tag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:/blogs/practicing?p=2Practicing2018-12-25T09:53:38-05:00Rob's Guitar Schoolfalsetag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/55320992018-11-29T12:17:13-05:002022-01-27T07:33:17-05:00Don’t Bust Your Budget: How to Try New Hobbies Without Breaking the Bank<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/e25a5098a0310533f7ae55c9a844df2428f947a2/original/blog.png/!!/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Article by <a contents="Julie Morris" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.juliemorris.org" target="_blank">Julie Morris</a><br>Photo by<a contents=" Pixabay" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://pixabay.com/en/crafts-hobby-music-instrument-2609150/" target="_blank"> Pixabay</a></p>
<p>When was the last time you learned something new (and no, finally mastering the Snapchat filters doesn’t count). Once your school days are behind you, the opportunities to learn something new are no longer at your fingertips, which means you have to go about it yourself. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to learn a new instrument, try a new sport, or give crafting a go. This all sounds like a good idea until it hits you that learning and exploring costs money, and as you have now realized, money doesn’t grow on trees. While it’s true that some hobbies and activities can be pricey, there are a few you can try without breaking the bank. </p>
<p><strong>Become a Musician</strong><br>Perhaps you were at your favorite coffee shop listening to a live guitarist and thought how cool it would be to strum along. Maybe you enjoy writing songs and want to be able to bring your music to fruition. Whatever the reason, learning to play an instrument can be a <a contents="budget-friendly activity" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/articles/2016-08-30/6-tips-for-learning-to-play-a-musical-instrument-on-the-cheap" target="_blank">budget-friendly activity</a> to explore. To keep costs down, pick a widely used instrument like the guitar, saxophone, or drums. You’re likely to find deals on new or used instruments at a local music store, where you can also keep an eye out for discounts on equipment and lessons. Plus, you’re bound to find plenty of <a contents="free tutorials" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.earmaster.com/music-theory-online/course-introduction.html" target="_blank">free tutorials</a> online. You can’t put on a price on the <a contents="benefits" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.effectivemusicteaching.com/articles/directors/18-benefits-of-playing-a-musical-instrument/" target="_blank">benefits</a> you’ll receive though – think increased memory capacity, concentration, hand-eye coordination, and stress relief. Maybe you can even use it to fulfill your lifelong dream of joining or starting a band. </p>
<p><strong>Become an Athlete </strong><br>Becoming an Olympic athlete might not be in the cards for you at the moment, but learning a new sport certainly can be. It could also open the doors for some interesting opportunities down the road, whether it be going pro, joining a league, or coaching a league of your own. In addition, you can enjoy other <a contents="health benefits" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.solvibrations.org/benefits-of-sports/" target="_blank">health benefits</a> such as a healthy heart, lower cholesterol, weight management, lower blood pressure, and a boost to your self-esteem. </p>
<p>Before you start adding up the costs of sports equipment in your head, consider the fact that many stores offer savings to bring costs back down. For example, Dick’s Sporting Goods offers 1.5 percent <a contents="cash back" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.ebates.com/dickssportinggoods.com" target="_blank">cash back</a> on purchases and <a contents="online promo codes" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/s/promotion-coupons" target="_blank">online promo codes</a>. Plus, many hobbies are budget-friendly, requiring only an initial investment in gear and/or equipment, such as walking, swimming, golfing, and tennis. If lessons are required, remember that they don’t have to cost you a ton, especially when you consider the fact that Olympic medalist Julius Yego learned to throw a javelin by <a contents="watching YouTube videos" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://elearningindustry.com/online-sports-training-world-champion" target="_blank">watching YouTube videos</a> and practicing the techniques he observed at the gym. You can also join free sports leagues in your area via sites such as MeetUp, where you can pick up some pointers and tips and enjoy the camaraderie. </p>
<p><strong>Become a Crafter </strong><br>Contrary to popular belief, <a contents="arts and crafts" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.southernliving.com/how-to/home/arts-crafts-health-study-well-being-happier" target="_blank">arts and crafts</a> aren’t just for kids. In fact, adults can gain a lot of benefits by getting a little crafty. For starters, focusing on a fun artistic task like painting, knitting, woodworking, pottery, or scrapbooking is a quick way to clear your mind, de-stress, and boost your mood. You can use your creative juices to celebrate a happy milestone, express your frustrations, or work through a bad day. As you dabble in the arts, you may see improvements in hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and focus. </p>
<p>If you don’t have art supplies on hand, don’t let your wallet tremble just yet. Craft stores like Hobby Lobby and Joann often run sales both online and in-store, so take advantage of any <a contents="discounts" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.hobbylobby.com/find-savings" target="_blank">discounts</a> and <a contents="coupons" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.joann.com/coupon/" target="_blank">coupons</a> you come across and stock up. Not sure what project to tackle first? Check out <a contents="this list" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2011/01/52-awesome-low-budget-craft-projects/" target="_blank">this list</a> of 52 arts and crafts projects to gain some inspiration. </p>
<p>Learning a new hobby or skill doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. In fact, there are many hobbies that are both budget-friendly and fun. Music, sports, and art are just three of the many fun areas you can explore.</p>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/47153702017-06-01T13:38:05-04:002017-06-01T13:38:05-04:00Are You Being Mindful?<p>Do you ever just stop and wonder, “What are my feet feeling right now? How does the wind brushing by my face feel? Am I breathing consciously?” </p>
<p><em>Do you ever live in the <strong>moment</strong>? </em></p>
<p>Practicing mindfulness can allow you to explore thoughts, feelings, and physical objects that you may have never actually “realized” before. How often is it that you try to push all the problems away for just a little bit to experience the present? When was the last time you engaged in the present, but in a thoughtful yet not-overthinking way? When was the last time you were able to engage without judging much, if at all? </p>
<p>But how do you reach such a state of being mindful? Well, you probably already do, but aren’t mindful of your mindfulness! The trick is to try to tap into your mindful state, and become aware of it. </p>
<p>The basics to mindfulness, as written by <em>mindful.org</em>, are, </p>
<p>“ </p>
<p>1. Set aside some time. You don’t need a meditation cushion or bench, or any sort of special equipment to access your mindfulness skills—but you do need to set aside some time and space. </p>
<p>2. Observe the present moment as it is. The aim of mindfulness is not quieting the mind, or attempting to achieve a state of eternal calm. The goal is simple: we’re aiming to pay attention to the present moment, without judgement. Easier said than done, we know. </p>
<p>3. Let your judgements roll by. When we notice judgements arise during our practice, we can make a mental note of them, and let them pass. </p>
<p>4. Return to observing the present moment as it is. Our minds often get carried away in thought. That’s why mindfulness is the practice of returning, again and again, to the present moment. </p>
<p>5. Be kind to your wandering mind. Don’t judge yourself for whatever thoughts crop up, just practice recognizing when your mind has wandered off, and gently bring it back. </p>
<p>“ </p>
<p>A great way to try to enter the present is to practice meditation. Meditation, when done properly, may let you “feel out” your pain. Meaning, you can shape your pain into planning, into next-steps, during this time of clarity. You will become more focused, more aware, and be able to thoughtfully pursue your pain. Question it. Make sense of all your emotions. </p>
<p>But there’s no need to rush into getting all the answers right away. To begin losing tension, start meditating today! Gradually enter the zone of clarity, and your quality of life will improve. </p>
<p>I know mine did. </p>
<p>Check-out <em>mindful.org</em> for more helpful information on mindfulness! </p>
<p><em>- Navdeep, intern at Rob’s Guitar School</em></p>
<p><em><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/ef67201f423c19b6bb6c4153e91ec44e8210c93c/small/navdeep-maini.jpg?1496337465" class="size_s justify_left border_" /></em></p>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/47153492017-06-01T13:36:00-04:002022-06-04T07:22:57-04:00Eric Clapton interview<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/539a6738bab570246bb57b2a3ff6f390dd0fa115/medium/eric-clapton-nj22feb83mb-04.jpg?1496338532" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Transitioning to Emotional Lyricism </strong></p>
<p>How does one incorporate emotional, powerful lyrics into their music? How does one transition from being purely an instrumentalist to becoming a singer-songwriter as well? Below, you can read about Eric Clapton's emotional process during the creation of his album, <em>Pilgrim</em>. </p>
<p><em>The following interview was posted online on Guitar World by Brad Tolinski on November 29th, 2011. </em></p>
<p><strong>GUITAR WORLD: Your new album is called Pilgrim. What significance does that word hold for you? </strong></p>
<p>ERIC CLAPTON: I think everybody has their own way of looking at their lives as some kind of pilgrimage. Some people will see their role as a pilgrim in terms of setting up a fine family, or establishing a business inheritance. Everyone's got their own definition. Mine, I suppose, is to know myself. That's probably as close as I can get to it -- my goal is to really come to identify who I am to myself. </p>
<p><strong>The album represents a breakthrough for you in terms of songwriting. It's been almost a decade since you've even come close to being this prolific. Was composing the songs on this album important to your process of self-discovery? </strong></p>
<p>Absolutely. As you've observed, my normal output is usually much less than this. Actually, that used to be the way I wanted it. I would always want no more than two or three of my songs on an album because I just didn't want to reveal myself. </p>
<p>It wasn't cowardice -- or maybe it was. Maybe it was a mixture of cowardice and insecurity, or just low self-esteem. In the past I would think, "What have I got to say that's any better than, say, [songwriter] Jerry Williams?" Or whoever else was contributing songs to my albums. But on Pilgrim, I started developing a really healthy respect for my own talent. </p>
<p><strong>Who or what was responsible for this dramatic change? </strong></p>
<p>It was primarily due to working with [keyboardist and Pilgrim co-producer] Simon Climie, who was very encouraging and very supportive. I could always rely on him to be an objective sounding board. He gave me confidence, and then once he brought it out there was no stopping me. I could've carried on writing, but we'd actually ended up with more than we needed. We went in with virtually nothing, so the great thing was that it evolved and got written as we went along. </p>
<p><strong>In the past, you've been content to let your guitar do the talking. I get the feeling that, these days, that just isn't enough for you . That you want to take the same kinds of chances with your songwriting and singing that are usually associated with your playing. </strong></p>
<p>You're right. I originally set a wide-open boundary on this record, and once I knew that I'd stepped over the time limit and we were kind of numb, I thought, "Now that we've taken this chance, we might as well go for broke and just get everything as far out as possible." </p>
<p>I just feel like I've become a little more whole in terms of how I see myself as a singer-songwriter-musician. There is a better balance now among the components than there was before. I remember when I thought of singing as the bit that went between the guitar playing-something I couldn't wait to get out of the way. Singing was originally like a chore that I didn't really enjoy. </p>
<p>Now all of the components are completely integrated, equally important and really dependent on one another. I now enjoy singing as much as the guitar playing, if not more sometimes. </p>
<p><strong>And the lyrics, too, I imagine. </strong></p>
<p>Absolutely -- the writing, too. </p>
<p>This is going to sound a tad pretentious, but would you say that the artist has an obligation to reveal himself -- to bare his soul? </p>
<p>I can only speak for myself, but I believe it is my responsibility to do so. But to do so with care, as well. </p>
<p><strong>Responsibility to whom? To yourself or to your audience?. </strong></p>
<p>To myself, and to the nature of the human race, really. I feel a real need to observe a level of propriety in what I'm handing out. Instead of me just venting or spilling my guts, I've got to consider how it's going to affect people. How it's going to affect me, as well. Because it's like a cycle. </p>
<p>I've kind of learned to embrace that responsibility, and it makes me work harder. Instead of just chucking out the first thing that comes to mind or the first thing I feel, I really examine it much more now and go over it and think about cause and effect. </p>
<p><strong>Is the process joyful or something painful? </strong></p>
<p>Joyful, but in an odd way. When I first conceived this album, I told anybody who was going to get involved that my goal was to make the saddest record that's ever been made. It was like, "Are you with me, man and boy?" A couple of people responded by looking at me like I was insane. That this was not a good ambition. [laughs] </p>
<p>The first person who totally understood where I was coming from was [noted session drummer] Steve Gadd, who said, "Yes! I get the point!" He understood that what I was trying to do was set something up that I could enjoy, because my enlightenment has come from true sadness. When I hear very sad records, I don't get depressed. I feel an affinity and I feel relief. The first thing I get is a sense of, " I am not alone. Thank God! I'm not alone." </p>
<p><strong>How difficult was it to take previously private feelings about specific tragedies in your life and express them artistically? </strong></p>
<p>It was difficult. For instance, the first draft of "My Father's Eyes" came out sounding pretty petulant. The lyrics were too angry and childish. Where the art and craft came in was in being able to shape the anger into something people could empathize with. It wouldn't work for me to just kind of sulk in the song, because it wouldn't have communicated. Instead of feeling an affinity, people would've been repelled. </p>
<p>So I felt the way to make "My Father's Eyes" into a sharing experience was to give it dignity, so that it would make it easy for someone else to identify with. That's where the craft comes in. It's learning how to use the power of your emotions, but figuring out how to present it in a way that makes it okay for someone else to take that on board as being their message. </p>
<p>"My Father's Eyes" was the hardest song to record on the album. It was one of the first songs, along with "Circus ," that I wrote after my son died. And it was the last one that I could let go of. In fact, I found "Circus" a lot easier to let go of. "My Father's Eyes" went through five incarnations in the making of this record, and I would veto it each time and say each wasn't good enough. </p>
<p>In retrospect, I question what I was up to, because at the time it was purely from an artistic point of view that I said, "it's too fast," or "it's too jolly," or "it's too sad. " Now, I actually think subconsciously I just wasn't ready to let it go, because it meant -- on some level -- letting go of my son. </p>
<p><strong>Did writing and recording "My Father's Eyes" and "Circus" help you cope with the loss of your child? </strong></p>
<p>Music was very important. Talking about it with friends and seeking professional help were also crucial. Confronting it head-on was the best thing for me. It was very important that I be responsible, because there were others besides myself who needed comfort. </p>
<p><strong>"River of Tears" is perhaps one of the most passionate vocal performances of your career. Given the personal nature of this album, can we assume that it, too, is autobiographical? </strong></p>
<p>"River of Tears" was recorded very early in the Pilgrim sessions, and I can remember thinking, "This is as good as anything I've ever heard myself do." In fact, it became the standard for the rest of the album. I didn't want anything else to fall below that. </p>
<p>Lyrically, it is about a specific person. My impulse for writing the song was initially very manipulative. I was always toying with the idea that when she'd hear this song there would be a reconciliation or something. It had a purpose. </p>
<p>And then it started getting vindictive. It got quite vindictive in some of its early stages, and at some point I started feeling like the lyrics were becoming too melodramatic. I realized that the way to save it was to bring it back to talking about me, and that maybe I'm an unavailable person, maybe it's me that's unavailable. That whole thing in the song about just drifting from town to town and not really being able to fit in takes the blame off somebody else and places it on myself. </p>
<p><strong>Your ability to question your own motives sounds like a therapist's dream come true. How did you sustain such honesty on the album? </strong></p>
<p>Working with a partner makes that possible -- especially if it's someone who knows what you're up to. If Simon thought I was being dishonest with my lyrics, he would call me out and say, "I think this is unfair," and I'd listen and address it. On that level, our partnership is as fruitful as anything I've ever experienced. </p>
<p><strong>Your guitar playing is somewhat subdued on this album, but one track where you really let it rip is "Sick and Tired." The song is built on a Texas-style shuffle rhythm, a Ia Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the vocal and solo are very much in the style of Jimmie Vaughan. Is this a tribute to the brothers? </strong></p>
<p>"Sick and Tired" was done purely for fun. The riff came first, and I just thought of the Vaughan brothers. I told Simon to program a shuffle and exaggerate the backbeat so it would sound like a Texas-style groove. I then began improvising these silly lyrics, and thought, "Well, I might as well make it a song now." It's like a spoof, really. </p>
<p><strong>I'm not sure how you may take this, but we thought the vocals and playing on "Sick and Tired" sound more impassioned than any performance on your blues tribute, From the Cradle [Reprise, 1994]. </strong></p>
<p>Funnily enough, I think that the bit of irony in there gave me the license to carry the anger of the vocal. I remember going into the studio and singing that with a lot of anger. Quite hard. But since there was irony in the lyrics, that made it okay. It didn't get overindulgent.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>////////////////////////////////////////////</p>
<p>Thank you for reading!</p>
<p>-<em> Navdeep, intern at Rob's Guitar School</em></p>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/40124982016-01-28T12:07:58-05:002021-12-06T07:21:01-05:00Randy Rhoads Warmup Exercises and More: Complete February 1982 Guitar Clinic<p><em><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/7c8219d8b6d51e856eaaddcf5c3a180fee10b712/medium/randyrhoads-0.jpg?1454000270" class="size_m justify_left border_" />The below article was posted online on Guitar World by Andy Aledort on 11/12/2015 </em></p>
<p>Few musicians in the history of rock have been as beloved—revered, really—as Ozzy Osbourne’s late guitarist and musical soul mate, Randy Rhoads. </p>
<p>Only 25 when he was killed in an airplane accident in 1982, Rhoads managed in a few short years to establish himself as one of the most innovative guitar players in the world. </p>
<p>On landmark Ozzy songs like “Flying High Again,” “Crazy Train” and “Mr. Crowley,” the guitarist wowed the world with solos and rhythm playing that managed to be explosive and tasteful, and a classical sensibility that was his alone. His premature death only served to solidify his legend, and his many fans keep his memory and spirit alive. </p>
<p>Guitar World acquired a tape of a seminar given by Rhoads himself before an enthralled group of Randyphiles at Music City in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on February 2, 1982, only six weeks before his death. Here is the transcription of the lesson presented that day, in which he reveals himself to be every ounce the dedicated—and utterly unassuming—guitar hero. </p>
<p>Whether fielding questions from the audience about the details of his rig or the complexities of his technique, Randy was the perfect gentleman. And as his opening statement to the audience reveals, he was modest and humble, qualities that, as much as his guitar playing, endeared him to his fans: </p>
