The Dilema of Collecting, Wanting and Adding More Guitars.

Almost every guitar player that I know enjoys adding instruments to their stable. We have an emotional connection to guitars and let’s face it – we love the damn things. Reasons to look for new instruments vary from something that we truly need, such as capability to have a go to guitar for an extra tuning or a back-up guitar when we play a live show, all the way to finding an axe just because it would look good on our wall.

Are any of the reasons good enough? Sure. I won’t judge.

But, there is a deeper mental dilemma and torment at play when some guitarists obsess over which instrument to get next. It is the feeling of getting something new that is exciting for the sake of the chase that often results in nothing less than a one two punch to the brain.

When a need arises to truly have a new guitar, then let’s leave it at that. Go for it. But, what if we just go crazy while fueled with the greedy need of getting something new just because. Let’s talk about that. I will additionally throw a few tips on how to approach finding the right guitar you need.

I would like to share some tips that might help you when you are driving yourself crazy over what to get next. Yes, this loony cycle includes sleepless nights and spending hours upon hours looking on the internet.

Wanting Something Is Way More Powerful Than Having It

The anticipation and excitement of getting a potential new guitar are often more powerful than the satisfaction of having it in your hands. I think of it when a child orders something from the internet and he checks every hour if the mailman dropped it off for him. Once the package is opened and a couple days are spent with the new toy, a new prize appears on the horizon. Yep, even guitars are like that. The truth is that people are emotional animals and many lack the self-discipline to avoid traps that are set up by their mind.

If you are thinking about the next guitar you will get “after” the one you are looking at “currently”, you might be beginning to spin a little crazy. These days it is extremely hard to get away from having something you are interested in not find you. How about when you look at something online one day and a banner ad pops-up with this exact item when you least expect it a day after while you Google cat food. Yeah, it’s like dropping beer cans at the doorstep of a guy who likes to hit the brews a little too hard and tries to stop. Remember, my main point to get away from this spin cycle. Remember that the anticipation and excitement are very often more powerful than the product. If this point does not hit hard enough, follow below.

Do Not Accept Cheaper Substitutes

You know what is a real let down? When you buy something that is kind of what you wanted and then you realize it was a mistake. You end up selling it for the less than you bought it for and you go back to the guitar that you really wanted that is now more expensive. Double loss. Double frustration. Don’t do that. Yes, sometimes it is important to bleed for what you want. Get what you want. These days guitar manufacturers make instruments that are all over the price range with many of them looking very similar. Once you get the cheaper alternative you realize that the neck binding sucks, the guitar is not balanced right or that the hardware is cheap. This is a total waste of time. I would rather have 2 great quality guitars than 12 low budget beaters. No contest. Don’t accept substitutes. Remember, that your mind will play tricks on you and will try to give you a million reason why the substitute is better. You’ll hear things like it’s cheaper, you can get it now, it’s local. It’s all BS. Don’t do it. Get what you want.

True Progress Happens With Work and Practice

You are thinking WTF, I just want a guitar. That is my point. A new guitar will not make you sound great overnight – it still takes practice to play it well. Make sure that getting new gear is not your substitute for practicing. It is very easy to use guitar buying as a distraction to what the guitar was meant for, and that is to being played. So, if you are spending more time on the internet looking for new guitars versus practicing on them, then the priorities might be out of whack.

What If You Are Over The Mountain

Ok, so what happens when you are spinning, just want anything, want something new and you don’t know why the heck you are looking for a new guitar anyways. My tip is to get busy with something else. You are not in a productive space because your emotions and lack of reason keeps you spinning. Focus on something else, a new project or something else that you can get your hand or mind on. One of main reasons for failing at anything is a broken focus. You can use this to guitar buying as well. If you want to fail at buying a new guitar, break the focus of thinking about it. Eventually the urge will get smaller and smaller. You can use this usually negative principle of losing focus to actually gain potentially positive outcome.

These are the main points that I wanted to share. I am sure that there are several others, but I hope that above does help you in your decisions while chasing that holy-grail. And, remember guitar shopping is still cheaper than fast horses and big boats, so take your time, enjoy a nice axe every so often, don’t spend every penny you have, breathe a little and try to enjoy the process as it should be a fun one. Once guitar buying or collecting is stressful and not fun, the point is completely lost and is a dead ringer that you should probably rethink your approach. Horns Up!

In today’s blog I want to touch on an idea that I learned to be true and can definitely be applied to guitar playing.

