Why You're Still Bad At Guitar..........But Can Fix It

Hey there, it's Aaron Jaxon coming to you today, and I've got something a little bit different for you. I'm not gonna be showing you a whole bunch of licks or phrases or exercises or tunes today. What I wanted to give you is just some ideas and some mindset to hopefully be able to go into this next year and make it the year that you make more progress on this instrument than you have in years or even decades. So a couple of weeks ago, I was listening to Jelly Roll on the Joe Rogan podcast. Whenever the video popped up on my feed, I had to do a second take because I was like, that guy looks like Jelly 'Oh, but I don't think that's who it is.' But it is him. He looks so different because he's lost like 300 pounds in the past year. It's insane. So I wanted to listen to that because I wanted to hear what his journey had been like, because he had clearly had such a profound transformation. And at about 3 minutes into the podcast, he said something. The minute I heard it, I went, 'Ooh, that is so applicable for guitar students as well.' And here's what he said. He said, 'Joe, you know, there's an old Tony Robbins saying where he says people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, but they underestimate what they can accomplish in a decade. And he said, you know, I want to narrow that down a little bit for people who are struggling with obesity or who need to lose weight. And I want to put it to them like this: people overestimate what they can accomplish in 90 days and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year. And man, the minute I heard that, I was like, yes, that is so applicable for so many of the people who watch this YouTube channel. Everybody is looking for like the quick 90-day hack, the quick secret trick— change the way you hold your pick in 90 days and then you'll be able to shred. But if instead you focused on developing a deliberate, consistent, and focused practice routine that you stuck to for a year, I can almost guarantee you that you would make more progress in that one year than you have made in the previous years, and maybe even the previous decades. So if you want a video where I really kind of unpack what a consistent, deliberate, focused practice routine is, and really what makes up focused practice, then check out this video right here. I'll also link to it down in the video description. This is just so important because as guitar players, it's easy for us to kind of mix up and confuse noodling, playing, or jamming with focused practice. Simply put, focused practice is just that— it's distraction-free focus. Whether that's spending time really focusing on learning something, whether that's spending time taking the new thing that you've learned and committing it to muscle memory, or just simply polishing something that you already know how to play. And the good news with this is, is you can absolutely do this in 20 to 30 minutes of focused practice a day. So again, I'll link down to the video where I unpack this a whole lot more down down in the video description. A couple of other things I would really recommend checking out are two books. These are classics in like the entrepreneurship space, the self-development space, but that is "Deep Work" by Cal Newport and "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. I would highly recommend reading both of those books. If you're not someone that likes to sit down, you know, with a book, check out some podcasts. There's plenty of it here on YouTube where you can listen to Cal and James both really unpack the ideas in both "Deep Work" and "Atomic Habits." because you want both of those things. Deep Work really unpacks the problem that we have in the modern era where we're just so distracted by so many different things. And as a result, it pulls us away from really producing high-quality focused work. And adjacent to the idea of Deep Work is deliberate practice. It's essentially the same thing, but it's where we focus and really zone in on making our playing. And then Atomic Habits is just about making that deliberate practice, that focused practice. A habit. Again, I would highly recommend reading both of those books, but if you're not someone who likes to read a lot, check out some podcasts and listen to both Cal and James really unpack those ideas. So from here, people are gonna ask, okay Aaron, well, what do I practice? Now, this is one of the issues with giving blanket advice to people on the internet, because everyone is a little different. But I can say this, and I know this because I've been regularly uploading videos to this channel for a little less than 2 years. And so a lot of the people who watch this channel, I've gotten to know either lessons or they're in my courses or in there, they're in my Pickers Insider Circle community. And I've gotten to know a lot of the people who watch this channel. And so if you're wondering what to practice, I would first put this question to you: can you play 10 bluegrass solos comfortably, by memory, cleanly, and in time at 80 beats per minute? Again, without having to think about it, without having to reference tabs, all of that kind of stuff. Can you give me 10 bluegrass solos that you can play comfortably, cleanly, and in time at 80 beats per minute. Because if not, that's the goal. And that is going to be the case for most of the people who watch this channel. And I just know— no, I haven't met every single person who watches this channel, but I have jumped on enough lessons, gotten to know people, heard their playing enough to know that this is where most people are at. But again, that is going to be the goal. That's going to be the goal, is your foundations. You have got to set your foundations. And so the foundational material for me is kind of in two categories. Number one, it's foundational technique and timing. And if you're wondering specifically what to practice, check out this lesson right here. I give it all to you. We'll talk about