<p><em>“This is only the second time I’ve ever done this, so please don’t expect me to just come out and handle things real well; I’m very nervous about speaking in front of people, so you’ll have to give me a hand by asking a lot of questions. I’ll do anything I can to help you out.” </em></p>
<p><strong>What effects do you use when you play live? </strong></p>
<p>I have a pedalboard that’s got an MXR Distortion +, an MXR 10-band equalizer, a chorus, an MXR stereo chorus, an MXR flanger, a Crybaby wah pedal and a Roland volume pedal. I used them much more in the past than I do nowadays, but now our sound man is starting to add a lot more up front. Sometimes I use them more for quiet rhythm parts, just to enhance the sound. I never use echoes or anything for leads. </p>
<p><strong>Do you have a preamp built into your guitar? </strong></p>
<p>No, I just have the Distortion + on the board, and I just keep that on all the time. My amps are Marshalls. </p>
<p><strong>What speakers do you use in your cabinets? </strong></p>
<p>I use Altecs. I prefer those to Celestions because they’re very bright, clean speakers. I found that Celestion speakers are pretty dirty, and if you add a fuzz box to them they’ll sound terrible. </p>
<p><strong>Do you ever have trouble with feedback? </strong></p>
<p>Yes, I have lots of problems there. For example, if you let go of the guitar for a second, it will feed back. You’ve got to play so that you’re covering your pickup. If I don’t want to do something quiet, I have to either use the volume pedal or click off the fuzz—otherwise my guitar will squeal. I’ve gotten used to playing that way. </p>
<p><strong>Do you have a special tremolo unit on your Charvel Flying V? </strong></p>
<p>Grover Jackson, who owns Charvel, builds the guitars himself for me, and I use his tremolo units. There’s no perfect tremolo, except for maybe a Floyd Rose, but Grover’s are very good. I have another Flying V, the polka-dotted one, but it isn’t a Charvel, and I do have tuning problems with it all the time. </p>
<p><strong>What kind of music did you play when you first picked up the guitar? </strong></p>
<p>I’m 25 now, so I don’t remember what I was playing when I was seven. I just played the guitar. One of the early things I remember was strumming [the flamenco guitar standard] “Malagueñia” on an old Spanish guitar. Later on I just started playing anything I heard on the radio: “Gloria” or “Louie Louie” or whatever. </p>
<p><strong>What players did you admire growing up? </strong></p>
<p>I get asked that all the time: “Who’s your favorite?” “What are your influences?” If you play long enough, your influences are bound to change. I never had a phonograph ’til I was, I think, 16, so I couldn’t just sit and copy my favorite players. I had to listen to the radio, and I liked whoever was good. One of my favorites was Mountain and Leslie West—those harmonics and that sustain. I just thought Leslie was the greatest. But now, I don’t have a favorite—I just like anybody who plays guitar. </p>
<p><strong>Did you take lessons or were you self taught? </strong></p>
<p>Mostly self taught. When I was young I took lessons—basic folk and classical training—then I started playing rock. I’m actually taking lessons now. </p>
<p><strong>You’re taking lessons now? </strong></p>
<p>I did when I was in England. </p>
<p><strong>Who was your teacher? </strong></p>
<p>Anybody. I just take lessons from anybody, like when I have a day off or something. I’ll find someone in town and just pick their brain. </p>
<p><strong>Were you in other bands before you hooked up with Ozzy? </strong></p>
<p>I was in a local band in L.A. called Quiet Riot for five years. I was still with them when I met Ozzy, so I had to leave. Other than that, I was just in some garage bands and other little things that didn’t work out. </p>
<p><strong>Didn’t you put out a couple of records with Quiet Riot? </strong></p>
<p>Yeah. We had a record deal, but we were very young and we lost the deal. It just fell apart. The records were later released in Japan. I was 17 years old and the producer wanted to make us sound very much like a pop band. I mean, if you hear it, there’s hardly any guitar on it. </p>
<p><strong>What do you think of other guitarists, like Michael Schenker? </strong></p>
<p>I think Michael Schenker is excellent, a great rock player. He’s very melodic and he plays with lots of feeling. </p>
<p><strong>Are there any other players you’d put in that category? </strong></p>
<p>Oh, I could name a hundred. I mean, everybody who’s out there is really good at what they do. Eddie Van Halen is fantastic, Ritchie Blackmore… </p>
<p><strong>There are critics who accuse you of copying Eddie Van Halen. Are you influenced by him? </strong></p>
<p>Well, we’re both from the same town and we were both in local bands. It seemed like everybody in L.A. was a lead guitar player, and we all played very similarly. Everybody used to say we all sounded very much the same. </p>
<p><strong>What do you think of Angus? </strong></p>
<p>Angus Young? I think what he does, he does great. He’s so into it. </p>
<p><strong>Tony Iommi? </strong></p>
<p>I didn’t know too much about Black Sabbath when I met Ozzy. That’s probably why I get along with Ozzy—we’re different and come from different musical backgrounds. </p>
<p><strong>Does he ever talk to you about why he left Black Sabbath? </strong></p>
<p>Oh yeah, all the time. I guess they just weren’t getting along. They had been together a long time—14 years or something like that. </p>
<p><strong>When you write a lead, do you focus on the melody or go for more of a technical, dazzle-type thing? </strong></p>
<p>It depends on what the progression is and what the mood of the song is. You have to put down something that suits the song well. I like to play melodically. </p>
<p><strong>What would you say is important for having a good band? </strong></p>
<p>Aside from being able to play well together, you all need to be on the same level mentally. If one guy wants to go out and earn money in a lounge and another wants to go out and do originals, then you’ve got a conflict. I think you should all want the same thing out of your band and like the same kinds of things. That’s a good start, I think. </p>
<p><strong>Is it true that when you auditioned for Ozzy you didn’t even have to play? That you just plugged in your guitar and tuned up? </strong></p>
<p>Yeah, it was even more embarrassing than this. [laughs] I thought I was gonna play with a band. All I brought was this little Fender warm-up amp. When I got there, everyone was behind the glass, and in the room was just me and my amp. And they said, “Okay, play.” And I thought, You’ve got to be joking. I mean, what could I play? I didn’t have any other musicians with me. So I just started warming up, then Ozzy said, “Yeah, you’re good.” I had only played for a few seconds. Then I got kinda mad and thought, Well, you haven’t even heard me yet. </p>
<p><strong>Can you play some stuff for us now? </strong></p>
<p>What would you like to hear? </p>
<p><strong>How about the solo breaks in “Over the Mountain,” where you play the fast, unaccompanied licks? </strong></p>
<p>The first lick in that section is played like this It’s in E minor. Then the next break is just a series of real quick pull-offs to open strings , with a tremolo bar dive added at the end. That’s all there is to it. There’s just one real lick in it; the rest is just, oh, noise. </p>
<p><strong>Play the solo to “Revelation (Mother Earth).” </strong></p>
<p>Okay. It’s in E minor and is very similar to a harmonic [minor] scale. It starts on E flat [D#] and goes up to E flat [D#] again at the very end. For the next lick, I use the edge of the pick to make the riff sound an octave higher. It sounds a lot different live, because I’m trying to slow it down so you can see what I’m playing. Then the next bit is played like this. The only weird notes in it are the E harmonic minor parts. </p>
<p><strong>Could you play the fretboard-tapping riff from your “Flying High Again” solo? </strong></p>
<p>Sure. You start with your left-hand index finger on C# [1st string/9th fret], and you tap with your right hand on a high A [1st string/17th fret]. When you move over to the B string, both hands move up one fret. You then repeat the process on the G and D strings, which finishes off the lick. <br>The next four bars of the solo are played exactly the same way, but begin down a fourth, in E. The same process is repeated, shifting up one fret as you move to each lower string. </p>
<p><strong>What key is “Flying High Again” in? </strong></p>
<p>It’s in A. When I play “Crazy Train” and then go to play “Flying High Again,” I’m a half-tone out. </p>
<p><strong>Did you tune differently on Diary of a Madman as compared to Blizzard of Ozz? </strong></p>
<p>Yes, we tuned down one half step when we recorded Diary. </p>
<p><strong>Why? </strong></p>
<p>When we were recording the second album, the tuner we had was miscalibrated, and I began to like the sound of being tuned down a half step for some of those songs. A lot of people tune down a half step, but I’d never done it before then. It gives a much heavier sound to the chords, and it just gives you a meaner sound, overall. When we play live, some of the songs are tuned down and some are not, so I use different guitars which are tuned accordingly. </p>
<p><strong>Could you play the beginning of “Crazy Train”? </strong></p>
<p>Yeah, sure. </p>
<p><strong>Are you using a wah-wah on that part at the beginning? </strong></p>
<p>No, just a distortion pedal. </p>
<p><strong>How do you play the main rhythm part to “Crazy Train”? </strong></p>
<p>Like this. The chord progression is A E/A D/A A; the open A string is played against all of the chord voicings. The fast lick at the end is played with pull-offs to open strings. At the end of the verse section, I use chordal inversions, like this. Each chord is played with the third in the bass [the major third appears as the lowest note in the chord voicing]. Here, the chord progression is A/C# E/G# D/F#, with the third of each chord played on the low E string. </p>
<p><strong>How do you play the rhythm part to the section that leads into the chorus? </strong></p>
<p>That part’s played like this. On the second verse, I add a riff when I get to the F#m chord at the end of the progression, like this. </p>
<p><strong>How do you play that really fast, ascending lick during the second chorus? </strong></p>
<p>That riff is sort of a “fake”; I don’t even do that lick live, because it sometimes sounds really sloppy. I used to play it live, though. It’s just an [arpeggiated] F# minor triad shape that slides up the neck chromatically [ascending one fret at a time], but I’m going to lie and say that it’s played perfectly. All it is is this, after which I hurry into a pick slide before the lick dies. When you play loud, you can get away with playing a lick like that without playing it perfectly. </p>
<p><strong>Did you use tapping in the “Crazy Train” solo, too? </strong></p>
<p>Yes, the solo begins with this tapped lick, after which I play a slow trill that slides down one whole step. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/7775a51c439545e3e1502484240ebac8340cb328/original/randy-rhoads-lesson-1.jpg?1454000059" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><strong>How do you play the last lick in the “Crazy Train” solo? </strong></p>
<p>It’s in F# minor. I’m trying to remember it because I don’t do that run live anymore. To the best of my recollection, it’s played like this [FIGURE 4H]. The lick begins one and a half steps below F#, on D#. If you were to play the lick in A minor, it’d be done like this. </p>
<p><strong>Is there a term that describes these kinds of riffs? </strong></p>
<p>These riffs are all articulated with hammer-ons. I know of no other particular name to describe them. </p>
<p><strong>Do you do any particular finger exercises before you go out on stage? </strong></p>
<p>I have some exercises where I use the first, second and fourth fingers in order to warm up. Here’s one [FIGURE 5A] in which I’m just sort of “wandering around.” </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/66dac7ea64cf87080d75405020289e2413ac3cac/original/randy-rhoads-lesson-2.jpg?1454000133" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><br><br>It’s good to do exercises like this [FIGURE 5B] using “alternate picking” [down-up-down-up, etc.], and to keep speeding it up. I used to like practicing licks that contained a lot of hammer-ons, like these [FIGURES 5C and D], but I don’t do those things that much anymore. These licks are great, though, for warming up your fingers before a gig. </p>
<p><strong>Could you show us those unusual chords in “Diary of a Madman”? </strong></p>
<p>Sure. The song begins with an A [major triad], with the flatted fifth added to the chord. So, you’ve got the root note, A, the third, C#, then the flatted E, with the open high E on top. The sound of the Eb and the E together gives you that dissonant sound. As you can see, the notes on the D, G and B strings descend as the chords progress through the first five bars. This section ends with an arpeggiated Emaj9 [Eadd2] chord, with the seventh, D, dropped in at the end. </p>
<p>The verse section features virtually the same chords as those used for the first four bars of the intro, but played in a different time signature. This section ends with some different chords played in yet another time signature [6/8]. </p>
<p>Then there’s the heavy, distorted riff which appears a few times during the song. Here’s how it’s played during the intro. Following the bridge and the interlude, I shift to this heavy rhythm guitar part. The last chord in bar 1 [the two-note Em] is very similar to C7, but I think of it as E diminished, as both chords are built from almost the same notes [both chords comprise the notes G, Bb and E]. </p>
<p>Right before the interlude, I play a heavily distorted riff that is similar to the first heavy riff, which is in A minor, but is here transposed to E minor. This is followed by the interlude, which begins with an Em(add9) chord. </p>
<p><strong>When you take your spotlight solo each night on stage, do you ever improvise or do you always play the same solo? </strong></p>
<p>It’s basically the same. But it depends on the sound I have onstage: if it’s a bad sound, I just do a basic form of the solo. But if it sounds really good, I like to carry on with it. </p>
<p><em>Interview transcription by Anthony Urso</em></p>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/32138892014-10-02T09:30:50-04:002017-01-15T18:50:16-05:00Interested or Committed?<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/403ef47dc6e0a4fd897488129e772d68e147cd74/medium/guitar-commitment.jpg?1412256516" class="size_m justify_left border_" />At <a contents="Neil Stone’s Karate Academy" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.neilstoneskarate.com/" target="_blank">Neil Stone’s Karate Academy</a> in Brookline, NH, they have a saying – “are you interested in learning karate or are you committed to learning karate?” This brings up a great point when applied to learning guitar – <strong>are you committed to learning guitar or are you just interested in learning guitar?</strong><br><br>Interest is great; it starts you off on whatever you want to do, but in order to get really good at something you must be committed. <br><br>For guitar, interest will get you to learn a few basic chords and after a while that interest wanes and you stop taking guitar lessons and after a few years, you can tell people that you used to play guitar and that you remember how to play a few chords. Meanwhile, that guitar of yours collects dust in the corner or hangs out in your closet in its case.<br><br>Commitment however, will take you much farther. <br><br>Commitment will get you past those few chords and then into being able to play the things that you always wanted to play. Commitment will enable you to break out that guitar when company visits. Commitment is great when you are sitting around the campfire and everyone is singing along to something you are playing. Commitment is awesome when you are playing guitar sitting on your porch by yourself in those quiet moments in the morning. Commitment will give you years of enjoyment for the rest of your life.<br><br>So, are you committed to playing guitar or are you just interested in playing guitar? It all starts with interest…<br> Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/31478742014-08-21T09:18:39-04:002021-10-04T07:41:06-04:00Superheroes<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/70603d5fe5e511532e2670c39979d6a06d8a7144/medium/hero.jpg?1408627077" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Who's your superhero? When you are faced with a challenge in your life, who do you look up to? Who comes to your rescue?<br> <br>It seems like every other month the local theater has a super hero movie coming out, with each hero facing some sort of insurmountable obstacle or enemy that they must overcome. And somehow, some way, they always manage to save the day. While these movies are fantastical fictional works, we can draw real life inspiration from these flicks using our own heroes. And by heroes, what we are really saying here is that we should have our own role models.<br><br><strong>It's important to have role models in our lives. </strong> It's important to have someone to look up to when times are challenging. In our world today, there are many people that we can choose to look up to: our parents, a relative, a teacher, a coach, a historical or religious figure, etc. It literally could be anyone or anything. <br><br>Though, <strong>we must choose our heroes wisely</strong>. Many public figures that we choose to admire from afar can be fallible. How many times do we come across a famous athlete or actor or pop star who we have admired suddenly have some sort of public scandal concerning themselves? <br><br>Frequently, <strong>our best heroes are people who have come personally into our lives and helped to enrich and guide us in the past</strong>. These are the people who have helped to shape us to become who we are today. These people can be anyone, alive or deceased who has cared about us and helped us.<br><br>Alternately, our heroes can be mythical or historical figures, a "greater power," that we can use as our guide. Examples of these role models could be Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln or Santa Claus.<br><br>When we find ourselves struggling, we can imagine our hero in our minds and ask ourselves,<strong> "what would [insert hero name here] do in this situation?" </strong> And then you imagine what they would say to you or what they would do in the same situation and then you have your answer as to what you should do.<br><br>Many times your answer will be a common sense one that you inwardly know, but are afraid to do. In these cases, you can imagine your hero doing what needs to be done and then you can model what they would do by actually doing it yourself. <strong> You know that since they could do it and achieve success, that you can do it too</strong>. Pretty neat, huh?<br><br>While it is important to have people that you can actually speak to when you have a problem (<strong>especially life changing ones</strong>), in those situations where you don't, these imaginary role models/heroes can be of great help to us.<br><br><strong>So, who is your imaginary hero that you turn to when times are tough?</strong> Who comes to your mental rescue when you need them?Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/31227452014-08-07T10:40:42-04:002022-05-16T07:21:47-04:00One Step Forward <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/231eb12f6f8a998878d6bc1b113f51e4910c0384/medium/take-first-step.jpg?1407422188" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Hi there guitar lovers and lovers of life. <strong>We’re here to tell you that you can achieve anything if you are consistent and take one step forward with everything that you do</strong>. All you have to do is take small steps and be consistent. Nothing earned that is worthwhile is ever done overnight.<br><br>Consider the following: <br><br>For those of us readers who have a 4 year college degree, we realize that it wasn’t just a decision to get a college degree that made it happen. It was the 4 years. It was the 1,461 days. It was the 35,064 hours. It was the slow incremental steps: the decision to go to college; the choosing of what college to go to; the applying to the college; obtaining financial aid; getting the books; getting yourself to the school in whatever way you could; attending the classes; the daily studying; the part time jobs; the summer job; repeating the financial aid process the next year; the books; study, etcetera repeated for the next three years. Small steps had to be taken each and every day to achieve this. <strong> Sometimes you didn’t think about the individual steps and where you were at the moment, you just DID IT and knew that you would eventually achieve your goal of getting a college degree. </strong> And there you have it – you earned a college degree. It sounds simple to say, but that’s how everything is done.<br><br>This is the same thing that we have here at RCGS with learning guitar. We must realize that every time we pick up the guitar, with every note we play, with every chord that we play, with every song that we learn, with every class that we attend, with every monthly private lesson, with every performance, we get a little better; a little closer to our goal of getting where we want to be on guitar. <strong>We must be patient and steady with guitar, just like anything else worthwhile.</strong><br><br><strong>Let’s explore this concept with someone who really has taken this approach, one step at a time, and achieved incredible success</strong>. <strong>Stephen King</strong>, who has written more than 50 novels and according to Forbes magazine has achieved an estimated net worth of between 200 and 400 million dollars, has commented on this subject before.
