Motivation Archives - Page 7 of 31

20 Famous Practice Quotes That Will Rock Your Playing

I love gathering quotes of wise, smart, successful, creative and musical human beings. They always inspire me to get more out of myself, to think differently, grow and expand my horizon, or sometimes remind myself of the obvious.

Today I will share with you 20 beautiful quotes that will take you back to the drawing table and motivate you to practice diligently to realize your true potential. After all, practice is the vehicle that will lead you to your desired outcome.

Tip: Read all the quotes carefully. Take two or three quotes, write them down and hang them up on your wall, set it as a background on your computer or iPhone. Make sure you see these quotes everyday to remind yourself of the importance, joy and rewards of practice.

Read, ponder and act!

1 – “The only thing that’s holding you back, is the way you’re thinking.” ~ Steve Vai

2 – “You’re not born with certain skills, you have to acquire them” ~ Ry Cooder

3 – Copying one person is stealing. Copying ten is research.” ~ Chet Atkins

4 – The best way for a student to get out of difficulty is to go through it ~ Aristotle

5 – “If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, the critics know it. And if I don’t practice for three days, the public knows it.” ~ Louis Armstrong

6 – “The most crucial ingredient by far for success in music is . . .what happens in the practice room.” ~ William Westney

7 – “There’ll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time, unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done.” ~ James TaylorContinue Reading

2018 A Fresh New Guitar Year Ahead Of You

By Klaus Crow 5 Comments

Wow, time flies doesn’t it? Another year has gone by. I realize, you really got to take time to pause, reflect, and keep figuring out what you want in life (and what you don’t want) before it passes you by. Life is too darn precious and too darn short.

Luckily a fresh new year is ahead of us. An entire year of new blank pages to fill. You can start over, start from scratch, change your direction, experiment, improve, grow and learn new things.

Well, let’s make time for playing guitar. Let’s make it a priority. Let the trivial things in life not get in the way of the things that matter to you. Schedule dedicated daily practice time on your calendar. Set a timer on your phone for 30 to 60 minutes…and GO!

Think about where you want to stand a year from now. What would you like to accomplish on your guitar? Do you want to be able to play and sing your favourite songs on your guitar? Do you want to build and learn a repertoire of songs to be able to perform in front of people and gain self-confidence? Do you want to write and record your own songs? Do you want to learn awesome guitar solos to get to the next step? Or create your own solos and master the skill of improvisation?Continue Reading

7 Unknown Ways To Get The Best Guitar Tone

By Klaus Crow 3 Comments

How you can get the best guitar tone? Many amateur guitarists are always pondering about this question. After all, getting the best out of your rig is necessary. It will allow you to play different songs in any given genre. It would also amplify or highlight your skills as a guitarist.

Considering these facts, it is undeniable anymore that listening to a smooth and refined tone is a satisfying experience. Of course, it is not true that only high-end guitars can achieve this finesse. Even entry level guitars can provide such performance. As long as you know the prerequisites for it, getting a good tone should not be a problem.

If you are quite curious that procedures, you might want to read this entire article. In the next section, I will be showing you some unknown but foolproof ways to improve and harness the tone of your guitar. Let’s get started!

#1: Taking Advantage of the Volume Control
There is nothing that I really need to teach you about the volume knob a guitar. As straightforward as it is, this dial can change the overall volume level of your rig. However, you can also use this knob to unleash the best tone out of your instrument.
Continue Reading

11 Ways To Skyrocket Your Guitar Playing!

By Klaus Crow 9 Comments

Somewhere down the road in your guitar learning journey there’s a chance your playing gets stuck in a rut. You might play the same things over and over and find it hard to get out of that vicious circle. You need a boost and get outside of that box. So how do you do that? How do you get passed that bridge and get to the next level?

Today we got 11 ways to get you out of that rut, juice up your skills and skyrocket your playing.

Let’s take off!

1 – Get the right tools for the job

First, make sure you’re playing the right guitar. Some musicians stick with a guitar just because…. But playing the right guitar is not to be underestimated. Your appreciation for a guitar is a personal thing. Your personality, your taste and style of playing needs to resonate with a guitar. That’s no bull. The way a guitar feels, sounds and fits is really important. The right guitar can motivate and boost your playing enormously.

We all have different preferences and specific needs for a particular guitar type (classical, acoustic or electric), body shape (Acoustic: Dreadnought, Grand Auditorium, Orchestra Model, Jumbo, etc. or Electric: Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, Superstrat, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, etc.), neck shape/width, string gauges, and so on. You need a guitar that feels right against your body, right in your arms, hands, fingers and one that fits your frame.

Adjusting the action of your guitar can also make a huge difference to your playing. “Action” is simply how close the strings are to the fretboard. A lower action can make your guitar a lot more comfortable and fun to play. Be careful, a very low action can cause fret buzz, so make sure it is done correctly.

If you’re playing electric guitar, your amp (with gain/distortion) is just as important as your guitar. Your sound and playability will fully depend on it. The sound of an amp is also very personal. The choice of your amp will depend of what style of music you’re playing, your preferences (distortion, effects, analog or digital) and whether it’s for practice, studio or stage use.

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