Taking Risks & Sounding great
Newsletter #101
July 14, 2023
If there were two players with equal skill and talent on the guitar but one was confident and the other self conscious…who do you think would make better music?
I’m willing to bet you had the same answer I did: the confident one.
It’s very easy to spot a guitarist who isn’t confident in what they’re playing…they all have two things in common: they play quietly and out of time.
Most amateurs fall victim to this because they haven’t yet mastered what it takes to perform well…and that’s not technique, theory or anything to do with playing.
It’s the willingness to commit to what they’re playing and risk enormous mistakes.
We all know what it’s like to play at or beyond our limit of ability, and the mistakes that come with it.
However, the professional is happy to risk those mistakes for the sake of a powerful performance, while the amateur tries to hide by playing softly, or rush to get things over with.
It’s Not Just On Stage
Even the players who never play live on stage suffer from this lack of confidence.
In the practice room, they play very quietly and usually out of time.
It’s very common for players to try and hide their mistakes, even from themselves!
So what can be done about the lack of confidence and the negative effects it has on your playing?
The answer sounds simple…force yourself to take large risks.
The real reason you play quietly is because you’re hedging your bets.
That is, in case you make a mistake, it’ll be quieter and maybe not as noticeable as if you blasted it out at full volume.
Taking The Risk
You can always tell what parts of a song are easy and comfortable for a player because they’ll play with full tone and powerful volume, and then they’ll get to the hard part and slow down and play softly.
Once that mistake appears though, then they start to rush and speed through everything.
That’s when more and more mistakes occur and the snowball effect is in full force.
It’s a terrible feeling to be in the driver’s seat while you’re losing control of the car.
I know what it’s like, and so does every other professional musician.
However, what makes a great sounding guitarist is the willingness to take that risk.
So when you’re practicing, force yourself to play loudly and powerfully, even when you’re sure you’ll make a bad mistake.
By doing that over and over in the practice room, you inoculate yourself against the fear of making mistakes on stage.
By making them at full volume, you can’t hide, but instead you must confront your faults, which means you must be honest with yourself.
Scary, I know.
It’s what will make you a better player, and the only way you’ll truly learn what you need to practice.
If you keep making a huge mistake at full volume, it’s very hard to tell yourself you don’t need to practice that scale, chord or lick.
In fact, you’ll probably devote some quality time to it.
Then when you try it again a day later you might be surprised to find that playing at full volume doesn’t yield mistakes, or at least not such bad ones.
The process of improving as a guitarist is an arduous one, and it pays off for those who are both honest and willing to take risks.
If you need to temporarily get “into character” or do something to make your personality line up with these traits, then do just that.
Whatever you need to do to make yourself take that risk, play loudly and come face to face with your mistakes is what you should do.
That’s how you become a great guitarist.
-Max Rich