Don't Give Up! · Intermediate Guitar

Don't Give Up!

Hey everyone, Mike here.

Today I just want to remind you of one thing:

DON'T QUIT!

The guitar journey isn't only when you're holding the guitar. It's when you're thinking about that song you're trying to learn. It's wrapped up in your confidence, in how you decide whether or not you can do something. Guitar challenges you mentally, not just physically. It's not only your fingers hurting or your hands cramping up, it's the work of building that muscle memory in your head too.

A little about me... I do not have the technical chops most people do. If you're like me, Facebook is plenty of internet for one day. Becoming your own sound guy, working in a studio, all of that used to feel like a whole other art form that somebody else was supposed to do. I'm a musician, I make art my way, let the audio engineers make theirs. That's what I told myself for years - And that was the reason I left "plugging in" up to the pro's.

Well, here I am. I've got a little reverb on my voice, I can hear myself in my ears, I'm plugged into my guitar, and I'm recording the screen all at once. I've never done this before, and honestly the setup was scary. We're in a room that's being remodeled right now and I don't even have a permanent space for a studio, which has held up a lot of what I want to do. But here we are today, making it happen anyway. (I attached a picture of what my little setup looks like at the moment.)

And that's really the whole point of this post.

No matter what happens, no matter what space you're in, this is about challenging yourself. This is about taking yourself to where you want to be. This is about identifying as the guitar player who practices in the room regardless of who's watching. About being ready to try again right after you fail. About starting before you can talk yourself out of it. About remembering what you actually want to share with your guitar, and why you play in the first place. Whether that's relaxing in your favorite chair in the living room or playing in front of a crowd. About remembering the songs that were played for you, the ones you want to be able to play back for yourself someday.

There's no age limit on this. There's no "you started too late." You may have picked it up a long time ago and quit right there. You may not be tech savvy. You may not be ready to plug in a bunch of gear and complicate your already busy guitar life, and that's okay. That's not why I'm here. I'm not saying you have to do any of that. What I am saying is your potential isn't over because things got hard. It's really just getting started.

I wanted to show up here as "one of the pro's" and be a good rep for Intermediate Guitar... One of the exercises that just came out looks really simple, and I gave it a go, and I sound like I've been playing for about a year. Not 20-plus...

That's just the way it goes. You're going to find that out for yourself if you haven't already. But it is not about where you're at right now. It's where you're going that counts.

I went 20-plus years thinking I was too big and bad to learn in a community, to watch other people and ask questions and figure it out together. I thought I'd just do it all on my own. And here I am, still admitting I don't have it all figured out. I'm still working out where my fingers go. Style and technique haven't even entered the chat. And that's enough for now.

So stick with Ben and me, stick with this crew, and we'll walk through these challenges together. We'll answer the questions I really wish I'd had answers to early on.

Challenge yourself today. Try a different one of our videos or exercises and post it up. Let us know what you thought. Then go ask someone else to do the same, or check out theirs and give it a shot.

You can be anywhere in your home and anywhere on your journey, and you can still advance. You can still grow.

This is the first video I've ever recorded straight in. Powered up, geared up, ready to go. We'll catch you in the chat.

Signed - Mike. (I'd say toodles, but that's

@Benjamin Wood

thing.)

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