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>From Stephen King:</strong><br>“When asked, "How do you write?" I invariably answer, "<strong>One word at a time</strong>," and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That's all. One stone at a time. But I've read you can see [the Wall of China] from space without a telescope.”</div><br>Just like Stephen King, the Great Wall of China, getting a college degree, learning guitar, becoming a yoga instructor, hiking a mountain, writing a novel, getting a black belt in karate, knitting a sweater, building a house, building a business – all of these achievements and countless others are achieved the same way – one step; one task at a time. <strong>And when you realize that all it is, is steady, patient, consistent action towards a goal, you can achieve anything that your mind can conceive</strong>.<br><br>Furthermore, <strong>you may find that the first few steps may be hard, but you will find that with each step that you take, it will get a little easier</strong>, like a snowball rolling downhill. With every snowflake that you add, the snowball will get heavier and gain momentum until it is an unstoppable force taking you towards your goal.<br><br><strong>So, use your imagination, conceive where you would like to be, and take incremental steps every day</strong>. Get started! You will be amazed at where you will go and what you will accomplish!Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/31158512014-07-31T10:16:32-04:002021-10-26T07:52:40-04:00You Can Do It!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/9be35372b524c95ef7e6ca42b73ba5bd253a2746/medium/you-can-do-it.jpg?1406816306" class="size_m justify_left border_" />In this week’s article, we have a simple reminder for you – <strong>yes, you can do anything that you set your mind to!</strong> Here at the Rob Compagna Guitar School, we experience this first hand. Students who start here having never played a guitar find themselves playing it in no time at all. <br><br>Having said that, we all know that it takes effort to get what we want in life. We don’t just pick up the guitar, have the most awesome instructor ever and then we can just magically play the guitar. <strong>We must first put something into whatever we want to do before we get something out of it.</strong> There is no free lunch in doing anything worthwhile in life.<br><br>A frequently used metaphor here at our guitar school concerns hiking (yes, Rob loves to hike),<strong> “Learning guitar is a lot like hiking a mountain; you have to do it one step at a time. Every time you play your guitar, it is another step towards the top.”</strong> And, as we all know, it can take a thousand steps or more to get to the top of a mountain. Along the way, we’ll encounter beautiful little glades where we can see glimpses of our progress and we can enjoy the “view” of where we are at on guitar. <br><br>But, we’ll also encounter steep rises that really challenge us and make us doubt that we can really do it at all. It’s at these times, when we are struggling the most that we must realize that we are actually making the majority of our progress. It’s these steep rises that are taking us up higher the fastest, and when we reach the top of the rise, we’ll have a beautiful view and will be able to enjoy our progress. It’s in these cases that we must arm ourselves with the knowledge that <strong>when we struggle we are actually making the most progress</strong> and if we can strive just a little more, just a little longer, we’ll make it to the top of that next rise and be able to enjoy our progress.<br><br>Rob’s karate teacher, Neil Stone of <a contents="Neil Stone's Karate Academy" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.neilstoneskarate.com/" target="_blank">Neil Stone's Karate Academy</a>, frequently instructs that all students go through three phases, the <strong>Novelty phase</strong>, the <strong>Perseverance phase</strong>, and the <strong>Rewards phase</strong>. The Novelty phase occurs just once, when you first start and everything is new and wonderful. <br><br>After a while though, things become challenging and we enter the <strong>Perseverance phase</strong>, where we must realize that we’re being challenged and therefore must keep on doing whatever we’re doing, because if we go just a little bit longer, we’ll run into the Rewards phase. <br><br>The <strong>Rewards phase</strong> is a wonderful time to enjoy just how far we’ve come. Many people think that the most progress is made in the Rewards phase, but this is not true. <strong>It’s actually the Perseverance phase where the most progress is made</strong>. We must realize that we are forever cycling back in forth between the Perseverance and Rewards phase. It’s just the nature of life!<br><br>So how does this all tie into our theme of you can do it? What we are saying here is that you can do anything that you want in life – get a college degree, buy a home, learn to play guitar, be a parent, become a black belt in karate or do whatever you set your mind to do – you can do it if you just stick with it. There will be challenges, yes, but <strong>if you arm yourself with knowledge and a positive attitude and the dedication to stick through it when challenges occur, you literally can do anything!</strong><br><br>So, we’ll leave you with this last question: <strong>what phase are you in? Novelty, Perseverance or Rewards? </strong> Understanding where you are is a key element in getting you where you want to be – on guitar – on anything. <strong>You can do it!</strong><br><br>Interested learning guitar with us? Visit our <a contents="home" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">home</a> page to learn more.<br> Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/24859562014-01-29T10:15:02-05:002022-05-23T07:15:23-04:00Taking Action to achieve your Zone of Genius Goal<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/35245b1294470da3a93ad958efd295a0d2d29252/medium/action.jpg?1391008466" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Now that we've identified our talents for our<strong> Zone of Genius</strong> in last week's article (if you haven't, click <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/i-ve-got-talent" target="_blank">here</a> to do it), the next step is turn these into achievable goals. Goal setting is very important to making our dreams become reality. Without goals, it is hard, if not impossible, to achieve anything significant in life. On the large scale, could you imagine the Apollo missions to the moon ever having success without sequential goals being set and met? Or on a more personal level when we go to purchase something large such as a house or a car or have to turn in a big book report for school, all of these items have an end goal with incremental steps that have to be met along the way. If you apply the same basic techniques to achieving your Zone of Genius, you can achieve virtually anything. All you need is a written down plan with clear set goals, a positive attitude, and a will to achieve the goal.<br><br>To help us get our dream job, here are two great exercises that we can use from the book,<strong> “Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time”</strong> by Brian Tracy. All you need for these two exercises is a pen/pencil and paper.<br><br><strong>Make a Plan</strong><br>Take your list of your own<strong> Zone of Genius</strong> jobs that you identified in last week's exercise and identify that one job that if you did it, would give you the most joy in life. Imagine where you would like to be a year from now doing this job and write it at the top of the paper as if you are already doing it. Examples: "I have 15 clients in my landscaping business and I'm doing awesome!", “I have 10 contracts to build custom kitchen cabinets and am loving what I'm doing!". The statement should be positive and affirming. Now, consider this statement as your goal, your guiding vision that will get you where you want to be.<br><br>Now take 30 minutes and do the following. <strong>These 30 minutes could be the most valuable use of your time in quite a while</strong>:
<ul>
<li>
<strong>Make a list of everything that you can think of</strong> that you are going to have to do to achieve your Zone of Genius job.</li> <li>
<strong>Set a realistic deadline for it.</strong> Set sub-deadlines as necessary</li> <li>
<strong>Keep updating and building your list until it is complete</strong>. </li> <li>
<strong>Make sure you include personal development items in your plan</strong> as not only will you be transforming your life into your dream job, you will also be transforming yourself. Always set aside time to learn and develop yourself to be the best you that you can be so that you will be in the best condition to help you achieve your goal.</li> <li><strong>Organize it by priority and sequence</strong></li> <li>Take action on the plan. <strong>Do something every single day that moves you towards that goal.</strong> </li>
</ul> <br><strong>Make Daily Lists</strong><br>Make making lists a habit. Many of us frequently make lists of what we need to do for the day: grocery shop, take the kids to an after school program, things that need to be done for a project at work, things that we need for a certain class in school. These are examples of typical lists. However, we need to start including items that need to be completed in order to achieve our goal in these lists.<br><br>If you don’t make lists - <strong>Start</strong>. Lists are key to getting you what you want in life. If you are already in the habit of making lists, great - now just make sure that you include your Zone of Genius goal in it every day and prioritize it. Make sure you always take care of the biggest most important items first and see them to completion. Resist the temptation to take care of small things first. If you routinely do the small things first and place them over your dream job, it will take you forever to get where you want to go.<br><br>On the first of every month, make a monthly list of the things that you need to do for your goal, then once a week make a weekly list of the things you need to get done for that week and then every night before you go to bed, make a list of what you need to get done for tomorrow. The couple of minutes that you spend here every night will help you accomplish so much more than the average person will do who does not have clear written down goals and lists spelling out what needs to be done.<br><br>One last item achieving your Zone of Genius job: be patient and positive!<strong> Confucius once said, “The journey of a thousand leagues begins with one step.”</strong> Take one step towards your goal every day and you’ll be amazed at where you’ll be in the weeks and months ahead!<br> Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/24462932014-01-22T10:04:42-05:002021-10-11T07:39:17-04:00I've got talent!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/7b93c7d5fb630940272954595f681dcde7c7560c/medium/talent.jpg?1390402935" class="size_m justify_left border_" />In last week’s article, we referred to the book, "THE BIG LEAP: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level" by Gay Hendricks, in which the author referred to entering our “Zone of Genius”. This referred to the set of activities that we are each uniquely suited to do. These are activities, that when you do them, seem like they take no time at all to do and are effortless. They seem less like work and more like fun. Your Zone of Genius draws upon what you are best suited to do; drawing from your own personal strengths.<br><br>In other words, the Zone of Genius draws from the talents that we have. This doesn’t only mean talents that we currently possess, but also talents that we can develop. At RCGS, when a beginner guitar student joins the school, no matter how unskilled they are at guitar when they join, they still have talent. This is latent talent. Untapped potential. Furthermore, talents that we currently have can lead us into developing new talents. A person who became a schoolteacher didn’t start life as a schoolteacher, they simply had talents such as communication, caring about others and a curiosity to learn that when combined with motivation and dedication, led them to become a schoolteacher. Similarly, a person who can play the guitar is not born that way, they just possess a love of music, the desire to create music and the desire to learn something new. Sprinkle in the motivation and the dedication and a little time and, wah-lah! You can play the guitar.<br><br>Using our examples of a schoolteacher and a guitarist, we can now see that developing our Zone of Genius draws upon the best and most natural talents that we have, either currently developed or not yet developed. So what talents do you have? Are you aware of them, or if you are, do you put them down as being unworthy? <br><br>All talents, regardless of what they are, are worthy. Combining your special talents with a little motivation are like the ingredients to a fabulous recipe that when combined and prepared, creates something wonderful and special that no one else has ever tasted. An example of this might be a person who can mow their lawn expertly and does beautiful landscaping in their own backyard. They also might be great in handling their own personal business affairs. These talents combined with the motivation to launch into something new in their life might lead them to create their own landscaping business.<br><br>We must also remember, that weaknesses can be strengths, too. A person who may be “oversensitive” is just a person who is very perceptive about the feelings in themselves and in others, which in turn is a great strength. A person who may be shy around others but has skill on the computer could develop into a talented computer programmer. Weaknesses can hide great strengths and should never be overlooked.<br><br>Lastly, using your unique talents to do something that you love (entering your “Zone of Genius”) is not only fun and effortless (and potentially lucrative), but also makes you feel good about yourself. And when we feel good about ourselves, we are much more fun to be around. Think of what the world would be like if we all entered our Zone of Genius. We would have people enjoying themselves creating wonderful and excellent things, all the while spreading happiness to those around them. What a great goal for us all!<br><br><strong>Exercises to help identify your talents for your Zone of Genius.</strong><br><br><strong>List your talents</strong>. These could be anything: baking, dancing, singing, driving, listening, making pancakes, planning, or imitating a famous actor. These should be things that you find fun and make you happy.<br><br><strong>List your weaknesses</strong>. Be honest with yourself. What are your weaknesses? Remembering that weaknesses can actually be strengths in disguise, don’t hold back what they may be. Identifying your weaknesses can also help you learn more about yourself.<br><br><strong>Identify the strengths in your weaknesses</strong>. Taking the weaknesses that you’ve identified above, identify the hidden strengths that lie behind them. You may be surprised at what you find!<br><br><strong>Now, try different combinations of your talents and the strengths from your weaknesses into potential jobs that sound like effortless fun for you</strong>. Don’t worry about how you would do these jobs, let’s just identify them at this point. See if you can come up with at least 3.<br><br>In next week’s blog, we’ll talk about how we can begin to transform these Zones of Genius from wishes into reality. Stay tuned!Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/24032562014-01-15T10:21:29-05:002022-05-27T14:00:26-04:00Become a Genius<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/08fb7147d98a89a3a85a9436ab5eb7ef99dbaa22/small/einstein.jpg?1389799189" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Have you ever wanted to do what you really want in life? Do you feel trapped and constrained in the life you are currently living? Many of us trudge through lives trapped in unfulfilling jobs or roles in life that make us feel like there is nothing for us to aspire to. We feel that we must use discipline to train ourselves to do what we need to do to get the job done, no matter how unfulfilling or undesirable it is. If we are not careful, we can wake up later in life and wonder what we've missed.<br><br>In the book, "THE BIG LEAP: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level" by Gay Hendricks, the author, who has served as a counselor to some of the most successful people in the world, speaks about learning how to live in your own "Zone of Genius". According to Hendricks, your Zone of Genius is the set of activities that you are uniquely suited to do. These are activities, that when you do them, seem like they take no time at all to do and are effortless. They seem less like work and more like fun. Your Zone of Genius draws upon what you are best suited to do; drawing from your own personal strengths.<br><br>While many of us navigate through life envious of others who are enjoying success and happiness, we frequently think to ourselves that only the lucky or super-talented ones gain this level of success and happiness. This is not necessarily so. The overwhelming majority of these super successful people are no different from us, except that they've learned <em>how</em> to be successful. And this is not just being in their Zone of Genius. What they’ve learned is how to allow themselves to become successful <em>and</em> be accepting of their success and happiness. What does this mean?<br><br>Have you ever noticed how some people rocket to success and just as quickly fade from the public view? Or, after they have achieved success, will do something that will destroy what they have achieved? Hendricks refers to this as the “Upper Limit Problem.” This is where a person will allow only as much abundance, success and happiness as they are comfortable with, and if they achieve anything above this comfort level, they will consciously or unconsciously do what they can to bring themselves down to the level of achievement and happiness that they think they are worthy of.<br><br>Many people put on the brakes on achieving abundance, success and happiness feeling that they are not worthy of it. Other reasons that they may not achieve these things are that they may feel like they will distance themselves from those they care about if they become successful. Or, others may feel like their achievements may outshine those they care about causing them to look or feel bad. We must become aware that we are “Upper-Limiting” and when we realize this, we can let go of these limiting feelings. <br><br>The biggest tip that we may be Upper Limiting is worry. If we find ourselves worrying about something we should ask ourselves, “is this a real possibility?” If the answer is yes, then pay attention to that worry, if the answer is no, then realize that it is simply Upper Limiting behavior and discard the worry thought and continue moving onward and upward. More often than not, worries are not legitimate possibilities and can be ignored.<br><br>So now that we’ve talked about Upper Limits, let’s get to the heart of this article – your Zone of Genius. How do you find your own Zone of Genius? Here are some questions to ask yourself that will tell you what your Zone of Genius is:<ol>