As humans we often have 2 internal voices. One that wants to do something and the other one that comes up with excuses as to why we shouldn’t do it. You know the routine. You’re tired, not enough time, etc.

This applies in everything we do in life, but for today’s example, I’ll just stick to it as far as it applies to the guitar.

Often, we know we should play the guitar but then the battle starts as to why we could do it later. At this moment, hopefully you are naturally inspired to play often and that is great. However, there will be a time when the enthusiasm will dip and the info here is helpful. It happens to everyone, even professionals.

Let me share with you 2 great things to remember.

1) What I found out that we sometimes can NOT wait until an inspiration takes over for us to play or do a task.

2) I also found out that when we take action to do a task and stay with it for a few minutes an inspiration to keep doing it kicks in on its own and finds US. We simply must know to take action first and let the inspiration kick in shortly. It happens all the time. We might not feel like gong to the gym, but once we are there usually we end up doing what is necessary to finish the trip successfully.

Remember the car battery? Well, practicing the guitar is also similar to starting the car. The car takes the most juice out of the battery right when it starts and this is same with the guitar when you don’t feel like playing. But, after you pick up the guitar, plug in and play a few licks – you usually stay with it for a long while.

Studies show that we need about 15-25 minutes of doing something until we get into a creative zone where time dissapears. You know what I’m talking about.

Keep these simple but true ideas handy for when you will need it. Horns up!

I have been thinking on an interesting observation lately. The idea is that much of success lies in the acceptance and being comfortable with opposites of where you want to be. Let me explain.

Let’s take a look at something I know well such as practicing your instrument. In order to become great at a guitar you have to have a final goal. It is something you strive for. The end goal for you might be the ability to play fluid, effortless licks in front of lots of people. But, that end goal needs an opposite which is the daily task of practicing and building up your abilities. The opposite is where you want to be versus what needs to be done now.

You can not obtain the final goal without breaking it down to daily steps. But, your daily steps very possibly won’t lead you in a desired direction unless you know what the direction of the final destination is.

So, the success lies in the ability of operating while seeing the distant possibility and what needs to be done now. You accept the two points and are conscious of the stretch in-between.

Let’s take a look at another example where the opposites work, perhaps with a slightly different twist.

If you want to ask a person out successfully, I really think you have to be ok with getting rejected. You can see a clear “want” and the “fail” scenario here. You have to be ok with it. The more you accept the possible opposites outcome of where you want to be, the higher your chances are of success.

In my own life, the greatest gains were obtained when I went after something not caring if I loose. One of the materialistic examples of this is when I wrote a check in the amount of my yearly salary to buy a car that I always wanted. On top of that I did not even care if something was wrong with it. You can call it stupidity of being young (there might be some truth to it) but that is the point, you see? I was ok with either outcome. Most people would not take that chance. The vehicle turned out great and has quadrupled in value since the day I bought it.

Here is another case from my own life. I made a decision growing up that I was going to give my all to practicing the guitar in order to ultimately become a full time metal musician. I said to myself that I am ok with failing as long as I know what I gave it my all. So although I can not say that I never thought about it; I was completely ok with sitting in my basement playing while missing out on Summer days at the beach or making very little money for a long period where some of the people I knew were getting real paying jobs and setting up their life on much more socially accepted terms. I went for my goal and accepted the opposite result.

Once again, this approach has not let me down. I’m going to cap it here and leave the above with you.

I hope this will give you some ideas to think about. Horns Up.

Hey musicians! Are you in the habit of announcing your projects and then not finishing what you set out to do or promised?

We all go through this. We get excited about an idea or a project and want to share it with the whole entire world. And, definitely, I have been guilty of this myself.

What I found out, mostly by reading about it, is that our human brain almost gets a morphine like drip of satisfaction when we announce something. It feels good.

The issue is what happens next.

Because of the feel good moment when we announced something of what we were going to do, out initial fire of that inspiration gets a little extinguished. We realize at that time that hard work and problem solving comes next. So, we go to another idea and get the morphine drip. Get my point?

Here’s a tip. Save the announcement until you are ready to roll out your idea in the flesh. This is not always applicable, when you are making an album and want your fans to go along for a ride, etc. However, in many cases it is wise not to announce until you have something tangible to show.

There was a time when I was writing more press releases then “doing.” And, rethinking my approach to the above has truly changed the way I do things now.