Here’s how you become a master of the guitar….

As promised, I’m here today to break down exactly how you can eliminate procrastination and turn yourself into a practice addict.  This information can fundamentally change your course and truly put you on the path of mastery.

Before we get into all of that, it’s important to point out that this is a follow up to a previous article.  If you haven’t read my article titled “The Greatest Enemy of Guitarists,” then I highly recommend going back and reading through that before continuing.

Okay, let’s get right down to brass tacks.  What are the fundamental ways in which you can conquer procrastination, keep yourself motivated and on track to achieving your long-term guitar goals?

Part 1: Realistic short-term goals

The first and foremost thing to look at are your short-term goals.  If you don’t have clearly defined daily goals to reach (that you can actually achieve on a daily basis), you are simply setting yourself up for failure.

One of the biggest causes of procrastination and overall discouragement is having unrealistic expectations.  And this has nothing to do with your long-term goals, unless you believe you will achieve them in an unrealistic amount of time (more on that later).

If you have seen a guitarist play something, you are almost certainly capable of mastering it and playing it yourself.  The questions that you have to keep in mind is “how long did it take that guitarist to master it?” and “what did they have to do to get there?”

It might seem disappointing to have to focus on small and more easily attainable goals at first.  But it’s important to remember that, if you stick with it, your rate of progress will increase exponentially over time.

Rushing your practice leads to only two things: frustration and sloppy technique

Learn to set a goal or two for each day’s practice routine.  Start out with something simple that you know you can accomplish in that day.  I know the feeling of getting super ambitious and wanting to do the impossible, but there will be plenty of time for that later.  For this to really be effective, you need to get into the habit of truly succeeding at something every day.  This will lead to a daily sense of accomplishment that will build momentum.

And momentum is one of the most critical methods of warding off procrastination

A quick example of setting short-term goals would be if you are trying to master sweep picking, consider that a long-term goal.  A short-term goal would be to simply memorize a simple sweep pattern with the correct fingering.  Another short-term goal would be to reach a slow BPM (with your metronome) with the fundamental sweep picking motion of the fretting hand.  I’m sure you can imagine how you can branch out with more short-term goals from there.

Achieve the short-term goals you set out for yourself each day and take the time to revel in your success.  It should feel good.

So what’s the moral of Part 1?

Set realistic daily short-term goals and achieve them daily

Part 2: Have a compelling reason to pursue the guitar… and know what it is

Now this one might seem absurd to have to bring up.

But it’s not.

The truth is, most of us already have a compelling reason to pursue the guitar.  The only trouble is, few of us really know or remember what it is.

Let me ask you a couple questions here.

1. Do you know the real reason why you pursue the guitar?

2. Do you have difficulty maintaining a solid and daily practice routine?

If you answered “yes” to both questions then there are only two potential reasons why.

Reason 1 – you think you know your true motivation, but you don’t

Reason 2 – you need better reasons for pursuing the guitar

Perhaps an easier way of determining whether you have strong enough reasons and you know what they are is to run a little mental exercise.

Try this: take a moment to concentrate on your reasons for pursuing the guitar.  Imagine what it will be like when your long-term goals are achieved and you get whatever it is that you’re trying to get out of it.

Okay, did you imagine it?  Take your time, I can wait.

So if you didn’t get an ecstatic and electrified feeling that forced you away from this article to go and practice right this very moment, you don’t have strong enough reasons.

Simple, right?

Do you know what’s the main difference between the average guitarist and a master guitarist?

Their reasons for playing the guitar.

Maybe you’re just a casual player who would simply like to keep up regular practice.  You’re not trying to conquer the world or bring the planets into alignment.  That’s totally fine.  You can still find stronger reasons to practice.

If guitar is a hobby for you, imagine how much better a hobby it will be when you can play anything you want.  You could get home from work and play exactly what you feel like playing.  No frustration.  No limitations.

Now that’s a pretty strong reason right there.

For those of you who are looking to change the world through Shred.  Start thinking about why you want that.  What was it about guitar that got you excited about it in the first place?  What could mastering guitar bring you that would get you excited about practicing every morning and keep you up late into the night?

I promise that there is something that will give you that feeling, it’s just up to you to find out what it is.

