Practicing An Instrument

 

Recently somebody expressed their frustration to me about the difficulty they were having progressing on their instrument. They were discouraged and felt unmotivated. This was my response.  
 
"There's nothing wrong with making mistakes. It's how we learn and ultimately get better. It's okay to suck. You will suck. It can take a long time to get good and be able to drop into a flow state. You will get frustrated. Just keep going. Give yourself the space to be bad. Some days are golden, others are like swimming upstream thru mud. Some days start great and then fall apart. Some days start hard and then get better. Just show up everyday and do the work. Give yourself permission to freak out, if something is frustrating, change gears, take a walk, play along to a record or just beat the shit out of your instrument and get mad. Throw your stick across the room and scream. Walk away if you need to, but come back. The more you play, in every way, the more the instrument will be an extension of your body.  It will never be perfect. Do it anyway. The goal is to show up and try to enjoy the process, even when it sucks. Imagine as many different ways that you can to approach things. Play loud; play quiet; play angry; play sad and happy; play the same thing fast, medium and then slow. Listen to records and try and focus on the instrument. What are the counts? How would it look on paper? Try setting up a room mic and play listening thru headphones. Play with earplugs; play with socks on your hands, or weights on your feet. Play drunk: play sober; jacked on caffeine; stoned. Play when you're exhausted, hungry, or too full, etc. Laugh at your mistakes. Then try again. The journey is the goal. Have fun!

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