Have you struggled with wanting to make playing guitar a bigger part of your life? The solution may be as simple as keeping music in mind. When your day is filled with obligations, it can be easy to forget about some of the things you love the most!
Do you ever get to the end of the day without having had a thought about your guitar? Or do you go through periods of time when you never really put your attention on the music you hear? The two go hand-in-hand; when you’ve spent enough time listening deeply and thinking about playing (and about what you want to play), motivation is sure to emerge. And, when motivation is strong, time has a way of opening up to make room for your desires.
Listen Deeply
Start bringing your guitar more into your life by increasing the time you devote to active listening. You probably won’t need to change anything about your day other than where you place your attention. Whenever there is music in your environment, turn your attention to it, listening for aspects you might usually overlook. When listening to a favorite song, can you detect a changing tempo or time feel that you hadn’t recognized before? Is there some subtle expression from the bass player that you never noticed, but evokes an emotional response? Relish every small discovery!
Deep listening not only allows you to enjoy the music in your life more, it also spurs musical comprehension and creativity. And the more you listen with attention, the more excited you will naturally become about making music!
Choose Thoughts
Training your thoughts toward music and your guitar is a simple practice and, like listening, doesn’t require any changes to your schedule. Just begin to observe your thoughts and replace some of those that don’t feed your goals with others that are about music! Think about things you love about certain songs or bands, about your guitar, and about playing. Don’t try to conjure up profound thoughts or talk yourself into any action. The purpose of this mental exercise is not to guilt yourself into practicing guitar, but to simply indulge in small but enjoyable mental and emotional experiences with music and your guitar. When you return to the practice room, you may be surprised to find that everything is easier and more fun!
As you bring more attention to music, new responses, impressions, and ideas will crop up. It’s exciting when they do, but ideas come and go, so be sure you record them before they escape. You don’t have to be a great writer—just write stuff down! Make a habit of scribbling notes about ideas, song lyrics, musicians, sounds, or musical pieces that interest or move you —anything that gets your attention. When you write down your ideas and impressions, you clarify your thoughts and intentions, and magical things happen!
Use a Journal
I created the DAILY, workbook journal and practice log, to help you with the process of generating and recording thoughts and musical ideas and with clarifying and meeting your goals. Watch the short video I made of the DAILY to get an idea of how it can work for you.