alternate picking, we'll talk about timing, fretting, using alternate picking in combination with hammer-ons and pull-offs, all of that stuff that you need to know. You can check that out down in the video description as well. And once you've got your foundational technique and timing, from there we just need 10 tunes. That's it. We need 10 tunes. I recommend that people learn 5 fiddle tunes and then 5 simple solos to classic bluegrass tunes. And if you're needing that, you can check those out in these lessons right here. I've just— I've got a ton of material here on this channel showing you this kind of stuff. But folks, let's make it simple. Let's make it achievable, and let's make it doable. If you can't give me 10 bluegrass solos or 10 tunes comfortably at 80 beats per minute cleanly and in time, that is the goal. So what if you just spent a whole year focusing on just that? Simple as that may sound, that's really what is keeping a lot of people stuck. That's why they're not improving, because as I alluded to earlier, We just live in a world of nonstop noise, nonstop distraction, nonstop interruption. But if you can find a way to drown that stuff out and put the horse blinders on and develop a consistent, focused practice routine, I promise you, you'll make more progress in this next year than you have made in the previous years and maybe even in the previous decades. So again, that is going to be the goal, or it needs to be the goal, for most of the people who watch this channel. Again, can you play 10 simple bluegrass solos at, at least 80 beats per minute comfortably, cleanly, and in time? Because if not, that's awesome, because now we have a goal that we can set. I've decided to go ahead and share this. I have a completely free 60-minute podcast-style recording called the Pickers Success Path. I originally only give this to members of my Pickers Insider Circle community, But the thing about it is I open and close enrollment just a couple of times a year, and it's currently not open for enrollment. But the information contained in this masterclass is so important, and I really think it will help so many people get unstuck in their playing. So you can get this down in the video description and in the top pinned comment. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you 3 different levels that guitar players usually find themselves in. I'm going to show you how to identify which level that you're in, and then I'm going to give you a clear path for getting to the next level in you're playing. This is one of, if not the most important lesson that I have ever created. And again, you can get that for free in the video description and in the top pinned comment. And what I was talking about earlier with the goal that most people who watch this channel need to attain, which is Foundational Technique and Timing: 10 Simple Tunes, I call that level the aspirant. So another question that comes up when it comes to practicing and when it comes to achieving goals is like, Aaron, Hey, how do I know when I'm ready to move on to the next tune or the next thing in my playing? So here is what I recommend: learn it, practice it, record it. Let me say that again: learn it, practice it, record it. Okay, so obviously you have to learn a thing, but here's the thing: if you are still having to look at tabs to play either a tune or a solo or a lick, you don't know it well enough. So that's where the second step right there comes in. You have to practice it, lots of repetition, until it gets to be muscle memory. And then number 3, record it. That doesn't mean you have to go into a recording studio or get really fancy, but just turn on your phone and record yourself playing it. And this will do 2 things. Number 1, it will really let you hear where you need to improve, the areas that you need to work on. But also, recording really makes you get the tune or the lick or the solo down in a new way. Because if you've never done this before, you will experience something that every guitar player experiences whenever they record themselves, and it's called red light fright. There's just a new level of pressure that has added, and in order for you to be able to execute again either the tune, the lick, the solo, the phrase— in order for you to be able to play it, your muscle memory and your level of competence with it has to go to a new level. I really recommend with whatever it is that you're learning, you have to learn it and then practice it and then record it. Once you can do that, it's okay to move on to the next thing. But I think the biggest thing right here is if you are still having to look at tabs whenever you're playing something, you don't know it well enough. This is where I want to give a shout out to one of my Pickers Insider Circle students, and his name is Eric Scott. And Eric has just been crushing it in that community, and, um, I just wanted to share with you here something that he does, and it illustrates what I was talking about just a second ago here. So what he does is he's in my Flatpicking Mastery program, and in that I have a module on 20 fiddle tunes. I show you how to play a basic version of the tune and then a more advanced version. And here's what Eric does: Eric takes 2 weeks and he will learn the tune, and he will learn it in the basic melody way, and he'll learn the more advanced version. He practices it until he has it memorized, and then he records it until he gets it. And once he has that kind of final recording there he's ready to move on to the next tune. That typically takes Eric about 2 weeks, and this is where most people would drop off because think about it— 20 fiddle tunes, 2 weeks, that's 40 weeks. That's just shy of a year. Most people, if I presented that to them, would say, well, I don't want to spend a whole year just working on fiddle tunes. My friends, that is a year well spent. And so I just wanted to give a shout out to Eric because he's just been doing such a great job, but also to illustrate the point— this stuff