I can at least give you a hint: your deepest reasons have nothing to do with the guitar…

The moral of Part 2?

Find stronger reasons

Part 3: Setting and managing long-term goals

At first glance, this may seem like it was covered in lesson 2.

It wasn’t.

To really understand how this works, we need to discuss some basic psychology.  The reason that setting goals is such an effective way of motivating ourselves to do something is because it gives us purpose, something to work towards.  The process of seeing ourselves get closer and closer to a greater version of ourselves is both exciting and rewarding.  But there shouldn’t be a final version of ourselves in our imagination, save for maybe an intentionally unattainable higher ideal.

A great metaphor here would be to think of a tower with a ladder going up the center of it.  Each rung of the ladder is a short-term daily goal.  Each level of the tower is a long-term goal.  But the most important thing is that, while you are climbing your way up, the tower is being constructed higher and higher. 

The trick is that you want to always be climbing while never actually reaching the top.

To feel any degree of fulfillment, the mind must always be growing and moving towards something – endlessly.

The truth is, if you ever actually reached the top of the tower (achieving some final goal) all you will find there is disappointment.  Nobody actually wants the journey to end.  So it’s important to have a greater purpose to your goals that will continuously spawn new goals for as long as you live.

With that metaphor of the tower in mind, working towards long-term goals without regularly achieving short-term goals is like climbing a ladder without the rungs.  Without regular rewards and a regular feeling of accomplishment, you will lose all motivation and quickly give in to procrastination.

It is possible, for a level or two, to shimmy your way up that ladder without the rungs.  But the cost is far too high.  By the time you reach that first goal, you will have blown out your metaphorical muscles to get there and have no way of progressing any further.

You’ll associate only misery with the process.

On the other hand, with solid rungs in place at regular intervals, you will build muscle as you climb and your rate of climbing will increase exponentially over time.

The process will be rewarding – which should be the true overarching goal.

Once the process becomes consistently rewarding, you will be fulfilled and you’ll never want that to stop.

And that is the secret to becoming addicted to practicing.

The morals of Part 3?

Never stop building your tower and always put the rungs in first before trying to climb a ladder.

Stay tuned for next week’s article where I will discuss a different side to all of this: what it means to finish what you start, why it’s difficult and what to do about it.

Need some new material to practice?  Check out my massive catalog of guitar related products, covering everything from Metal versions of Classical pieces, Neo-Classical Shred technique, Sweep Picking, and more!   See what’s on sale today at the link below:

www.Sellfy.com/DanMumm

Dan Mumm

You MUST overcome this challenge before anything else…

Okay… let’s be honest with each other and ourselves.  There is one problem that, at one point or another, has blocked the progress of every guitarist that has ever tried to pursue higher levels of playing.  No matter what anyone says, this problem has affected every guitarist from the bedroom to the greats who have made their way to the international stage.  

This problem is even worse when a guitarist is unaware of it.  If you are suffering from it and you don’t realize it, you will likely be a victim of common illusions that guarantee you will never progress much further from where you are now.  These illusions come in the form of believing that you just don’t have what it takes, that better guitarists are simply more “talented,” that you just “can’t do” something, or even that your “inability” to play a certain technique is somehow a positive trait that makes you unique.  

I’m here to say that, in almost every case, none of those things are true.

So what is the greatest enemy of all guitarists?  What is this problem that has bogged down every guitarist at one point or another and may currently be keeping you from getting to where you want to go?  

As simple and cliché as it may sound, this problem is… (drum roll please)…

Procrastination.  

Wait!  

Before you skim to the end of this article, do yourself a favor and keep reading.  You might be surprised about what there is to say on the subject that you probably haven’t heard before.  It might be just what you’re looking for…

Let me start by telling you a little story.  

In the early days of my guitar playing, at around 13 years old, I had gotten it into my head that I just couldn’t play barre chords.  As ridiculous as it sounds, it even became something of a point of pride for me.  I had “tried” and found that my fingers just didn’t work that way.  In my mind, I rationalized that this was something that made me unique.  While I could play a variety of techniques, my fingers “just didn’t have the capability” of holding down all the strings at once.