<li>
<strong> What do you most love to do</strong>? These are activities where, when performing them, are effortless and you can do the activity for long periods of time without becoming bored or fatigued.</li> <li>
<strong>What work do you do that doesn’t seem like work</strong>? Are there certain things that you do in the normal course of your day that you enjoy doing?</li> <li>
<strong>When you do work, what produces the most gain for the least amount of effort spent</strong>? Do these seemingly effortless activities spawn ideas that may lead to huge value?</li> <li>
<strong>Lastly, and most importantly, what is your unique ability</strong>? This is the one thing, where if you were able to do this all of the time, would provide the most benefit to you and to those around you. Your biggest task is to find out what this unique skill is and then get started on making it become a reality. You deserve it!</li>
</ol> <br>Just like a key skill can be learned, we can also learn how to be accepting of success, abundance and happiness. The Big Leap is an excellent book to help us get the most out of our lives. At RCGS, we highly recommend this book. Here is a link for this book on Amazon: <a contents="The Big Leap" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-Hidden-Level/dp/0061735361/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389797397&sr=1-1&keywords=THE+BIG+LEAP%3A+Conquer+Your+Hidden+Fear+and+Take+Life+to+the+Next+Level" target="_blank">The Big Leap</a>.<br> Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/23480902014-01-08T10:17:04-05:002017-01-15T18:50:14-05:00New Year’s Resolutions<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/42b399c70bc033d76d44082abee55b4800ac9a31/medium/newyearsresolution.jpg?1389194142" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Do you have in mind any self-improvements for this New Year? Or have you set some resolutions and are already working on the challenges to achieving them? While there is some current buzz in the media justifying why people shouldn’t have New Year’s resolutions as people can become depressed when they abandon them, this is all bunk. Any reason that you can use to improve your life is a good one and using New Year’s resolutions is as good a reason as any. So go ahead and set them! Here are some tips to help you achieve these goals.<br><br>Some resolutions involve a goal date. While in many cases this is necessary, it doesn’t always have to be so. One approach that you can use is to create a schedule and use it to work towards your goal consistently. This is much like the tortoise who wins the race: the tortoise doesn’t exactly know <em>when</em> he’s going to reach the goal line, he just knows that by working steadily, he <em>will</em> reach it. Using this example, we can see that it frees us from worrying about an upcoming deadline and allows us to just focus on the day-by-day task of working towards our personal goal. Sometimes, goal dates can be defeating to us achieving our resolutions through the stress and perceived insurmountable obstacles that they represent and we can become despondent. “I’ll never lose 15 pounds by April 1<sup>st</sup>!”<br><br>So, if we use the tortoise method, rather than the goal date method, we can subtly change our goals to make them more achievable. We can change “lose 15 pounds by April 1<sup>st</sup>” to “lose 15 pounds.” We will still have the same daily routine that we would use in either case, we would just not have the end date in the same manner that the tortoise does not know when it will reach the goal line. The main point here is to not focus on a goal date, but simply focus on what we need to do <em>today</em> for our goal. When we only have to think about one thing at a time, we are better able to achieve that one thing.<br><br>Regarding achieving our New Year’s goals, here’s an excerpt from an earlier article here at RCGS on <a contents="Perseverance" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/perseverance" target="_blank">Perseverance</a>, which speaks directly to how to achieve the resolutions we set:<br><br><em>“There is no question that when we complete difficult and/or long term projects, we feel an immense sense of accomplishment. Far more than if we just finished a short term easy task. For those of you who've been following our articles here at RCGS for the past several weeks, you should start to see an over-arching theme here: <a contents="Goal Setting" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/goal-setting" target="_blank">Goal Setting</a>; <a contents="Being Positive" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/being-positive" target="_blank">Being Positive</a>; <a contents="Confidence" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/confidence" target="_blank">Confidence</a>, the value of <a contents="Practice" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/practicing-on-the-guitar" target="_blank">Practice</a> and now, <a contents="Perseverance" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/perseverance" target="_blank">Perseverance</a>. These are all key factors in helping us become healthier, happier individuals. Science has also come to show that important task completion releases dopamine in our system, making us feel great when we complete something important to us... Classic examples of this are when sports teams win a championship - many obstacles had to be overcome in order to achieve the goal and the resulting feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement are immense.”</em><br> <br>Here are some easy exercises to help us achieve our New Year’s Goals:<br> <br><strong>1. Invest in your mind.</strong> In order to achieve external goals such as playing excellent guitar, losing weight, achieving a dream career, improving your relationships with others, or meeting that special someone, we must also improve ourselves internally. It has long been a fact that our thoughts create our reality and if we desire a great reality, we must also spend equal time creating great thoughts. Develop your mind so that you feel great about yourself and great things like achieving your New Year’s goals are sure to follow. <br>Make it a #1 top priority to go to a book store and buy some books on self-improvement and then spend 30 minutes at bed time each night reading them. If you do not have time to read books, buy self-improvement CD’s and listen to them when you’re driving in the car.<br>Use positive self-talk. When you are doubting whether you can continue on whatever you are doing, come to your own rescue. Tell yourself, "I can do it!", "I'm doing great!", and “I’m doing the best I’ve ever done!” These are some examples of many that you can use. Be your own best friend and advocate. Be your own coach and cheer yourself on to your victory. Smile at yourself in the mirror!<br> <br>2. As noted in our <a contents="Confidence" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/confidence" target="_blank">Confidence</a> article, <strong>make sure you have close friends and family around you </strong>that help you achieve your resolutions, especially when times are tough. Tell them what your goal is and that you need their help. Make sure you surround yourself with plenty of high quality people such as these.<br> <br>3. <strong>Take advantage of your support network.</strong> Sometimes, we can be embarrassed that we need help or we can let pride get in the way of asking for help. If we don't ask for help when we need it and try to "gut it out" on our own, we may find that we give up, which is what we don't want. Never be afraid or too proud to ask for help and support! Those who care about you will gladly and willingly give it and you will be able to continue on your goal. Achieving our resolution goals is not a solo effort; reach for that support when you need it.<br> <br>Well, that’s it. You now have ammunition to use to help you achieve your New Year’s Resolutions and start to improve your life. Don’t wait to start incorporating these. Start now! You’ll be glad you did.Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/21201322013-11-26T22:47:53-05:002017-01-15T18:50:14-05:00What are you thankful for?<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/649c93a995e697203860eb9c84995da80b3fbd09/medium/bethankfulcarvedpumpkinwhite.jpg?1385523968" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" />This week, we kick off the holiday season with Thanksgiving. While we all know what Thanksgiving is about, do we really take time to understand that this is one of the best feel-good times of the year? Thanksgiving is dedicated to being thankful for what we have in life. This includes ourselves, our significant others, our families, our friends, our health, our homes, our jobs, our love of guitar and music – literally everything that we’ve come to know, enjoy and count on in life. Unfortunately, what we frequently do is take everything around us for granted. When we do this, we fail to appreciate how lucky we all really are. If we understand everything we should be grateful for – not just on Thanksgiving – but every day, we become happier because we realize how fortunate we are. <br><br>Thanksgiving has its roots in old English tradition beginning with the English Reformation in the 1500s. This tradition was brought to our shores by the Pilgrims and Puritans who immigrated to the US from England in the early 1600s. For these people, Thanksgivings were not annual events as they are today, but were observed throughout the year when special events or blessings occurred. In this case, the first Thanksgiving in the US was celebrated by the bountiful harvest that the Pilgrims had during that fall setting them up favorably for the upcoming difficult winter. This soon became a tradition and has been followed for hundreds of years ever since.<br><br>Keeping this concept in mind, we need to continually - and not just on Thanksgiving - take stock of the blessings that we have as individuals. As you read this, take a moment and think of all of the things that you are thankful for in your life. What are they? Are they friends, family, your significant other, your health, your home, your ability to play the guitar, your dog, your cat, the weather? It could be anything really, as long as you realize that it is a personal blessing for yourself. As you begin to think about it, you realize that the list can go on and on. Furthermore, when you come to understand all of the things in life you are grateful for, you know that you are indeed a pretty lucky person, making you feel happy and fortunate.<br><br>Here are two great exercises (plus a bonus Thanksgiving exercise!) that we can use that works wonders throughout the year.<br><br><strong>Get a “gratitude rock.”</strong> This is a wonderful and easy thing to do that is a lot of fun. These rocks also make great gifts (hint: holiday gift giving tip!). So what is a gratitude rock? This is simply a rock (or it could be anything really) that you keep with you in your pocket. When your hand touches it or you pick it up off of the dresser when you’re getting ready in the morning, take a moment to think of what you are grateful for. As you start to list one thing after another, you will come to realize how fortunate you are in life and will instantly feel better. <br>So, how do you get a gratitude rock? This one is also easy. Simply pick up any little rock that you like from outside or locate a durable item in your home that you can easily put in your pocket. You now have a gratitude rock and are ready to feel grateful!<br><br><strong>Make a thankful list.</strong> Take a couple minutes, a pen or pencil, and a piece of paper and start writing down all of the things you are grateful and thankful for. You may have trouble at first thinking of things, but once you start going, you will find a whole long list of things to be thankful for. You will feel better instantly. And, if you want to take it a step further, recite the list to a loved one. They’ll love that you did. If they want, have them create one too and compare lists. You will come to realize that you have a lot in common. Then take your list and post it on your refrigerator where you can periodically see it.<br><br><strong>Bonus exercise: Thanksgiving blessing.</strong> Using the list exercise above, have every guest make a list and recite it at the table during the blessing. If people don’t want to do a list, simply ask each of them what they are thankful for. Then go around the table so everyone has their chance. This can make a Thanksgiving dinner more meaningful than simply just passing around the turkey, stuffing and gravy. It’s great to hear what everyone is thankful for and usually there are a couple of funny ones that people share, plus there can be some heartfelt moments, too. Make this a new tradition with your family!<br><br>Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there from all of us here at RCGS! Safe travels everyone!Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/20404052013-11-13T08:58:51-05:002017-01-15T18:50:14-05:00Feeling better about ourselves<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/01d81654d5acc566103e84144f5c761f6bc23967/medium/i-love-myself.jpg?1384350935" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Self-esteem is how we stack ourselves up to the world around us. Self-esteem is important to us as guitarists and as people in general. <strong> If we have high self-esteem, we feel good about our ability to play the guitar and we feel good about ourselves and our interactions with the world around us</strong>. We feel more capable and we feel worthy of other people’s love and respect. <strong> If we have low self-esteem, we may feel that we are not good enough to play the guitar and stop playing entirely or that we are not competent or have nothing of value to contribute to those who are around us or to the world in general</strong>. Life can become a grim and dark place and we can feel poorly about ourselves.<br><br>What we frequently forget, is that we shape our own opinions of ourselves through our own thoughts and self-talk. People can sometimes attribute how they feel about themselves to external events in the world around them. That they are feeling down because it is raining or their boss is neglecting them or a teacher gave them a poor grade, or some other unfavorable event occurred. We then use these as reasons to justify to ourselves why we are feeling bad. <strong> What is key here to understand is that our choices on how we <em>perceive</em> these events shape our views on our world</strong>. Perception and self-talk gives us our opinion of how we feel about ourselves.