does time. But if you will focus and have a goal, man, you can make some tremendous strides in your playing. Brings me to one more topic here, the topic of speed. Speed is one of those things that really draws us to this type of guitar playing. It's what draws a lot of people to bluegrass music. Bluegrass has always been a fast music, ever since Bill Monroe stepped on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry. It— the speed and speed with which they were playing at blew audiences away. And so that's a part of this kind of music, and it's a part of this kind of guitar playing that draws people to it. And I'm telling you, almost everyone struggles with this, and almost everyone struggles with their picking hand. So to tie the topic of speed into what I've been talking about in this video— and remember, for most people watching this, the goal is foundational technique and timing, 10 simple tunes. But if you've got all that down and you've just really been struggling with speed, like it's just been like a sticking point for you for a long time and it just kind of gnaws at you, you know you could be playing with a different level of chops, well then just do this. Just spend a whole year working on speed. That's it. Just spend a whole year working on it. I kind of think that speed and being able to play fast and chops are a little bit like having money and being rich, in that everybody wants it, but you're not supposed to say you want it. You see what I'm saying? It's one of those things where almost everybody aspires to that, but there's this, like, I don't know, kind of taboo around it, like you're a bad person if you want that kind of thing. And part of that is confusion, because you will, you will hear— like, I hear this all the time— guitar players with with ungodly, like legendary levels of chops, and when somebody's interviewing them, they'll say something like, well, you know, the most important thing is just, you know, playing with feel and playing simple, memorable melodies. Like, I cannot tell you how many legendary guitar players with just amazing, unbelievable levels of chops will say things like that. Likewise, you will hear certain gazillionaires, business tycoons, you know, people with just ungodly amounts of net worth, and, you know, they'll say things like, well, you know, the most important thing is, you know, giving to charity and being a nice person. And it's not that that's not true. And same thing with the guitarist— it's not that playing simple, memorable melodies with feel is not an important thing. But clearly the person saying that went through a significant period in their life where they were chasing something else. And so that's just what I want to put to you here. If, if If speed has been a sticking point for you, if you've never been able to break through and you really just want to take that to the next level, spend a year working on it. I have given you everything that I know about it and everything that I practice for free here on this channel. You can check that out in some of these videos. I will link to all of them down in the video description. That is exactly what I practice and what I have been practicing for the better part of a decade. Now to really get my chops to where I want them to be. I want to wrap this video up with what I started with and remember what Jelly Roll was saying about weight loss. Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in 90 days and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year. And I promise you, if you will just develop a consistent, focused practice routine and you will stick to that for a year, I can almost guarantee you that you'll make more progress than you have in the previous years. And probably in the previous decades. But you may be watching this and saying, Aaron, you know, I just don't know if I can do that for a year. Don't do it for a year, do it for 60 days, because 60 days, give or take, is about how long it takes to make something a habit. So I put this to everybody watching this video who feels stuck in your playing, who, you know, maybe you're just not where you want to be in your playing: commit to a 60-day focused practice challenge. If you miss more than 2 days in the 60 days, you have to start over. But this does not have to be, you know, 5 hours a day of practice. You can do this in 20 to 30 minutes a day, but you just have to focus. It's all about focused practice. If you can stick to that for 60 days, for 2 months, it will start to become a habit, and it's going to make sticking to this for a year a whole lot easier. And remember, if you're tired of bouncing around, being confused, not knowing what you need to work on, in the video description and in the top pinned comment you can get my Picker's Success Path Masterclass where I'm going to show you how to identify which level you're at as a guitar player, and I'm going to give you a very clear path to get to the next level in your playing. Brings me to the last point that I wanted to make here, and I've said this before on this channel, it's easy to compare ourselves to other people. I do I do it, you do it, we all do it. It's part of being human. But if you can change that to competing with yourself, that's going to be much more healthy and it's going to be much more empowering. And my goal for you is that a year from now you can look back on yourself right now and you can say, you know what, I really kicked that person's ass this year. I am so much better than that person in only a year. I have demolished them, and it is awesome. That is my goal for you, and I promise you, if you will stick to this stuff— focus, consistent practice— and you will do that for a year, you're going to make some tremendous strides in your playing. I promise you. So I want to thank you so much for a great year on this channel. I've had an absolute blast, and I am looking forward to lots of great new things in the next year. As always, thank you for hanging out, and I will see you next time.