| There is probably nothing that guitarists of all levels | | | | they still needed some time to cook. So you see, |
| hate more than the stagnation of their progress. Also | | | | that wall you've hit in your journey is simply a natural |
| known as a "plateau". You know what I'm talking | | | | process of learning, probably amplified by a little false |
| about, that extended period where your guitar | | | | expectation. |
| playing doesn't seem to improve at all. When your | | | | So, instead of trying to force your way out of this |
| desire to improve is strong these plateaus can be | | | | painful doldrums, step back and review what you've |
| pure torture. I have lived through them myself and I | | | | been working on. Take out your goal sheets (You |
| have found the secret recipe to speed their | | | | are setting and maintaining goals aren't you?) and |
| departure. If you want to quickly continue your climb | | | | your notebooks and see if there is something in |
| to guitar mastery, then you should stop trying to | | | | particular, some key ingredient that you feel |
| climb up off the plateau and climb back down a step | | | | confused about. If so, return in you studies and really |
| instead. Confused? Let me explain. | | | | nail it down. If you don't see anything specific, then |
| First, you must understand the plateau. I've come to | | | | look to the musical side. Have you taken each |
| the belief that they occur when you've absorbed a | | | | component of the recent lessons and really applied it |
| whole chunk of new knowledge but have not yet | | | | to the music? To really own a new technique or |
| mastered or come to "own" that knowledge. As you | | | | knowledge you must use it. |
| go through your method or your lessons, you are | | | | There you have it. If you find your progress stopped |
| constantly learning new things that are both mental | | | | and it is filling you with the worst frustration ever, |
| and physical. And there are little confusions that exist | | | | simply recognize that, to continue the cooking |
| in your newly acquired knowledge. | | | | metaphor, the next course in your guitar banquet is |
| One of my early teachers would remind me that | | | | still cooking and you just need to stir the pot. I'm |
| everything about learning guitar needed a little | | | | sure that a solution to your problem served up |
| "cooking time", and that even though I had | | | | before you know it. |
| assembled the right mental and physical ingredients, | | | | |