<p><strong><em>{Interested in learning more about us and our guitar programs? Visit our <a contents="home" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">home</a> page to learn more.}</em></strong></p>Throughout much of our lives, we are frequently unaware that we are always talking to ourselves: evaluating and critiquing what we are doing now, what we have done in the past and what we think we will do in the future. <strong> Our self-talk can be both liberating and invigorating, allowing us to reach new personal bests in life; or our self-talk can also be limiting and negative, pushing us down in our self-comparisons to those around us</strong>. As a guitarist, this can hold us back from being happy with our playing. As people, this can hold us back from achieving personal goals and being happy with life in general.<br><br>As stated above, this self-talk can be either positive or negative in nature. If our self-talk revolves around negativity and we constantly compare ourselves in a negative light to the world around us, we find that we indeed are not as smart, attractive or as talented as those around us. We become what we are thinking about. However, <strong>if our self-talk centers on positive feelings towards ourselves and we give ourselves bits of encouragement, we find that we are capable, that we can do a great many things well, that we are attractive, and that life in general is a wonderful experience</strong>.<br><br><strong>What science is discovering is that we create neural pathways in our brains based upon how we think</strong>. If we think negatively, we will unconsciously create “negative” neural paths in our brains where anything that we think about is automatically viewed in a negative light. However, if we can change our own thinking to be more positive in nature, we will create new, “positive” neural paths in our brains that cause us to view things more positively. How do we create these positive pathways in our brains so that we have positive thoughts, which leads to better self-talk, which leads to better self-esteem which leads us to feeling better about ourselves?<br><br><u><strong>Positive Exercises</strong></u><br><br>Well, just like on guitar, it takes practice and just like on guitar there are proven exercises that you can use. <strong>These exercises, when done regularly, are guaranteed to make you feel better about yourself</strong>. Try them and find out! <br><br><strong>1. Smile when looking at yourself in the mirror</strong>. This has to be the easiest exercise – ever! When we brush our teeth in the morning, comb our hair or look at ourselves in the rear view mirror in the car, smile! When we catch our reflection in a glass door, or wash our hands in the restroom or put on makeup or shave, smile! <strong>Even if we don’t feel like it at the time, the simple act of viewing ourselves smiling can help to change our mental image of ourselves</strong>. A smiling version of ourselves coming back to us in the mirror looks so much better than a frowning version of ourselves. So smile! <br><br><strong>2. Once a day, monitor your thoughts for 5 minutes and change negative thoughts into positive thoughts</strong>. When doing this exercise, try to do this in an environment where you don’t have to interact with anyone during this time. A good example of this might be when you are driving in the car or riding on the school bus. There are any number of places that this will work in so long as you are alone with your thoughts. As you monitor your thoughts, if a negative thought occurs in your mind, “flip it.” Change it around so that it is viewed positively. <strong>By changing our thoughts, one by one, to positive ones for 5 minutes, we are starting to turn off the “negative” neural pathways in our brain and create new, “positive” ones</strong>. Once these positive pathways become well-worn in terms of thought processing in our brain, we will start to view everything as positive without even realizing it.<br><br><strong>3. Praise yourself</strong>. When you complete any task, praise yourself. Tell yourself “good job!” “Nicely done!” “That was pretty good!” When you do this on a regular basis, you start to feel more capable. You know that since you did these other things well, that you will likely do the next thing well (or at least give it a good effort!). <strong>So much of our lives is task oriented and when we start to feel that we can do tasks well, we feel much better about ourselves.</strong><br><br><strong>4. Make a withdrawal from the “Positive Bank”.</strong> Identify anything positive that you have recently done that you feel very good about and store that thought in the back of your mind somewhere. As life eventually does, at some point something negative will happen to you, causing you to think negatively. <strong>At that moment, catch yourself and go to your “Positive Bank” and make a withdrawal</strong>. Pull up that positive thought that you have been storing and remember it to make yourself feel better. Example: you forget to pick up something from the store that a family member really wanted and you begin to chide yourself as you should have remembered it. At that moment, catch yourself and pull up your positive thought: “yeah, but I did a great job the other day when I had to rush home, pick up the kids, make sure that they had everything that they needed for their activities and then managed to make it to all of them on time”. <strong> Life can be very challenging! Make sure that you are there to remind yourself that you are doing a great job by making a withdrawal from your “Positive Bank.”</strong><br><br>These are an example of any number of exercises that you can use to make yourself feel better. If we can change our self-talk and self-esteem to be positive, we’ll feel better about ourselves. We’ll feel more confident, happy and capable. <strong>Well, now you have some exercises to do - get going and start feeling better!</strong><br><br><strong>Interested in learning more about us and our guitar programs?</strong> Visit our <a contents="home" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">home</a> page to learn more.5:42Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/19388912013-10-28T10:14:07-04:002021-10-04T11:22:45-04:00Risk Taking<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/4b964667b3047687bd571704a5eb6f9f9508d2fc/medium/untitled.png?1382969503" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Last weekend here at RCGS, we had several students take a risk and perform on stage for our annual fundraiser show-ending song. This was a risk on their part. None of them had ever performed in front of an audience on stage playing guitar, yet there they were, for the first time doing just that. And you know what? They did just great. It may not have been as good as some of them hoped it would be, but it was a first step into exploring something new and exciting for them. They took a risk and had fun along the way and gained confidence that they can play guitar in front of an audience. Their risk paid off.<br><br>Risk is a part of life for all of us. Without taking risk, we do not learn and grow as individuals. If we only stick with what we currently know and never venture out and try new things in life, we can become stagnant. We also can become resentful of those who do venture out and try something new and experience success. <br><br>Think of all of the people who have taken risk and achieved great results: Steve Jobs, a college dropout, took a risk and started a company called Apple which changed much of what we know today in computers and technology (think of what cell phones were like before the iPhone and what they are like today); Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University to start Microsoft, which is a giant in the computer industry and became one of the richest men in the world; the Wright Brothers took a risk with their own money and time and created the first plane which only flew for 12 seconds at first, but the world was never the same afterwards. There are many, many examples of people throughout history who took risks and transformed their lives and the lives of the people around them. Would we be here today if Christopher Columbus had never risked taking his voyage to go around the world?<br><br>While the above people all took risks and experienced great success, taking risks does not need to be so grandiose in nature. Taking a risk can be something as small as trying something new, like taking guitar lessons or taking evening classes in something that you’ve always wanted to learn. It could be going on a trip or asking someone to go on a date. It could be starting that project that you always wanted to start but thought you would never have the time. <br><br>These are all examples of risk. And with taking risk, sometimes the results are not what you want: You try learning guitar and find that you don’t like it after you already bought a guitar; You go on that trip and miss your flight and lose your luggage and find that it rains the entire time that you are there; You ask someone on that date and they turn you down; You start that project and are not able to complete it. These are all risks. However, if you never took the risk, you would never have had the chance to succeed at whatever you are attempting. Risks always involve the chance of failure. That is why many people don’t try to do new things – they don’t want to fail and experience the feelings that go along with it. However, we will never learn and grow if we don’t take risks. If we take that risk and succeed, we will find that the feelings of success by taking that risk far outweigh the feelings of failure.<br><br>Even a perceived failure after taking a risk can pay dividends down the road. In our example of learning to play guitar, you may find that years later, you weren’t ready to play guitar when you originally took lessons, but since you already have a guitar, you do decide to take lessons again and find that you really enjoy playing guitar, giving you much joy in life. In our example of getting turned down when asking someone on a date, just the act of asking someone out gives us confidence to do it again and eventually we meet that someone special who says “Yes” and your life is never the same afterwards. Life is all about risk. We must not be afraid to take it. <br><br>We must also not try to be perfectionists or wait until the “right time” to take a risk or try something new. Often, if we wait for the perfect moment, we find that that moment never arrives and we don’t do anything at all. It’s better to take that risk now and try and fail than to never have tried at all.<br><br><strong>Easy risk exercise</strong>:<br><br>Take 5 minutes and think of something that you’ve always wanted to do, but for various reasons have never done it. Write it down on a piece of paper and make two columns underneath it. Title one column “Upside” and the other “Downside”. Now in the Upside column, write down all of the positive things that you can think of would happen if you achieved what you wanted to do. Then, in the Downside column, think of all of the negative things that you can think would happen if you didn’t achieve what you wanted to do. Evaluate the results. Do the Upsides outweigh the Downsides? If the answer is yes, don’t wait. Get started on it immediately. Make a <a contents="plan" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/goal-setting" target="_blank">plan</a>. Put down goal dates if necessary. You are taking a risk by starting it and there is always the chance that you could fail, but you will find that any risk, no matter what the outcome, will always be better than the risk of never trying at all.<br><br>Taking risks can be scary. Just ask our students at RCGS last weekend. They took a risk and experienced the exhilaration of performing. Taking risk is a part of life. It is what makes life worth living and gives us the greatest joy when we achieve what we dream of doing. If we don’t risk trying something new and broadening our own world, we will find that the biggest risk we can take in life is never taking one at all.<br><br> 5:42Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/18877092013-10-20T09:56:48-04:002017-01-15T18:50:14-05:00Living Life to its Fullest<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/b36bff936b67c0407dc18cda8ed6e7d0d068d367/medium/untitled.png?1382277084" class="size_m justify_left border_" />In the grand scheme of things, our time here on this earth occurs in the blink of an eye. Ask any of us who are older. It seems like yesterday that we were kids acting goofy running around in the yard or learning how to ride a bike or going on that big family trip to Disney. Yet here we are a number of years later with bills, with seemingly overwhelming responsibilities and no time to ourselves. How did life get this way? Since life is so short and our time here on earth a relatively fleeting experience, we must learn to enjoy every moment that we can. If we can do this, we’ll be able to enjoy ourselves, others will find us much more enjoyable to be with and we’ll make a bigger positive impact on the world around us. How do we do this? <br><br>Much of how we experience life and how we feel about living is through our perceptions and how we choose to perceive them. When something happens to us, do we choose to view that event negatively or positively? In order to live life to its fullest we must feel positive about ourselves, the others around us and the world around us. If we choose to view all three things in a negative way, we remove the joy from our lives causing our perception of life to be painful, stressful or at the very least, not much fun.<br><br>To put a framework around this concept, imagine what life would be like for you if you were diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and you only had 6 months to live. What would you do? Would you spend those last 6 months lamenting over the unfairness of life and squander your last few precious days? Or, would you take full advantage of every day, every second, making the most of the time you have left. This is exactly what happened to a college professor several years ago. The professor was Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, and he documented the last few months of his life in his book, “The Last Lecture.” Much of the book was dedicated to his young children who would never get to know their father as they grew up and to his wife, who he would be leaving behind to raise them alone. This is an excellent book and when you read it, it certainly changes your perspective on your own life.<br><br>So what can we do to live our own lives to the fullest? The first and most important thing that we have to do, is <strong>change our perception</strong> of it. We need to stop viewing things negatively and learn to view them positively. We have an excellent <a contents="article" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/being-positive" target="_blank">article</a> on learning to be positive here at RCGS. Essentially, we need to catch ourselves when we think negatively. Negative thoughts feed on themselves producing more negative thoughts in a downward spiral to unhappiness. If we catch ourselves doing this, we need to say to ourselves, “Stop!” and then instantly think of something positive and then make sure that the next thought that occurs afterwards is positive as well and then keep doing it. What we need to do here is create a positive “upward spiral” of thoughts that takes us to higher levels of happiness and enjoyment. So much of life is perception, so let’s make sure that we have a great and uplifting perception of it. When we have a great perception of life we are able to be much more productive and find ourselves in a better position to take advantage of every moment presented to us.<br><br>Another thing that we should do to help us live life to its fullest is to <strong>invest in ourselves</strong>. Take time to read and listen to positive self-help books and CD’s. Change listening to the news or music in your car to listening to self-help recordings on personal effectiveness, being positive and life enjoyment. Read books such as “The Last Lecture.” Many people spend their time improving their bodies. What is lost here is that we need to spend an equal amount of time improving our minds, making us be the best “us” that we can be.<br><br><strong>Get regular exercise and eat healthy</strong>. When we regularly exercise and feed ourselves with good nutritious food and don’t overeat, we feel better physically and mentally. Take time to get an hour’s worth of vigorous exercise three times a week. If you have trouble exercising by yourself, find a friend to exercise with or sign up for classes for something that is fun and gives you great exercise. And then make it a #1 priority on the same level as work and family. If we are healthier we are better workers and family members. It’s no secret that when we feel better physically, we also feel better mentally.<br><br><strong>Reduce the amount of time that you spend watching TV and listening to the news</strong>. These soak up large amounts of time in your life and can be very negative (especially the news). Don’t look back on your life and notice that the biggest thing that you ever did was sit on the couch all day and watch TV.<br><br><strong>Put yourself in a positive and nurturing environment</strong>. If you find that work is very negative and is removing the joy in your life, take slow, determined, incremental steps to change that. If you find that home life is negative, take steps to improve your situation there. Feel free to schedule counseling for you and/or your loved ones if needed. No matter how hard we try to be positive and feel good about ourselves, it can be hard sometimes when we are constantly fed with negative input.<br><br><strong>Learn to view problems as opportunities</strong>. If we can learn to view a problem as an opportunity and learn something new along the way, not only will we be changing negative thoughts to positive ones, we will also be improving ourselves making us feel better in general and feeling more capable at handling future obstacles that present themselves to us. Remember, a problem is really an opportunity in disguise. What have you learned from your most recent obstacles? Take a moment to reflect on them and ask yourself what you have learned and feel positive about your answers as you discover them.<br><br><strong>Set aside time for you</strong>. Play guitar or do what you like to do. While we need to be there for work, friends and family, it is important that we take time to ourselves. This recharges our batteries making us happier and more fun to be with.<br><br><strong>Learn to organize your life and how to set and make goals and then achieve them</strong>. RCGS has another excellent <a contents="article" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog/blog/goal-setting" target="_blank">article</a> on goal setting. Setting and achieving goals is the fuel for living life to its fullest. When we set goals and achieve them we are improving ourselves, we are making us feel happier as we achieve these successes and we are happier to be with. People are attracted to positive people who get things done. Learn to set and achieve goals. If you can add this skill to your life, the sky’s the limit!<br><br><strong>Create a bucket list</strong> and then set about achieving them one by one. When you have a positive attitude and you connect this with goal setting and achieving, you will be able attain these bucket list goals one by one. What is on your bucket list? Is it a trip to someplace special with that special someone? Is it running in a race? Whatever your items are, create that list and then prioritize the list in order of what you want to do first and then set steps in place attached with dates and what you need to do to reach those dates and then get going!<br><br>There are many other things that you can do to help you live your life to its fullest, but it essentially all starts with learning how to view life in a positive manner and investing time into yourself to make you be the best you that you can be. Try to always be in the moment and enjoy that moment. When you think about it, life is a long series of moments. Make sure that you learn to enjoy each moment and then you will be living life to its fullest!5:51Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/18578822013-10-15T15:37:17-04:002022-01-03T07:01:29-05:00Performance and Preparation<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/104596/ae0e88424a472e8ac77a46629cb5b1d4da9cf818/medium/untitled.png?1381865163" class="size_m justify_left border_" /><br>There is an old saying, the “6 P’s” – “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.” This is true in many things in life and definitely applies to us all. Without thoughtful planning and thinking ahead of what we might need for an important upcoming event, we may not get as much out of our performance as we need, which could have negative repercussions down the road or our performance won’t get us as far as we would like to go. You can substitute any important life event here – a final exam, a big family event like hosting Thanksgiving, a court case, a fundraiser event, a yard sale, putting your house up for sale, getting married, etc. They all require a performance (i.e. hosting or being part of the event) and preparation for the performance. <br><br>So how should we go about planning for an important upcoming life event? With anything important in life, it all starts with a list. So get out that pen or pencil and your piece of paper and ask yourself the following questions and put down what you think the answer will be. If a particular part of the question does not apply to you, keep reading, there will likely be something in each item that you will need to consider.<br><br><strong>What needs to happen during the event?</strong><br>This question should be the first question that you ask, because the answers to this question will be the fuel that feeds the questions that follow this one. What is the order that things will happen in? If you can play the event through visually in your mind ahead of time, you will then start to become aware of the things needed to perform at or to host the event.<br><br><strong>Who will need to be there?</strong><br>In this question ask yourself who you will need to be there to put on the performance or event. If you are in a band, list the members of the band. Are there other people you will need to support you? If this is something big like a wedding, there will be many people involved. If this is something like final exam, all you will need is you. <br><br>As you write down each person that will need to be there, you should consider what is needed to have them there. If they are not a guest, will they require payment? Will anyone require special equipment? Will they have difficulty attending the event and/or attending rehearsals if needed?<br><br><strong>Where will the event be occurring?</strong><br>In this case we should ask ourselves questions like, does the location need to be reserved in advance and if so, what needs to be done and what will be the cost if any? How far away is it and will people have difficulty in getting there? If people are buying tickets, will they be able to afford them? Is there enough seating for all of your guests? If you are paying for the location in advance, will you be able to afford it? If you are hosting the event at your own home, will you be able to accommodate all of the people?<br><br><strong>What will need to be at the event?</strong><br>In order to put on the event, what will be needed? If you are having entertainment, do you have a place for it and suitable power if it is needed? If you are having food, what kind of food will need to be there, where will you put it, what preparation is needed for the food? Do you have a raffle or other activities planned for your guests? If so, what will need to be there?<br><br><strong>What kind of practicing or rehearsal will need to be done to be ready?</strong><br>If you are in a band, have you assembled a set list? For bands and wedding planners, have you setup rehearsal times for the group and confirmed that everyone can make it? If you are a musician or performer, what is your personal practice routine like? Are you including elements of the performance in your practice so you’ll be ready to go? If you are preparing for an exam or a court case, have you set aside time to study each day so you are the best prepared you can be? Remember practice does not make perfect, but it makes you a heck of a lot better.<br><br><strong>What help do I need from others?</strong><br>This is an often overlooked question. Frequently in a big event, organizers will often be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work needed to put on the event. Make sure you get some help and don’t be afraid to ask. Many people would love to help, especially if they are a close friend or loved one. Delegate to them some of the smaller sub-tasks so you can focus on the overall event. Also, make sure that they feel appreciated before, during and after the event especially if they are volunteering. Lastly, make sure that they have the tools needed to do their job to help you.<br><br><strong>Suggestions </strong>– when planning for any performance, the simplest approach is often the best. The more complicated the event, the more points of failure you are creating, so keep it as simple as possible to keep things manageable. Also, when you have all of these questions answered as best as you know them, put together a master list or planner that contains everything that you will need to do perform your best at your big life event. Tell yourself the 6 P’s - Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. You owe it to yourself! <br> Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/17982312013-10-07T06:15:00-04:002022-04-05T07:04:14-04:00Being True to Yourself<img src="//www.essentiallifeskills.net/image-files/true.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><br>
