December 11, 2021
Why are you playing?
Every time I pick up the guitar, I go straight to tactics.
After 35 years of this, it has become quite boring.
It’s gotten the point where I can barely even be bothered to pick up a guitar.
This is quite a contrast to years ago when I was at Berklee and regularly practiced 18 hours a day.
What gives?
Sure, I know hundreds of clever little tricks to playing guitar, but...
Why am I playing at all?
- Am I trying to impress other guitarists?
- Or attract romantic partners?
- Or prove something to my parents?
- Or help listeners feel understood and connected?
- Or offer an audience temporarily relief from their worries?
- Or make a crowd dance until the sun comes up?
- Or cement the memory of an important event like a wedding or funeral?
This is a question that I never answered. To be honest, it’s one that I never even asked.
Looking back, I’m quite sure that this is the primary reason I failed in music.
Here’s the thing...
You can know all the tricks in the book, but without knowing WHY you’re playing you have no way to know what the right thing to do is.
You might as well stop playing until you figure it out.
Yours,
—J