As I sit here at nearly one in the morning, unable to sleep, I ponder.
A lot of people want to learn how to play guitar – but nobody wants to do just play the guitar. It’s like Ronnie Coleman said “Everybody wants to be a weight lifter but nobody wants to lift any heavy ass weights!” (I am definitely paraphrasing). It seems to be the same way with the majority of guitarists, and people even. If I may be so bold.
It’s incredible, when you break it down, how many people claim to have a dream of being a certain profession, do it, but only do it part-time? What? Isn’t it your dream job? Don’t you want that to be your financial support? What is stopping you? And then you realize; ahh they either are not very serious; or, they just don’t know what or who they want to be. They haven’t figured themselves out yet.
Well that plain old sucks. I’ve known since I was about 14 or 15 years old that I’ve wanted to be a musician. And over the last year or two it has suffered a great deal of stops. A few relationships came into my life and a few others went out, ‘money problems’, moving forward with my life, and finding out who I want to be were all issues that came up. As well as where I want to be in the future.
But are those good excuses? Not really. At least I can confidently say I know exactly where I want to be by September 2014. It is no guideline, merely a plan I evoked out of my own harsh critical thinking of my current situation. That’s all it really takes to take yourself to the next level of your craft or profession at the end of the day.
So the next time you pick up your guitar or your microphone or whatever; just remember that what you’re doing at that very moment is beneficial not only for that moment, but for your career. The rule of 10,000 hours to become a master of something holds very true to me and my heart. The more you practice, surprisingly, the better you get. Talent? Pfft. Try hard work and dedication. That gets you more praise anyway at the end of the day.
So as I work very diligently on my album, I realize, I’m not. I totally have to dedicate more time to it. When I do I feel good and accomplished and like I am doing something that is cathartic for my soul – something deep down. A release if you will. It is almost something spiritual. I am beginning to believe I just hear the music in my own head and I illustrate it as best as I can. It’s quite cool when you try to think of it that way. Because then it’s just a matter of being like “Oh that’s not quite right – there we are!”. Attitude is absolutely everything.
That was a lot to cover for such a late evening. Over 500 words in four minutes is pretty good though, I suppose.
I hope I gave someone out there something curious to illuminate themselves with.
Paul Ozz 