“People have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.”

I saw the above in a Tweet and, while I understand the concept, I’m going to disagree. This statement means that someone has to be in a state of prolonged misery before they can live the life they want. Someone that wants to be a famous singer, for example, must rehearse, record and perform. The singer must do all of this a lot in order to gain a following and attract the attention of backers with the resources to achieve the goal – fame. Because all of these activities take time the aspiring singer must stay away from high-paying jobs that would take up all of their time and prevent touring, practicing and rehearsing. All of these activities require a lot of money, too. The combination creates a sub-standard lifestyle that one must endure to become famous. This same business model applies to someone who wants to be a famous actor or famous anything, for that matter. Think of it this way:

Work + Starvation + Sacrifice = Fame (maybe)

The suffering isn’t so much the work part of the equation. Rather, the suffering is the starvation and sacrifice. We can apply the same logic to the aspiring guitar player. Someone who wants to be a professional guitar player must spend a lot of time learning the guitar, learning to perform, learning to manage their career, etc. But it doesn’t have to be like this. You can pursue fame, if that’s your thing, and be a professional guitar player with a middle-class income. It is possible. The key is to think of yourself as a business owner first and a musician second.

Read the post the the Big Six Guitar Income Strategies and think about how many you can implement. Look, they all take time. They all take some investment in equipment and time. But aren’t they worth it? If you really love playing the guitar and want to make playing guitar the cornerstone of your life, aren’t they worth the effort? I think they are. They give you the way to play guitar for money, and pursue fame and fortune if you wish, without living like a pauper. The starving-artist lifestyle holds no glamour, my friends. I’ve lived it and I know. So take a hard look at these strategies, begin putting together your business model and see the light! You can make money playing guitar and there’s no suffering required. Keep in mind, these are the big money makers, not the only money-makers.

The Big Six Guitar Income Strategies assume you’ve earned your chops. If your skills aren’t ready yet, check out the affiliate below. It’s easier than you think to achieve a professional’s level of mastery. If you’re already there, you can still expand your knowledge and add to your arsenal of skills. All for now. See you soon.

a love story

What’s up, Rock Stars? My adventures are over and I’m home, at least for a little while. After spending a few weeks driving, flying and living out of a suitcase I’m stir crazy sitting at home. Highway miles, airports, flight delays and adventure do that to a person. It’s okay, though, because I’ve got this blog to catch up on. I’m going to publish my review of Logical Lead Guitar soon, maybe as early as this weekend. As regular readers already know, LLG was the first guitar course I ever bought. It remains a staple in my library and I refer to it often. But first, I want to share a little about how I became a guitar player and the events that brought me here. I’ll warn you, this posts is personal and you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to.)

My Guitar Story

A Fender Stratocaster rescued me in the middle of a rain storm north of Chicago. That’s a true statement. I was down on my luck that night, staggering from a bad break-up that ended a bad relationship with a bad match. (I’m not saying a bad person, just not the person for me.) The break-up had been similar to getting kicked in the ribs by a couple of thugs wearing steel toed Doc Martens. I was still kind of bloody on the inside and trying to work the ache out. A quick move from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago had seemed like a great idea, but had not triggered the instant recovery I had hoped for.

So there I was, driving through this Chicago rain storm, lost in both a real sense and a symbolic one when I saw the giant red sign for a Guitar Center. I pulled over thinking I’d waste a few minutes staring up at the guitars, then get some directions and find my way home. Once inside, I stared up at the guitars. I’d always wanted to play. Like a lot of kids, I had an old acoustic once and I’d toyed with other guitars. But I’d never fully committed to learning how to play guitar. And the realization settled that if I was ever going to get serious about learning to play the guitar, now was the time.

Forty minutes later I had a bran new Stratocaster guitar in my back seat and a thousand dollars of debt on my Master Card. That night I wrote a country song about a small-town-boy who grew up to get his ass whooped in one bad relationship after the other. Man, that was sweet…And in a very short amount of time I was feeling like my old self; optimistic, happy, unburdened. I’d become, at long last, a guitar player. I sucked, of course, but I was establishing the practice habit and working hard at gaining skills. Most of all, I was just happy.

Now, I can’t imagine going a single day without steel strings under my fingertips. So if God’s willing – and I believe God is always willing when it comes to guitar players - I’ll get to play until the day I leave this earth and audition for Heaven’s Cover Band shortly afterwards.

Thanks for listening.

Haven’t earned your chops yet? Start right now. Check out Adam St. James’ Logical Lead Guitar course and make your guitar-dream a reality.

Ever drive through Kansas? It’s an experience everyone should have at least once; the barren landscape, the gas-station-towns on either side of I-70, the long stretches where you’re driving the only car on the road… And the tornados, yeah, those are the best. So anyway, I’ve been hanging out in Kansas and neglecting this blog. The bad news is that I’m only home a few days and then I’m back out on the road again. So no new posts for a while, but there’s some cool stuff around the corner. In the mean time, GA.com has a new look thanks to Woo Themes.

It’s been crazy around here. My task-list is alredy two pages long and grows by the hour. It’s okay, I like being challenged. The only frustration is that much of the work has little to do with music. I bet it’s the same for you sometimes. You work all day, run a couple of errands, keep the house together and end up crashing into bed – exhausted. It’s even easier to fall prey to this if you’re in a serious relationship and kids are involved. If this describes you, keep in mind that when you go to bed you’re not a single step closer to a successful music career than you were when you woke up in the morning.

Look, not every day is going to be super-productive. Unless you’re able to pay all your bills by working part-time, you will have limited hours to practice, write songs, develope products, teach students, etc. You’ve got to find time to fit it all in and it really comes down to your level of motivation. Motivation is a tricky concept, however. It’s easy to stay motivated when time is on your side and day-t0-day life is running smoothly. It’s a whole different story when you’re in the middle of hell week.

You can scour the internet for articles on personal motivation. You’ll read tips like:

1. Make it fun!
2. Reward Yourself!
3. Have a BIG dream!

Yeah, whatever… They all sound lame to me. There’s nothing FUN about playing scale patterns at 120 BPM. And when does someone reward something like that? At one point is a guitar player rock-solid-on-the-beat enough to earn the reward? And have a BIG dream? Sometimes it seems that the odds of winning the lottery are better than the chances of making a living playing guitar. So I’ll share what works for me and hopefully it won’t suck.

Attach Emotion to the Goal

This is how I stay motivated. Please note – it may not work for you. But you’ve got nothing to lose for trying it. Next time you’re unable to practice or write or otherwise make progress on your guitar journey, take two seconds and imagine what achieving your goal will feel like. Feel it with all your emotions and all of your senses. Hear it, visualize it, if possible smell it. Then open your eyes and go work your ass off. That’s it.

This will never work if you don’t know what your goals are, of course, so come back later for Guitar Players and Goals. You’ll like that post. If you’re still earning your chops, I’ll ask you to take a look at Logical Lead Guitar. You’ve got a months worth of goals – and some motivating encouragement from guitar legend Adam St. James, too – in that one course. I gotta catch up on my practice now, so I’ll see you later.

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