Just what is being true to yourself? We’ve all heard that we must be true to ourselves. What does this really mean? If we play with the phrase and turn it around, it can mean “Do not lie to yourself” or “Do not do things that are false to who you are.” If we think of being true to yourself in this manner, we must first come to understand who we are in the first place. And then, once we understand that, we can then go about finding ways to be true to ourselves – to allow ourselves to become who we really are and therefore be our happiest. As we all know, when we are happy, we are much more fun to be around with those who are closest to us because we are simply enjoying being alive.<br><br>
So who are we and how do we find that out? Many, many people spend their entire lives trying to find this out, however we have an excellent article here which will get you well onto your way to finding out. Do you have 5 minutes to discover more about you and start making you feel happier and healthier? Of course you do! So read on!<br><br>
For those of you who have been following our weekly newsletters on a regular basis, it is no surprise to find that it all starts out with a piece of paper (which really is your ticket to all sorts of things in life). So, get out your piece of paper and your pen or pencil and set aside that 5 minutes and do the following:<br><br><b>Write down 5 “I would like…” statements</b>. These statements can be anything, and make sure that these statements are as selfish as possible. These are things that we would really like to have if we had no other cares in the world. In order to have a better understanding of who we are, we need to find out what we really want for ourselves. Examples: “I would like to have more time with my family”, “I would like to have more time alone”, “I would like to travel,” “I would like to learn knitting,” etc. If you can come up with more than 5, that’s great! Keep going until you can’t think of any more. Just come up with as many as you can and don’t overthink things. Just let it flow out of your pen and onto the paper.<br><br><b>Write down 5 strengths</b>. These should all begin with the phrase, “I am good at…” When we understand our strengths as a person, we then get a better idea of who we are. Examples: “I am good at being a caregiver,” “I am good at golf”, “I am good at being a provider for my family.” While some of these might seem a little trivial (e.g. “I am good at golf”), if we look a little deeper at why we are good at that thing, then we understand more about ourselves. In our golf example, upon further examination, we may find that we are good at golf because we like the challenge of focusing on honing a skill until we become good at it. Or maybe we like golf because we have a very competitive nature. Or, maybe we simply like golf because we are removed from day-to-day challenges and stresses even if only for a little bit. Take a moment to understand why we like that thing and then write it down on our piece of paper. We may find that these are not strengths but simply give us a better understanding about who we are in general, which is what we really want here.<br><br><b>Write down 5 weaknesses</b>. While we all have strengths, it is also important to understand our weaknesses. When we better understand these, we come to a truer understanding of ourselves. As you write these, do not get down on yourself. We all have weaknesses and this is part of the wonderful thing that makes us human. To a certain degree we must celebrate our weaknesses as long as they are not harmful to ourselves or to others. Examples: “I can be lazy,” “I have a short temper,” “I do not stand up for myself on occasion,” “I am not a good housecleaner.” Similar to the strength exercise above, some may seem trivial, but when examined further, we discover more about ourselves. In our example of “I am not a good housecleaner,” if we look further at it, we may discover that we are not a good housecleaner simply because we have too many things going on in our life that take priority over housecleaning leading us to understand what we really need to do here is take time to simplify our lives so that we have more time to do other things. Or we may find that we are experiencing bouts of depression which are making us unmotivated, which should be an indicator that we need to get help.<br><br>
Now that we have assembled our lists, we need to write a quick summary of each.<br><br><b>Example summary of Wants</b> based upon above examples:<br>
“I would like to have more time with my family, but also have more time to do things by myself to recharge my batteries. I would also like to travel and take up knitting. This indicates to me that if I can set aside some alone time for me doing things like knitting, I can then enjoy myself more when I am with family and maybe even travel with them for fun family get-togethers. It would also be great to travel alone with the person that I’m closest too. I want to enjoy life and it is important for me to go out and experience it with those I care about.”<br><br><b>Example of summary of Strengths</b> based upon above examples:<br>
“I am good at taking care of my family and those that I care about. I’ve found that I’m really good at golf because I’m temporarily removed from all of the cares in my life and am able to selfishly focus on being good at something which gives me personal satisfaction. This means to me that when I’m able to be good at something, I achieve a strong sense of self-worth, making me happier and a better person to be with.”<br><br><b>Example of summary of Weakness</b> based upon above examples:<br>
“Through my self-examination, I’ve found that I can experience depression at times causing me to become unmotivated and negative towards myself. These thoughts are self-limiting and hold me back from being truly happy. This is an area of life that I need to focus on improving, because if I can tackle this one, the sky’s the limit!”<br><br>
Now that we’ve identified what we want, what are our strengths and what are our weaknesses, we need to feel good about ourselves and then set goals on addressing and achieving these goals. We need to learn to feel good about ourselves, for if we are able to do this, we will find it much easier to be true to who we are as a person. See our articles on <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236" target="_new">being positive</a>, <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4956224" target="_new">dedication</a>, <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4908908" target="_new">perseverance</a> and <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4861039" target="_new">confidence</a> for help on achieving all of these things. Then see our article on <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782324" target="_new">setting goals</a> for easy steps on going about this. <br><br>
Now that we’ve summarized everything for you nicely here. Take action on these items. Dare to live! When you get to it you will find that being true to ourselves is really doing what we need to make us a fuller, happier human being. When we are true to ourselves, life becomes a joy to live and we are able to handle the ups and downs of life much better. So get to it. Be true to yourself!<br><br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/17419922013-09-30T05:55:00-04:002017-01-15T18:50:13-05:00Learning to Improvise<img src="//www.dansdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/quote-improvise-adapt-overcome-from-cafepress.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="250" width="250" /><br>Improvisation? What does this mean to us? Well, improvisation to musicians, actors, singers, comedians, dancers, artists, photographers and many others is the process of reacting to the moment and responding to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. It is also how scientists and inventors create wonderful new things that improve the world around us. As for the rest of us, we all use improvisation whether we realize it or not in our day to day lives. Speaking, by its very nature is an exercise in improvisation. When a problem presents itself to us, if we can use the skills involved in improvisation, we can adjust to the situation on the fly and figure out a way to resolve the problem and then move along. We <b><i>improvise </i></b>and <b><i>innovate</i></b>. If we can become master improvisers in life, we can easily adjust to any problem that presents itself to us, resolve it and then quickly move along.<br><br>So how do we improvise either as a musician/artist or in day to day life?<br><br>When we improvise, the first and most important thing is to be in a positive mindset (see our article on <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236" target="_new">Being Positive</a> for helpful information here). When we feel positive about ourselves and the world around us, we are more easily able to deal with solving problems. We feel confident (see our article on <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4861039" target="_new">Confidence</a> for more info) that no matter what presents itself to us, that we can overcome it. When we feel positive and good about ourselves, we are more relaxed, which is a key state during improvisation. Being tense and uptight leads to a sort of paralysis. Our muscles are tight and stiff. We can’t seem to come up with ideas to deal with the situation. The concept of “No” starts to appear in our head, when what we really need is a full dose of “Yes” in that “Yes, I can do a guitar solo over this” or “Yes, I can handle this flat tire as I pull over to the side of the road.”<br><br>Mistakes are OK. When we improvise, we must also be comfortable with making mistakes. If you play a wrong note, realize that this OK and par for the course when you improvise and just move on. When dealing with a problem in life, you may not make the best decision at first, but you will quickly realize it and then move onto a better solution. Mistakes are a normal and natural part of life. Accept these as normal when you improvise and you will become a much better improviser.<br><br>Use the concept of <b><i>mushin</i></b>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin" target="_new">Mushin</a> is a Zen Buddhist concept employed by martial artists which literally means “no mind”. When a martial artist is in the moment without being aware of being in the moment their mind is free from thoughts such as anger, fear or ego. There is an absence of judgement or even an awareness of thinking. The martial artist is able to react to any attack without thought and thus is very, very quick and fluid in their movements. If we can employ this concept as musicians (i.e. play the notes without thinking about what notes should be played or what notes should be played next), we can become fabulous spontaneous improvisers. If we can employ this<br>in day to day life, we will be able to handle problems effortlessly and move on. This is a key skill, especially in our very busy daily lives.<br><br>Finally, we must have a strong core of base skills to draw from when we improvise. For us musicians, this means a strong background in scales, chords, rhythms and many other techniques. These are the tools in our toolbox that we use when we improvise. If we have these techniques memorized and can use them without thinking, we can draw them up at any time during the course of our improvisation. Think of a master painter with a palette of many, many different colors. The more colors that you have available to you, the more masterful a painting you can make. This is why we must continually practice so that these skills are burned into our brain. We must practice inorganically so that we are then able to improvise organically. See our article on <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782323" target="_new">Practicing</a> for more detail on how to do this.<br><br>For those of us who are not musicians, being aware of and familiar with the tools that we can use in any situation makes us better at dealing with problems. In our above example of a flat tire, if we are aware of where the spare tire is and what are the tools needed to change the tire, we are much better able to handle the situation when it occurs. We are able to quickly improvise with the challenges of navigating safely to the side of the road and then set about fixing the problem if we are already familiar with the tools needed to do the job.<br><br><b>Easy exercises to help us be become better improvisers either with our instruments or in our daily lives</b>:<br><br>1. <b>Improve your self-talk</b>. If we can feel positive about ourselves we are much more relaxed and able to handle life as it unfolds around us. An easy exercise here is simply to say positive things to yourself to make you feel better about yourself. Try simple things at first like "Great job!", "You're really doing well today!", "Nice work!” You can really say anything to yourself as long as it is positive and it makes you feel good about yourself. Also, try smiling at yourself in the mirror. This last simple exercise can work wonders. For more positive affirmation techniques, see our article on <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236" target="_new">being positive</a>.<br><br>2. <b>Practice deep breathing</b>. Learning how to relax is a key factor in improvisation. If we are relaxed when we improvise, we are much better at reacting to things as they come to us. Taking a quick moment periodically throughout the day to take some deep breaths and clear our thoughts works wonders. The simple yogic technique of Sama Vritti or “Equal Breathing” works here. To start, inhale for a count of four, then exhale for a count of four (all through the nose, which adds a natural resistance to the breath). Repeat. Got it? Now you’re relaxing.<br><br>3. <b>Improve your skillset</b>. As mentioned earlier, if we have a better tool set available to us when we improvise we are better at handling challenges. Resolve every day to work on improving one thing in your skillset. This can be in your job at work, this can be in the class room or when you are studying or when you are playing guitar at home. Define a list of things that you can improve on. Write it down in a list. Work on one item on the list each day. By improving on just one thing each day, we are practicing, and as noted earlier in this article, if we have more tools at our disposal when problems arise we are much better able to improvise a solution.<br><br>We all need to become better improvisers in life. By practicing at becoming a better improviser we will become much better artists, musicians and individuals. You now know the basics here on how to do it, so get started. Improvise!<br> Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/16820482013-09-23T05:15:00-04:002021-08-16T08:06:46-04:00Hard Work<img src="//1.bp.blogspot.com/_glk9jJPsQvw/TUttN7GAzvI/AAAAAAAAAHg/yHuWssMw0W0/s1600/hard_work_sign.JPG" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="166" width="250" /><br><br>
In recent articles, we’ve spoken about <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782324">goal setting</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4861039">confidence</a>, <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236">being positive</a>, <a href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4908908">perseverance</a>, and <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4956224">dedication</a>. This article is related to being dedicated, but goes into further detail in that you’ve got to be willing to work, and furthermore, to work hard to achieve your goals. <br><br>
We’re very lucky to live in a country that affords us wonderful opportunities in life, but it is also true that nothing is given for free. You have to earn what you receive. This specifically speaks to hard work and dedication, which goes beyond the effort it takes to learn guitar but to all facets of life, including financially and personally. If you want to have a good paying job, you have to work hard to get it. If you want to have a great relationship with those who are closest to you, you have to work at it. If you want your house to be clean and orderly, you have to work at it. If you want your pets to be happy and healthy and live long lives, you have to work at it. Obviously, this list can go on and on.<br><br>
So what do we need to do to develop a hard work ethic for those that don’t already have it? Hard work comes from the desire to see something done and done well. It also comes from the sense of satisfaction that we receive when we do complete a task. We feel happy and proud of ourselves that the work that we did paid off and we are able to revel in our success. Furthermore, the bigger the task and the harder it is to achieve it, the greater sense of achievement we feel; making us feel even happier. <br><br>
Developing a good work ethic is something that is learned. As kids, we start to get a glimmer of this when we begin working on our first big projects and reports in school. We learn that if we put in the effort that we will get a good grade and feel good about ourselves at the same time. As early adults, we work our first jobs and learn to do things that we never anticipated doing and when we create or do something and get paid for it, we have a greater sense of accomplishment (and typically we buy something foolish with our money – hey we’re young!). As older adults, we have careers and families to raise and the level of work required reaches an entirely different level. In these cases where the goals are very long term, it is harder to realize the successes that we’ve achieved along the way as we get lost in the day to day activities of hard work. In this instance, we must allow ourselves to take a deep breath and look back just to see how far we’ve come and how hard we’ve worked and then congratulate ourselves on a job well done! For you parents and older folks – have you done this lately?<br><br>
So how does hard work relate to achieving what we want in life? This is where we must be careful. In order to achieve what we want in life, we must tie our hard work with concrete goals that we set for ourselves. We must then pay close attention that all of the hard work that we do is in direct relationship to these goals. Do you have goals? If not, you need to define them (see our article on <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782324">Goal Setting</a>). We must be careful that when we set our mind to a task, particularly a hard or long term task, that it is a task that will get us closer to our goals. There is a great quote out there, “<b>Before you climb the ladder of success, make sure it’s leaning against the right building</b>.” So, what we’re saying here is when you work, work smart. Make sure what you’re working on is something that will get you where you want to eventually be.<br><br><b>2 easy exercises to develop a good work ethic or to make your current work ethic more beneficial to you</b>:<br><br>
1. <b>Developing a work ethic</b>. Think of something that you want to do that doesn’t take too long, but would benefit you. This could be something as simple as cleaning your room or your desk. Set to work at it immediately and don’t stop until it’s done. Once it’s done, revel in your little success and allow yourself to feel good. Do you like that feeling? Now you’re on your way to developing a good work ethic. Keep it up!<br><br>
2. <b>Making your current work ethic more beneficial to you</b>. As noted earlier in this article, we must tie in <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782324">Goal Setting</a> with our hard work. If you haven’t already done so, take a few minutes and think about what you really want in life. Once you have an idea of what you want, write it down on paper and then pin it up somewhere where you will always see it. Every time you see that piece of paper, ask yourself “Is what I am doing now getting me closer to where I want to be on that piece of paper?” If the answer is no, stop what you are doing and then set about a task that will get you closer to that goal. Asking yourself this question every time you are about to begin work on something will propel you much farther in life than if you work hard but have no goals. Without goals, we are alike a ship without a way to steer – we have lots of power and energy but we endlessly go round in circles going nowhere fast.<br><br>
Hard work is a trait that we all have the capability to do. Let’s make sure that we learn how to do it and then do it for something that is worthwhile. Your life will be much better for it!<br><br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/16304272013-09-16T05:50:00-04:002021-09-21T07:11:03-04:00Performing and Stage Fright<img src="//whyleadnow.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/stage-fright1.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="144" width="400" /><br><br>
Performing in front of an audience can be a nerve wracking experience. We can become tense even just thinking about being on stage in front of people let alone when we actually have to perform on stage. This is called <b>Stage Fright</b> and to give you a feeling for what it is like, here are some of the experiences that I’ve actually had on stage: something that you’ve practiced a million times suddenly escapes your brain and you can’t remember your part in a song and you are the one starting the song; you miss your cue to come in at a certain time in a song causing your fellow band mates to try to adjust on the fly and then you feel bad which causes you to doubt yourself opening you up for further mistakes; you experience muscle cramps because you are so tense which impact your ability to play; you stand still on the corner of the stage and don’t move at all and then think about how boring you must be for the audience making you feel worse; you feel sick to your stomach and want to throw up.<br><br>
This doesn’t sound very fun at all, does it? Then why would performer after performer state that performing in front of a live audience is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have? I can tell you from personal experience that I play my best and have the most fun in front of an audience. The feeling of accomplishment that I feel during and after a gig feels just like you finished a huge paper in school and just passed it in knowing that you did really well, or finally passing your driver’s license test after several failed attempts. These feelings of accomplishment and triumph are some of the most intense feelings you can have. And if you can learn to master stage fright, you will find that you will want to perform live as much as possible. The feelings of accomplishment repeated with each performance will give you confidence in yourself which will help you out in key areas of your life.<br><br>