 “But look at what else I can do!”  

I’m embarrassed to admit that I practically bragged about this point.  It wasn’t until one day that I met a kid a few years older who really put me in my place.  While I don’t remember exactly what he said, what I do remember is that he didn’t buy my rationalizations for a second.  He called me on the absurdity of my excuses and hammered it into my head that it’s something that simply takes work.  I had healthy hands and absolutely no excuses for not learning and perfecting barre technique.

A little ashamed of myself, I went home that night and practiced barre chords seriously – probably for the first time ever.  In a few days, I already had the basic form of the technique down.  I learned a number of valuable lessons that day.  

Where do these pitfalls come from?

A lot of guitarists, at some point or another, see guitar as being closely associated with their identity.  This, in itself, can lead to a number of problems. The most obvious is the danger of wanting to see ourselves as being better players than we actually are (or to come up with a story about why we aren’t better than we are).  

While it might be tempting to think that only teenagers are susceptible to this kind of thing, it can actually affect adults in unexpected ways.  This isn’t necessarily an ego thing either.  It seems to just be a byproduct of normal human psychology.  It’s mostly about how we deal with the feelings of wanting things we don’t have, what we’re willing to do to get them and how we manage things like expectations and disappointment.  A lot of this stuff just happens automatically when we aren’t aware of it – typically in ways we don’t expect. 

Practically none of this happens consciously.

Because barre chords didn’t “come naturally to me” as a kid, I came up with a story in my head about why that was a “good thing.”  In reality, I didn’t want to deal with the fact that it was going to take me real work to get it down.  I didn’t just put it off, I found a way to blow it off completely.  That way, I could feel satisfied with where I already was… 

Let me tell you though… there is no faster way to kill a dream.

If you have full use of your hands (and even if you don’t in many amazingly inspirational cases), if you can’t play a technique perfectly, there is only one reason why…

You haven’t practiced it enough yet.  

When you see a spectacular guitar performance or guitar video online, all you are seeing is the end result.  It’s natural to fall prey to the illusion that there is something special happening, some innate ability.  After all, when you try to play the same thing, you can’t.   However, the most important thing to remember is what you don’t see in that performance or video: all the hours of practice and hard work that were put into learning and mastering those techniques.  

The greatest guitarists who ever lived had to put serious time and effort into getting to where they got, so why wouldn’t you have to do the same?   

Now it’s true that some guitarists have myths about them claiming they never had to practice.  But how did they get to a point where people would actually believe those myths?  

You guessed it: years of intense, albeit secretive, practice.

So this leads us to the real problem…  

If those players were able to consistently put in the time and energy that lead to them being able to play so well… why haven’t you?  How did they overcome the rationalizations that lead to procrastination?  

Thankfully, the answer to that is pretty simple:

They found the proper motivation.  

They formed a powerful vision in their mind and strong enough reasons that allowed them to cut right through inertia.  Over time, they built new mental habits that favored practice over say… binge watching a TV show or scrolling through social media.  They made it rewarding for themselves in the short term and the long term, and it paid off in spades.  They learned to invest their spare time in themselves and discovered the incomparable feeling that brings at the end of each day.  

In short, they found ways to become addicted to practice.   

So is the secret to talent the ability to become passionate about practice itself?  
Probably.

Does that mean that you could do the same?  

Absolutely!

For some people, circumstances give them the perfect motivations and inspirations.  For others, true motivation takes a little bit of searching and reflection.  But everyone who is serious about progressing on the guitar needs to build the mental habits that keep them excited about practicing every day. 

So what can you do to overcome procrastination once and for all?

For starters, take a little time to think over what I talked about in this article.  See if you can find any little stories floating around your head that excuse yourself from practicing more often or pursuing the techniques or avenues that you really want to pursue. 

Stay tuned for next week’s article where I will detail a process that will eliminate the poisonous effects of procrastination from your practice routine and get you on the most effective path towards achieving your goals as a guitarist. 

Need some new material to practice?  Check out my massive catalog of guitar related products, covering everything from Metal versions of Classical pieces, Neo-Classical Shred technique, Sweep Picking, and more!   See what’s on sale today at the link below:

www.Sellfy.com/DanMumm