New Year= New Goals

It is the first post of 2012. I am starting out the year with some words of encouragement. Get a new goal set for your self and kick it in the butt! I think every student ( and reader ) should pick a new thing and go for it. I have set a challenge to my student Alex Cooke to write a new song every week for a month. He came into his last lesson with two of the best songs I have ever heard him write. Some goals you can set for your self would be to learn a second instrument, learn a song or two from a style of music you don't normally play, get a band started or even play your first open mic or gig. Make sure once you set your goal think about what you have to do to achieve it. Example- Say your goal is to learn the song "One" by MetallicA. You know that the song is played at a speed that is out of your range of playing at the moment. What you will have to do is buckle down, get a metronome and do exercises until you get faster. It won't happen over night. You will have to do exercises everyday to get there. Another example- You want to start a band. With a band you are going to have to spend time finding people to play with, time for practice. You will also have to find the time to learn the songs you are going to play together. It takes discipline to get what you want out of your goal. When something takes skill to do it takes time to master it. It does not happen overnight. Everyone who has been playing for any time knows this, has accepted it and has worked for what they want. I urge all of you to think of a goal and let me know what it is this week at your lesson. We will get to working on it. Hope you set your goal and make 2012 your break out year for playing!