So what exactly is Stage Fright? Let’s take a moment and examine what it really is. When we are able to understand something, we become much better at handling it. Stage Fright is a result of the bodies Primary Threat Response – the “fight or flight syndrome”. Because you are afraid to go on stage and your body senses this fear, it puts you in defense mode and prepares you to protect yourself from an attack: it gives you a shot of adrenaline to give you extra energy to fight or run, your palms become sweaty, your vision narrows to focus on one thing (your perceived attacker), your body tenses up, your heart rate increases. As you can imagine, none of these responses are very helpful when you are on stage, especially when you need to be calm and relaxed to perform at your best.<br><br>
So how do you combat this? There are a number of techniques that performers use. Any one of them will work, however I find that using several of them works best for me.<br><br><b>Be prepared</b>. While you can still forget your parts on stage no matter how much practicing you’ve done, if you don’t practice you stand a much greater chance of forgetting them. Plus, if you’ve thoroughly practiced beforehand, you can go on stage with added confidence knowing that you are as prepared as you can be. If I have a gig on a weekend, I typically try to find time during the upcoming week to go over each song in the set list.<br><br><b>Imagine what you will feel like afterwards</b>. Before going on stage, think about how you will feel after you are done performing. You know that you will feel elated and relaxed and very happy. If you go on stage already having this feeling you will feel much better right from the start.<br><br><b>Warm up</b>. Before going on stage, practice a few finger exercises to get the fingers warmed up and ready to go. The finger per fret exercise works great for this one. Make sure that when you do these exercises you are practicing in a very relaxed state. Don’t be tense.<br><br><b>Stick to the basics</b>. When you start performing, concentrate on easy things at first – don’t try to do anything fancy, especially with the first few songs. After a while you’ll calm down and be more relaxed. We all perform better in a relaxed state. Many performers will start their first set with a couple of easy songs to warm up the band and get everyone feeling good about themselves.<br><br><b>Use psychological tricks</b>. The following techniques are among the best and help me out the most: <br><br><u>Just smile</u> – smiling before and during your performance makes you feel better about yourself and when your bandmates see you smiling it makes them more relaxed. Plus audience members always like to watch performers who appear to be having a lot of fun.<br><br><u>Relax </u>– Force yourself to take a deep breath and exhale and let your shoulders relax, even if just for a second. The act of relaxing disengages the fight or flight response that your body may be having, making you loosen up and feel and perform better.<br><br><u>Imagine the audience in funny costumes</u> – if you can look out in the audience and imagine them in ridiculous costumes like bunny suits or in their pajamas it can make the audience seem like less of a threat making you feel more relaxed.<br><br><u>Imagine the audience as your best friends</u> – if you think of them as a group of your closest, most sincere friends who only want the best for you, this can take the edge off. Also, in reality, every audience wants you to do well, so relax!<br><br><u>Remind yourself that you’re not perfect</u> – mistakes will happen and this is normal for every performer, even the most accomplished. So forgive yourself when this happens – and this is important – SMILE – and then move on. This one is a big secret from some of the best performers out there. If they suddenly smile for no reason, you can bet that a mistake just happened. Furthermore, 99% of the audience never even knows when a mistake happens, so just smile and move on.<br><br><u>You can do it too</u> – know that thousands of other people also perform live besides yourself. Your situation is not unique. If they can do it, you can do it too.<br><br>
So these are some of the finest tricks in the business about performing. See which ones work best for you. <br><br>
Performing live is an incredible experience and one that many people do not do out of fear. The secret here is that they don’t know what they’re missing. So embrace the wonderful experience of performing live and make your life more exciting and enjoyable!<br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/15396372013-09-03T06:15:00-04:002022-05-10T07:18:43-04:00"Find A Way"<img src="//i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130902185233-11-diana-nyad-0902-horizontal-gallery.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Diana Nyad's inspiring swim" height="225" width="400" /><br><br>
This week’s article was going to be more guitar specific, but with Diana Nyad’s inspiring solo swim from Cuba to Florida over this past weekend, we couldn’t help but include it in this week’s RCGS article. What she did touches on all of the concepts that we’ve had in the recent articles here at the school – <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4908908">Perseverance</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4956224">Dedication</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4861039">Confidence</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782324">Goal Setting</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236">Being Positive</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782323">Practice</a>. Her achievement, despite the daunting distance of more than 100 miles and four prior failed attempts, stands as a testament to us all that we can make our dreams come true.<br><br>
This weekend was Diana’s fifth attempt at this swim in the past 35 years and she is now 64 years old. In past attempts, she had to stop due to fatigue, lightning storms, jellyfish attacks, rough seas, and an asthma attack. In this weekend’s monumental effort, she kept telling herself, "You don't like it. It's not doing well. Find a way."<br>
When she arrived on the sandy Florida beach after nearly 53 hours of straight swimming, she said “I got three messages: one is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it's a team.”<br><br>
Later, she told CNN: “It's all authentic. It's a great story. You have a dream 35 years ago -- doesn't come to fruition, but you move on with life. But it's somewhere back there. Then you turn 60, and your mom just dies, and you're looking for something. And the dream comes waking out of your imagination.” <br><br>
What does this mean to us? Diana’s example shows us that no matter how daunting the task or goal that we have setup for ourselves, if we overcome our fear, our doubts, we keep trying and are stubborn and continue despite these obstacles, that we will eventually achieve our goals. <br><br>
Diana notes during this weekend’s swim that “It was really rough that first day, Saturday, after the start and I just said: 'Forget about the surface up. Get your hands in somehow, and with your left hand, say, push Cuba back, and push Florida towards you.'” What does this show us? While the end goal was still in her mind, she was really focusing on the task at hand, which was completing one stroke at a time. Only in this case, about a 100,000 of them.<br><br>
One quote in the interview that she said that rings true is, “I think that a lot of people in our country have gotten depressed, pinned in, pinned down with living lives they don't want.” Turning this statement around and pointing it at ourselves, it means that many of us have given up on the dreams that we had as children and have just succumbed to daily living. We’ve given up on those special things that we always wanted to do. <br><br>
We must use Diana’s inspiration as a beacon to us all that we can still do the things that we always wanted to do. We CAN do it – make a plan, set goal dates, build a support network around us, feed our minds with the positive and work stubbornly at the task EVERY day and we will see our dreams come true. Just ask Diana Nyad, she can tell you.<br><br>
Click <a target="_new" href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/americas/diana-nyad-cuba-florida-swim/index.html?hpt=hp_c2">here</a> for the related CNN article.<br><br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/15753622013-08-27T07:55:29-04:002017-01-15T18:50:13-05:00Listening<img src="//freelanceswitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/listening.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="196" width="327" /><br><br>
Listening is something that we all take for granted like breathing. We breathe without thinking about it and we listen without thinking about it. For all of us, if we are more aware of what is happening sonically around us, it makes the world a more colorful place to be in. We are able to enjoy more of it. Just as if we are looking at a beautiful painting and we suddenly notice all of the wonderful variations in colors before us we are able to enjoy the painting even more. Sound has this same capability and it is happening around us all of the time if we just take a moment to listen and notice it.<br><br>
Listening is also part of communication. A conversation of just talking without anyone listening is just a babble of meaningless noise. If we do not take time to listen to what is actually being said and then take a further moment to process what has been said before speaking ourselves, we may miss the point of what was being said in the conversation or miss a key opportunity to learn something. In order to <i>learn</i>, we must all be able to <i>listen</i>.<br><br>
As musicians, listening is a critical skill that we need to develop. Music without sound is not music (either that or it is the most boring song you’ve ever heard!). Therefore it is key, as a musician, to be aware of our place in an ensemble group sonically. Are we to be the loudest or are we to be more complimentary in the group? Are there times when we need to be louder or softer?<br><br>
Also, just like speaking, much of playing music is communication. What is each musician saying on their instrument? What are the other instruments saying back in reply? There is a lot of give and take in a song. The singer may take up the forefront of the song, but they don’t sing all of the time. What are the other instruments saying when the singer isn’t singing?<br><br>
Finally, there is communication between musicians in a live setting. These can range from actual verbal cues such as starting a song, “1 – 2 – 3 – 4” or cues on when to play something such as “Take it” or cues on getting louder or softer such as “Hit it!” or “Take it down now”. There are also non-verbal cues such as quick eye glances such as when one musician is completing a section of a song and it is now time for another musician to take over.<br><br>
Yes, the art of listening is something that we need to continually develop as musicians, but not just as musicians. If we become a better listener with life in general, we will be able to enjoy much more of it and also be better communicators with our partners, family members, friends and co-workers. So take a moment and <i>listen </i>to what’s going on around you. Otherwise, you won’t know what you’re missing!<br><br><u>Easy Listening Exercises</u>:<br><b>General listening skills</b>. Take a moment and really listen to all that is going on around you. What are the sounds that you hear? How many different sounds can you hear? What directions are they coming from? This simple exercise will help you begin to break down individual sounds from what we normally hear without even thinking about it.<br><br><b>Listening to music</b>. Listen to a song – any song. How many different instruments do you hear? Drums? Bass Guitar? Saxophone? Singer? Backing Vocals? Lead Guitar? Now once you’ve identified the instruments, try to identify how loud each one is. Which is the loudest? Softest? Now listen to the subtleties in terms of tone. Which occupies the low register in terms of bass type notes? Bass Guitar? The kick drum? Which is in the middle range? High range? This exercise will help you realize all of the parts that make up a song and how they “sit” with each other in the mixture of sounds being heard.<br><br><b>Playing your instrument with other musicians</b>. While focusing on playing your part correctly should always be your #1 focus, once you’ve got that under control, you should critically listen to how you and your instrument are relating to those that you’re playing with. You should ask yourself questions like, “Am I too loud?” “Am I too soft?” You should also be able to adjust your own volume. If you are accompanying a singer, when they are singing you should strum quieter or reduce the volume on your guitar if you are playing an electric guitar. If it is time for you to play a solo, that is the time when you should be your loudest, however even within your solo, you should practice being quieter at times and louder at others (e.g. a soft beginning ending with a loud flourish). Part of being a good guitarist is being able to control your instrument and being able to play soft and loud is part of that.<br><br><b>Guitar Class</b>. When you are in class at RCGS, are you loud enough so that you can hear yourself but not so loud that you are drowning out other people? Try to be aware of your volume levels compared to others. This is good practice for when you play with others in an ensemble.<br><br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/14793952013-08-26T06:30:00-04:002017-01-15T18:50:13-05:00Dedication<img src="//nutblocker.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dedication.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="167" width="250" /><br><br>
This article will be our last for a little while in our series on personal development, however while it may be the last, it is no less important than the others discussed (<a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782324">Goal Setting</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782323">Practice</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236">Being Positive</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4861039">Confidence</a>, and <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4908908">Perseverance</a>). While on the surface, Dedication may sound the same as Perseverance, it is different in some important ways.<br><br>
Perseverance is the ability to overcome obstacles and see a task through to completion. <i> Dedication </i>is your commitment to someone or something through both good times and bad. We demonstrate dedication every day when we go to work regardless of how we feel. We demonstrate it when we take care of our children or others who are in need of help. Marriage is a lifelong dedication to someone very near and dear to us. Developing lifelong habits of healthy eating and exercise requires dedication. And as guitarists, we show dedication to our instrument.<br><br>
When we dedicate ourselves to those that we care about and continue to grow and nurture our relationships with them, we enjoy ourselves even more when we are around them. Similarly, as a guitarist, we must dedicate a certain part of our day to practice. Through that dedication, we become better players and as a result of that dedication our enjoyment grows every time we pick it up. <br><br>
So, how do we improve our dedication to something or someone especially in difficult times? That’s when we must tap into some of our other areas of personal development such as perseverance, being positive, and having the confidence that we can make it better – that we can remain <i>dedicated</i>. It’s also about developing good habits through practice that contribute to our dedication. <br><br>
Throughout these articles, we have used diet and exercise as examples; let’s continue with that theme for this article. While we may set goals to lose weight, be healthy and exercise and eventually achieve those goals (excellent job by the way!), we must dedicate ourselves to maintaining the healthy habits that we used to achieve our goal. We must use practice to develop the healthy habits that we need to stay healthy. We must use confidence in knowing that we can stay healthy: we know that since we lost the weight in the first place, we therefore are confident that we can keep it off. When on the holidays, we must persevere and push that second slice of pumpkin pie away from us (I know this one is hard for me!). Above all, we must continue to develop and maintain a positive attitude about ourselves and our ability to be dedicated to a healthy lifestyle. Each of these areas of personal development go hand in hand with each other to make us the healthiest, happiest person we can be. If we dedicate ourselves to improving these life skills, we will find that life is more pleasurable, so get started – become dedicated to making yourself the best person you can be!<br><br><b>3 Easy dedication exercises</b>:<br><br>
1. <u>Identify what is really important to you</u>. Take a few minutes to sit down with paper and pencil and create a quick list of those things that are really important to you. If you are having trouble thinking of what to write down, set a timer for 2 minutes and force yourself in a stream-of-consciousness manner to write down whatever comes out. Frequently, the results of this method will be truer to what you care about than if you do it for 30 minutes. Then, take the results and prioritize them on what is most important to you. Then, when you set your daily list, make sure you include to top two or three in it. Dedicate yourself to these items on a daily basis.<br><br>
2. <u>Use a daily list</u>. When you make your daily list on what needs to be done for the day, make sure you put in the items discussed in exercise 1 above. By putting these things on a daily list, this helps to develop the positive habit of dedicating yourself to what is really important to you.<br><br>
3. <u>Develop positive habits that make it easier for you to dedicate yourself to what you care about</u>. In the case of guitar, set aside the same time every day for your practice time. After a while, you will develop that habit of practicing at this time and it makes dedication much easier. For a healthy lifestyle, develop the habit of exercising on a specific two or three days a week at a particular time and place. Don’t let anything interfere with this exercise time. Allow the habit of exercising to sink in and it will be much easier for you to dedicate yourself to a healthy lifestyle going forward.<br><br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/14337452013-08-19T04:25:00-04:002021-09-15T07:16:26-04:00Perseverance<img src="//gritbybrit.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/perseverance.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><br>
Perseverance is sticking through a task despite obstacles and seeing the task through to completion. These obstacles could be anything: time may be a factor - the task could take days, weeks, months or even years; the task may involve the help of others who may be busy themselves; we may have to overcome our own personal challenges - doubting ourselves when times get tough or overcoming physical challenges.<br><br>
There is no question that when we complete difficult and/or long term projects, we feel an immense sense of accomplishment. Far more than if we just finished a short term easy task. For those of you who've been following our articles here at RCGS for the past several weeks, you should start to see an over-arching theme here: <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782324">Goal Setting</a>; <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236">Being Positive</a>; <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4861039">Confidence</a>, the value of <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782323">Practice</a> and now, Perseverance. These are all key factors in helping us become healthier, happier individuals. Science has also come to show that important task completion releases dopamine in our system, making us feel great when we complete something important to us. Click <a target="_new" href="http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2012/05/new-study-reveals-dopamine-levels-directly-affect-work-ethic-2">here</a> for the related article from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Classic examples of this are when sports teams win a championship - many obstacles had to be overcome in order to achieve the goal and the resulting feeling of personal satisfaction and achievement are immense.<br><br>
What does this mean in terms of guitar? I can tell you from personal experience that guitar is a life long journey that adds a lot of pleasure and personal satisfaction to your life - which is why we want to learn guitar in the first place. I also know that at times, challenges present themselves where you doubt your ability to play something or your ability to play at all. This is where perseverance comes into play. We must stick it through - we will get to where we want to be if we just go a little further, practice a little harder. Perseverance when combined with being positive, goal setting and using practiced confidence will get us through to where we want to be EVERY time.<br><br>
Continuing our theme here, but from a non-guitar perspective; Perseverance will allow us to get ourselves to where we really want to be in life. In recent articles, we talked about long term tasks such as weight loss. Being able to persevere when we doubt ourselves, to duck our heads down and continue on through is key. This brings up a great quote from Winston Churchill: "If you're going through hell: keep going." When trying to lose weight, we are changing a lot of things: our diet, adding exercise to our daily lives, and challenging ourselves to see a long term task through to completion. Just like any long term task - we must be Positive, we must have Goals, we must develop Confidence, we must use Practice every day to gain good habits and finally, we must Persevere. We must keep going no matter the obstacle. Typically when we are struggling, these means success is just around the corner. We must keep going - we're almost there!<br><br>
Here are some easy exercises to help us practice perseverance:<br><br>
1. Use <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236">positive</a> self-talk. When you are doubting whether you can continue on whatever you are doing, come to your own rescue. Tell yourself, "I can do it!", "I'm doing great!", and “I’m doing the best I’ve ever done!” These are some examples of many that you can use. Be your own best friend and advocate. Be your own coach and cheer yourself on to your victory. <br><br>
2. As noted in our <a target="_new" href="http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4861039">Confidence</a> article, make sure you have close friends and family around you that help you persevere, especially when times are tough. Tell them what your goal is and that you need their help. Make sure you surround yourself with plenty of high quality people such as these. <br><br>
3. Related to item 2 above, make sure you take advantage of your support network. Sometimes, we can be embarrassed that we need help or we can let pride get in the way of asking for help. If we don't ask for help when we need it and try to "gut it out" on our own, we may find that we give up, which is what we don't want. Never be afraid or too proud to ask for help and support! Those who care about you will gladly and willingly give it and you will be able to continue on your goal. Perseverance is not a solo effort; reach for that support when you need it.<br><br>
~ Rob<br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/13842782013-08-12T06:55:00-04:002017-01-15T18:50:12-05:00Confidence<img src="//www.treeof.com/uploadedfiles/image/confidence-building.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="195" width="259" /><br><br>
Confidence is generally defined as being certain that a chosen course of action is the correct one. For example: “I’m confident that if I keep practicing, I can play Cliffs of Dover on guitar” or “I have complete confidence that Sue can get the job done”. We frequently also use the words “I believe” and “I know” when speaking about confidence. Similarly, Self-confidence is defined as “having confidence in oneself”. Self-confidence is what this article will be speaking to.<br><br>
