?
I know that everyone will answer, "A Great Musician". And then your next thought will be, "But what does a circus monkey have to do with it?".
Well, if you're a student at Little Rock Jams, you've likely heard us talking about how we don't believe in training circus monkeys. In other words, we're not just going to show you a chord or a lick and tell you to "just do it" without explaining why you are doing it, why it sounds so good, when to use it, when not to use it, etc.
We believe that knowing what you're doing is just as important as knowing how to do it.
Think about this...
How many fellow players do you know that can play a little bit of this song, a little bit of that song, maybe a scale or two and know several chords, but when you ask them to play a full song - or better yet - try to jam with them, they can't do it?
We all do. And we've all been in those same shoes.
Well, I'm going to share a secret with you on how to become a great musician...
THERE IS NO SECRET! You have to work for it, plain and simple.
We're not talking digging ditches or pouring concrete type work here (it's really not that bad considering...). But you do have to put forth a sincere effort and have the discipline to develop your skills over your lifetime.
Notice I said lifetime and not a few weeks or a couple of years. Pursuing your art is something you can do as long as you are blessed to be on this earth.
So, now that we've established that playing guitar and growing as a musician is something you will do for a very long time, here are three major misconceptions that keep players from truly reaching their potential.
Misconception 1: Knowing music theory will stifle my creativity (aka I just wanna rock man!)
This is the biggest stumbling block we run into as teachers, students who think music theory is too hard and/or unnecessary.
I've said this a bazillion times, MUSIC THEORY IS NOT HARD! If you can do basic math, like count to 13 by ones, you're on your way to getting a handle on music theory.
Knowing your theory will help you learn songs quicker, allow you to solo over any progression and help you put together chord changes and a melody for your own song.
Kinda sounds like being a musician, right?
Not knowing your theory will ensure that music will always seem to be "beyond your grasp", "how do you know how to solo over a song", "I'm just not creative enough to write my own music, I don't even know where to start".
Kinda sound like you right now? Don't worry if it does, I've been in your same spot. I know how it feels.
Misconception 2: I don't need to know the notes on my instrument
Learning the notes on your neck can seem daunting at first. There are a lot of frets and strings. However, if you realize that there are only 12 notes, and further, that there are only 7 notes without an accidental (i.e. A B C D E F G), then learning the notes seems more manageable.
Here is the best analogy I can give - You know how to write ... Well, could you write if you didn't know the alphabet, A - Z? No, you couldn't.
Stop and think how hard your life would be if you didn't know the alphabet and could not write.
That is you right now, not knowing the notes on the neck.
Knowing the notes helps with the following:
- Chords will not be a mystery any more as you will be able to see each note in the chord and understand how those notes repeat themselves in different positions.
- You will be able to target notes when you solo to sound like you are saying something with your lines rather than just playing random licks.
- You will be able to pick the best notes for your melody because you know which note are available to you.
Make it a goal to start working on the notes today. Sure, it's not fun right now as you scratch your head looking for that A note on the D string. But within a few weeks, with consistent application, the notes will all be there for you.
Misconception 3: I'm pitch deaf. I can't learn anything be ear.
Training your ear is just like training your fingers. I bet your first shot at an F barre chord sucked eggs, right? Just like your first shot at ear training convinced you that your friends were right, you should sell your guitar on ebay.
Well, it's not true. Don't sell your guitar.
If someone were to play two different notes, one low and one high, you could tell the difference, right? Sure you could. Well guess what, you're not pitch deaf.
There are a few posts on ear training here on the blog. Check them out here and start working your ear next practice session. Have a good ear is the single best thing you can do to become a great musician.
To wrap this up...
Please don't shortchange yourself and buy into the hype that theory is too hard, theory kills creativity, that knowing the notes just locks you into to playing one way or that you should just pull a Van Gogh because your ear is worthless.
Buck up and put the work in. Quit playing Xbox, surfing Facebook and Myspace or making excuses that it is too hard to do this or that. It's not, and with just a little effort and time, you will become the player you want to be!
guitar guitar lessons guitar lessons in little rock little rock guitar lessons ear training music theory musician
Ask yourself the following question ... and before you answer, pretend that the answer you choose will come true:
Which would you rather be - A great musician or a circus monkey?
I know that everyone will answer, "A Great Musician". And then your next thought will be, "But what does a circus monkey have to do with it?".
Well, if you're a student at Little Rock Jams, you've likely heard us talking about how we don't believe in training circus monkeys. In other words, we're not just going to show you a chord or a lick and tell you to "just do it" without explaining why you are doing it, why it sounds so good, when to use it, when not to use it, etc.
We believe that knowing what you're doing is just as important as knowing how to do it.
Think about this...
How many fellow players do you know that can play a little bit of this song, a little bit of that song, maybe a scale or two and know several chords, but when you ask them to play a full song - or better yet - try to jam with them, they can't do it?
We all do. And we've all been in those same shoes.
Well, I'm going to share a secret with you on how to become a great musician...
THERE IS NO SECRET! You have to work for it, plain and simple.
We're not talking digging ditches or pouring concrete type work here (it's really not that bad considering...). But you do have to put forth a sincere effort and have the discipline to develop your skills over your lifetime.
Notice I said lifetime and not a few weeks or a couple of years. Pursuing your art is something you can do as long as you are blessed to be on this earth.
So, now that we've established that playing guitar and growing as a musician is something you will do for a very long time, here are three major misconceptions that keep players from truly reaching their potential.
Misconception 1: Knowing music theory will stifle my creativity (aka I just wanna rock man!)
This is the biggest stumbling block we run into as teachers, students who think music theory is too hard and/or unnecessary.
I've said this a bazillion times, MUSIC THEORY IS NOT HARD! If you can do basic math, like count to 13 by ones, you're on your way to getting a handle on music theory.
Knowing your theory will help you learn songs quicker, allow you to solo over any progression and help you put together chord changes and a melody for your own song.
Kinda sounds like being a musician, right?
Not knowing your theory will ensure that music will always seem to be "beyond your grasp", "how do you know how to solo over a song", "I'm just not creative enough to write my own music, I don't even know where to start".
Kinda sound like you right now? Don't worry if it does, I've been in your same spot. I know how it feels.
Misconception 2: I don't need to know the notes on my instrument
Learning the notes on your neck can seem daunting at first. There are a lot of frets and strings. However, if you realize that there are only 12 notes, and further, that there are only 7 notes without an accidental (i.e. A B C D E F G), then learning the notes seems more manageable.
Here is the best analogy I can give - You know how to write ... Well, could you write if you didn't know the alphabet, A - Z? No, you couldn't.
Stop and think how hard your life would be if you didn't know the alphabet and could not write.
That is you right now, not knowing the notes on the neck.
Knowing the notes helps with the following:
- Chords will not be a mystery any more as you will be able to see each note in the chord and understand how those notes repeat themselves in different positions.
- You will be able to target notes when you solo to sound like you are saying something with your lines rather than just playing random licks.
- You will be able to pick the best notes for your melody because you know which note are available to you.
Make it a goal to start working on the notes today. Sure, it's not fun right now as you scratch your head looking for that A note on the D string. But within a few weeks, with consistent application, the notes will all be there for you.
Misconception 3: I'm pitch deaf. I can't learn anything be ear.
Training your ear is just like training your fingers. I bet your first shot at an F barre chord sucked eggs, right? Just like your first shot at ear training convinced you that your friends were right, you should sell your guitar on ebay.
Well, it's not true. Don't sell your guitar.
If someone were to play two different notes, one low and one high, you could tell the difference, right? Sure you could. Well guess what, you're not pitch deaf.
There are a few posts on ear training here on the blog. Check them out here and start working your ear next practice session. Have a good ear is the single best thing you can do to become a great musician.
To wrap this up...
Please don't shortchange yourself and buy into the hype that theory is too hard, theory kills creativity, that knowing the notes just locks you into to playing one way or that you should just pull a Van Gogh because your ear is worthless.
Buck up and put the work in. Quit playing Xbox, surfing Facebook and Myspace or making excuses that it is too hard to do this or that. It's not, and with just a little effort and time, you will become the player you want to be!
guitar guitar lessons guitar lessons in little rock little rock guitar lessons ear training music theory musician
Absolutely right! Actually this applies to anything that you want to do. Just focus and do your best and everything would be okay.
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