We all have doubts about ourselves at times. We think that we may not be able to do something at all and therefore we never start. We may think to ourselves, “My fingers are stiff and slow, I’ll never be able to play guitar” or “30 pounds? There is no way that I can lose thirty pounds?” But the simple answer is other people have learned to play guitar. Other people are able to lose weight. When the truth that other people have done these and many more things (and some of them with significant obstacles) it only proves that you can do it too. So how do we do these things that we’ve always wanted to do? How do we get the confidence to go about doing it?<br><br>
What holds back a lot of us is fear. Fear of failure; fear of disappointment. Since by nature, we want to avoid these feelings, we simply don’t do the thing that we think we might not be able to do. So how do we get confidence that we can do something? How do we believe in ourselves?<br><br>
There is a great quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.” In our two examples above, if you take the plunge and start playing guitar, you’ll soon find that you can play it and that fear goes away. Similarly, if you start exercising and watching your diet, you’ll find yourself losing weight and the fear that you can’t lose weight goes away.<br><br>
Another great quote is “fake it until you make it.” While this quote has to be taken with a grain of salt (e.g. you can’t fake being an airline pilot, though you can “fake” going about the steps on learning to be an airline pilot), when you start to pretend that you can do something, like exercising, and you do it long enough, you become confident that you can do that thing because you’ve already been doing it. You then believe or know that you can do something. Which is an awesome feeling and very empowering.<br><br>
So, we can see that Self-confidence is something that we learn by doing. It takes practice like so many other things in life. I don’t mean to get slightly off topic here, but this is the great thing about playing guitar – in learning how to play guitar, we learn how to practice. And when we learn how to practice, we can take that same skill of knowing how to practice and apply it to something else, like practicing to be self-confident.<br><br>
Here are some easy exercises that, when used in conjunction with some of our other RCGS articles in recent weeks (Being Positive, Goal Setting, Practicing on Guitar) will give you confidence to start whatever you want to do and keep you doing it until you reach your goal.<br><br>
1. Make a list. Take 5 minutes and pick up a pen and a piece of paper and list out what steps you’ll need to do to achieve your goal. When we put things on paper, we know what we have to do vs. being uncertain on what needs to be done. Something that is unknown is always scarier than something that is known. A great example of this would scary movies. Have you ever noticed that the scariest movies rarely show the actual scary monster until the end? We are more afraid because our mind runs wild thinking of all of the scary things that this creature is or might be capable of doing. If the monster is repeatedly shown throughout the movie, we become knowledgeable about it and become less fearful, we may even begin to think the monster is funny if it is a grade B horror flick. We are more fearful of the unknown vs. known. The easy 5 minutes that you take to make the unknown a known quantity by making a list can make a big difference in you getting the confidence to start.<br><br>
2. Study or read materials from people who’ve done what you want to do. When you learn the steps that others took to achieve their goals, you gain confidence to do it to. You learn the steps that they had to take therefore you have increased confidence that you can do it too.<br><br>
3. Surround yourself with the positive. When you tell friends and family what your goal is, tell them that you will need their support and encouragement. True friends and family will always be there to support you – make sure you have them at the goal line for you cheering you all the way. Also, listen to positive motivational cd’s and tapes or go on YouTube and listen to some free motivational material. Surround yourself with the positive and your confidence will receive a great boost.<br><br>
4. Use words like “I am” and “I will” when referring to your goal. Don’t use words like “I’d like to” or “I’m hopeful” or “I’m trying”. For you Star Wars buffs out there, there is a great Yoda quote that applies here: “Do or Do not. There is no try.” When we use words like “I will” and “I am” when referring to a goal, we start to believe and have confidence that we can achieve our goal.<br><br>
5. Use Goal Setting. Read the Goal Setting article (http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/fr_blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4782324) that was recently posted here at RCGS about goals and how to set and achieve them. When we have clear, defined goals and logical steps to achieve them, we get a big confidence boost that we can achieve our goal because the steps are laid out nicely before us. All we need to do is follow them.<br><br>
6. Do something every day. Do at least one thing every day to achieve your goal. With each passing day, you’ll find that the flicker of confidence that you have on day one becomes a roaring furnace as the days and weeks fly by. Remember, we become more confident by doing, so do something every day!<br><br>
7. Falling off the bandwagon. If we find ourselves losing a day from our goal for whatever reason, typically our confidence deflates. This is when we need to tap into our support network of friends and family and positive motivational material to pick us back up and hop right back on that wagon. Everyone has their challenges when doing something and you will too. Take that as par for the course and realize that this is normal in achieving goals and gaining confidence. Read the Being Positive article (http://www.robcompagnaguitarschool.com/fr_blog.cfm?feature=4624605&postid=4839236) from RCGS to help you out with this.<br><br>
Using these seven easy steps to gaining confidence will get you on the right path to believing that you can achieve whatever you want to do. Remember – Self-confidence is something that is PRACTICED, it is not something that only a few certain people have. They learned how to be confident and you can too.<br><br>
So what are you waiting for, start practicing so you can become confident too! There is so much life out there to live, so go out there and live it!<br><br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/13617872013-08-08T09:15:00-04:002017-01-15T18:50:12-05:00Being Positive<img src="//3.bp.blogspot.com/-mxj0CFU_m0k/TmhZJ_c1REI/AAAAAAAAADk/iMmK74g9UsQ/s1600/smile.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="200" width="250" /><br><br>
It is no secret that when we feel positive about ourselves and our surroundings, we are happier, we are more likely to get things done and are we are typically more enjoyable to be around. When life is more fun, we generally have a more open mind about things and as guitarists and musicians, we feel good about our playing. As people, we are more relaxed and this good feeling spreads to those we care about.<br><br>
So how do we become more positive, especially in a world that seems to focus on the negative? Fundamentally, it's easy, but it requires practice. We've all heard of the phrase "Garbage in, garbage out" (i.e. negative input makes negative output). This statement, when flipped around, is also true from the positive perspective - positive input makes us have positive output. If we feed our mind with negative input, we are going to feel negative about ourselves and our surroundings. If we feed our minds with the good, the clean, the positive and the pure; we will find that we are much happier.<br><br>
This takes practice though. Have you ever caught yourself thinking negatively and finding that your next thought is also a negative one? Whether you realize it or not, you've booked yourself a ticket on the Negative Train. Conversely, if we can think positively, we'll often find that our next thought is a positive one as well. What we need to do here is get ourselves a ticket on the "Positive Train" instead of on the "Negative Train".<br><br>
Here are some easy exercises that you can do in everyday life to help you get that ticket on the Positive Train:<br><br>
1. News. Simply limit how much time you watch the news on TV or listen to it on the radio or read about it on the internet. Or, take the plunge and eliminate it all together. Don't worry, if something really bad happens, you know that someone will tell you all about it. ;^) News tends to be very negative and the time that you spend watching, listening or reading it can be better spent doing something productive like spending time with your family or cleaning the house or practicing guitar or anything else that makes you feel better about you.<br><br>
2. Limit how much time you spend watching TV in general. Much of TV is essentially junk food for the mind. It "tastes" good while you are watching it, but like junk food, too much of it can make you mentally "overweight"; it can be very limiting to you and your family. Just like with the News item above, the time you save here by not watching TV and doing something that makes you really feel good, will contribute to your overall positive viewpoint of life. The old Greek adage, "Everything in Moderation" is a great one and certainly applies here too.<br><br>
3. Get some exercise. Even if it's just for 5 minutes. I don't need to cite the many, many statistical findings out there that show that when you get exercise, your body feels stronger and you feel better about yourself and life in general. We'll frequently find that if we just only exercise for 5 min., it frequently turns into 15 min. or more. Get up off of the couch and get moving! You owe it to yourself and your family!<br><br>
4. Smile at yourself in the mirror. This one sounds kind of silly, but you'll find that when you see your own face smiling back at yourself in the mirror, you instantly feel better. Try this when you brush your teeth in the morning. Even if you don't feel like smiling at first, force yourself to do it and you'll find that the smiles come pretty easy after that. Remember - everything takes practice so smile!<br><br>
5. Think and say positive things to yourself. Just like with smiling above, you may feel silly at first, but when you really think about it, you are your own best friend and advocate. Life is tough enough as it is, make sure you get your own best friend cheering you on as well! Try simple things at first like "Great job!", "You're really doing well today!", "Nice work!” You can really say anything to yourself as long as it is positive and it makes you feel good about yourself. <br><br>
6. Think of problems as opportunities. When a problem presents itself to you, think of it as an opportunity to learn and improve yourself, not as some negative event that will drag you down. Those people who have the most success in life take advantages of problems when they occur. They learn and grow from them and don't beat themselves up mentally when these occur (e.g. self-talk such as "I should have known", "Why does this happen to me", etc.). If we can learn to view problems as opportunities and take advantage of them in a positive manner when they occur, we'll not only feel much better about ourselves, we'll also be improving our lives in the present and in the future. All you have to do here is a quick switch in your thinking when a problem presents itself to you, think "this is an opportunity to make myself better" and then smile and get going!<br><br>
These are only a small example of the great techniques out there for positive thinking - there are a great number of exercises out there that you can use as well.<br><br>
For more information on thinking positively, take a look at this great article online:<br><a target="_new" href="http://%20http://psychology.about.com/od/PositivePsychology/a/think-positive.htm"><br>
http://psychology.about.com/od/PositivePsychology/a/think-positive.htm</a><br><br>
Also, you may want to go to a book store and pick up a book on positive thinking. There are plenty of them out there.<br><br>
Remember, practice using these simple exercises EVERY DAY and book your ticket onto the "Positive Train". You and those that you care about will be glad that you did!<br><br>Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/13029802013-07-31T10:10:00-04:002020-12-04T01:00:18-05:00Goal Setting<img src="//www.bottlesurf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/goals3.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="185" width="250" /><br><br>In this week’s article, I’d like to address goal setting. Goal setting is not only something that is important to us as guitarists but it is also important to us as people in general. Without goals, it is hard, if not impossible, to achieve anything significant in life. On the large scale, could you imagine the Apollo missions to the moon ever having success without sequential goals being set and met? Or on a more personal level when we go to purchase something large such as a house or a car or have to turn in a big book report for school, all of these items have an end goal with incremental steps that have to be met along the way. If you apply the same basic techniques to how you approach guitar or anything you want in life, you can achieve virtually anything. All you need is a written down plan with clear set goals, a positive attitude, and a will to achieve the goal.<br><br>Here are two great exercises that I’ve learned from the book, “Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time” by Brian Tracy. All you need for these two exercises is a pen and paper!<br><br><strong>Life Changing Exercise</strong><br>1. Make a list of 10 goals you want to accomplish in the next year.<br>Write them as though a year has already passed and these goals are now a reality. Use the present tense when writing them. Use "I" and "me", etc...<br>Examples: "I earn $X a year", "I weigh X pounds", “I can play X on guitar”.<br>There is no order to them at this point. Just write them down. If you’re having trouble thinking of what to write down, set a timer for 2 minutes. It’s amazing on what you can write down when forced to do it in a limited amount of time and the results are truer to the mark as you are not second guessing yourself.<br><br>2. Now, review the goal list and select the one goal that if you achieved it, would have the greatest positive impact on your life.<br><br>3. Now take 30 minutes and do the following. These 30 minutes could be the most valuable use of your time in quite a while:<br>• Write that one goal on a separate sheet of paper.<br>• Set a realistic deadline for it. Set sub-deadlines as necessary<br>• Make a plan.<br> Make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve that goal.<br> Keep updating and building your list until it is complete.<br> Organize it by priority and sequence<br>• Take action on the plan.<br>• Do something every single day that moves you towards that goal.<br> <br><strong>Make Daily Lists</strong><br>Make making lists a habit. Many of us frequently make lists of what we need to do for the day: grocery shop, take the kids to an after school program, things that need to be done for a project at work, things that we need for a certain class in school. These are examples of typical lists. However, we need to start including items that need to be completed in order to achieve our goals in these lists.<br>If you don’t make lists – Start. Lists are key to getting you what you want in life. If you are already in the habit of making lists, great – now just make sure that you include your personal goals in it every day and prioritize them. Make sure you always take care of the biggest most important items first and see them to completion. Resist the temptation to take care of small things first. If you do the small things first, it will take you forever to get the truly important things done.<br>On the first of every month, make a monthly list of the things that you need to do for your goal, then once a week make a weekly list of the things you need to get done for that week and then every night before you go to bed, make a list of what you need to get done for tomorrow. The couple of minutes that you spend here every night will help you accomplish so much more than the average person will do who does not have clear written down goals and lists spelling out what needs to be done.<br><br>One last item on goals:<b> be patient and positive! </b>Confucius once said, “The journey of a thousand leagues begins with one step.” Take one step towards your goal every day and you’ll be amazed at where you’ll be in the weeks, months and years ahead!<br> Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/13029792013-07-31T10:10:00-04:002013-07-31T10:10:00-04:00Practicing on the Guitar<i><img src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTuz53Syy9WWxzlVdmZ1IK9wJwgI3VLX57137yoeqnGb4lU4kWr" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" /><br><br>
"How often should I practice?" "What do I do if I don't have time to practice?" "What do you do when you don't feel like practicing?" "What if you're not feeling very good about your playing and don't feel like practicing?"</i><br><br>
These and similar questions have been asked of me over the years and the answer is varied on this one. We all know that practicing at anything in life makes you better at it. This in particular, applies to guitar. Frequently, we're all busy in our lives and it's hard to find time to practice. Or, you went to the local guitar shop and you saw a 15 year old sitting in the corner of the store wailing on the guitar like Eddie Van Halen and the balloon of confidence in your ability to play the guitar took a big needle prick and deflated all over the place - and now you don't feel like practicing at all. So, we've got two issues here - finding time to play the guitar and what to do when you don't feel good about your playing. I'll address each one separately here:<br><br>
Finding time to practice:<br>
What I've found personally with practicing is to build it into your daily routine. We all know that if we are able to build structure in our lives and become a little more organized, we are able to fit things in that we normally wouldn't fit in if we were disorganized. So, find a time each day that works best for you - after the kids have gone to bed, or right after you get home from school, or first thing in the morning before your day begins. You don't have to practice every day (I personally take one day off a week where I don't even touch a guitar unless I want to) but I know for a fact that practicing as little as 15 minutes each day is 10 times better than cramming 2 hours into one day a week. If you practice infrequently, you will forget what you worked on last time and your fingers will take longer to warm up and build up the strength to do the things you really want to do on guitar. Daily practice will beat cramming every time. <br><br>
If you want to spend time with loved ones and play guitar too, what I've done in the past is play guitar on the couch while we watch a TV show. This primarily works for Electric guitar players here as an Acoustic can be pretty loud. My practice amp has a headphone jack, so I put on my headphones and watch whatever, but you get the general idea here. If you think about it, I'm sure you can find ways that this can work for you too.<br><br>
Not feeling good about your playing and finding it hard to practice:<br>
If I had as many fingers and toes for how many times I've felt this in the past 30 years, I'd have a hundred digits! Which would probably make me a heck of a guitar player now that I think about it. :) Seriously, this is something that we all can feel as individuals and not just on guitar. But what I've come to realize over the years is that playing guitar is a journey and we all have our own routes to take for that journey. Some people are further down their own paths on their own journey but their journey is not your journey. What's more important is enjoying your own journey and not worrying about where other people are at on theirs. If you perceive that someone is better than you, than good for them. This has no impact on you or your playing. Get back to enjoying your own journey and make sure you smell the flowers on the way! You've got your own places to go that only you can get to. :)<br><br>
~Rob<br><br type="_moz">Rob's Guitar Schooltag:robsguitarschool.net,2005:Post/13029782013-07-31T10:00:00-04:002021-09-06T12:59:12-04:00Thinking about taking lessons? How do guitar classes work?Not where you want to be on guitar? Have you always wanted to play but thought it was too hard? If you're interested, make sure you read EVERY word below. :)<br><ul>
<li>Frustrated trying to learn your first chords and your fingers aren't doing what you want?</li>
<li>Are you looking to improve your playing speed to that blistering fast level?</li>
<li>Not getting that sound out of your guitar like your favorite player?</li>
<li>Do you want to learn another style of guitar to add to what you already have?</li>
</ul><br>
In my 30 years of playing and teaching I've helped many other students with all of the above problems. I'm also happy to now be teaching in a school format instead of in individual private lessons. How is going to a guitar school better than the standard weekly half hour private lesson? There are many, many reasons, but here are a few:<br><ul>
<li>With the old style standard weekly half hour private lessons, you get a total of 2 hours of lesson time with an instructor each month. With attending my guitar school, you can take up to two 1 hour classes each week for your type of program (see Programs below), PLUS you get a half hour private lesson with me each month where I can personally monitor your progress and make sure you are on track to achieving your goals. That's a total of 8 1/2 hours of lesson time each month. As a result, it is no surprise that students learn faster using the Class method.</li>
<li>Learning in groups is a proven method of teaching that has been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years (e.g. universities, colleges, schools, academies, etc.)</li>
<li>Learning in groups gives you the ability to meet other people just like you who encourage you on your journey on guitar. It's a great way to make new friends and future band mates.</li>
<li>As a musician, learning to play with other people in ensemble groups is a key skill. In group classes, you learn to not only listen to what you are playing but also to what other people are playing along with you. This develops great listening skills which go beyond just playing guitar (e.g. being a musician and not just a guitarist).</li>
<li>All classes are taught in such a way so that they address the four levels of student skills at once: Starter, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced so everyone is always challenged at their own individual level. Plus senior students can take a more active role in the class, helping them become future teachers if they wish.</li>
</ul><br><br>
Programs:<br>
During your consultation appointment with me, if we decide that the school is right for you, we will determine which program works best for you:<br><ul>
<li>Electric Guitar Program</li>
<li>Acoustic Guitar Program</li>
<li>Lead Guitar Program</li>
<li>Kids Guitar Program</li>
</ul><br>
Finally, as a teacher with many years experience, I know it's not just about showing you chords, scales, exercises, licks and songs, which every teacher knows - it's about helping you and encouraging you while showing you the easiest, fastest and best ways to learn whatever it is you want to learn on guitar. It's about creating a happy, healthy and supportive environment here at the school. It's about developing friends but also developing discipline and dedication to your instrument that will help you out for many years in all aspects of your life. I have helped out many students over the years and I know I can help you out too.<br><br>
Interested? View the short video on the <a href="./home.cfm">home</a> page to learn more:Rob's Guitar School