','

' ); ?>

How To Become A Better Musician

To get better at the guitar you need both physical and mental skills - practice and performance

It’s no secret that you need to put in some work if you want to get better at music.

The good news is that you CAN make rapid progress whatever your current level. Even if you don’t have a huge amount of time to practice.

The bad news is that most musicians go about things in the wrong way. They waste their effort. Or decide that they just don’t have what it takes.

Read more

The Power Of Yes

Just say yes for rapid musical growth

The one thing that’s brought me the most progress as a musician is not some clever technical tip.

It’s not about how I practice.

It’s my attitude towards new opportunities.

And I can boil it down to just one word…

Read more

What the Top Athletes Can Teach You About Confidence

Thinking positive in the right way for musical progress

Have you ever watched the interviews after a big sporting event?

You never hear the losers talking themselves down. Instead, they focus on “taking the positives”.

Then you’ll see interviews with the great musicians.

Most of them avoid saying that they’re anything special. They still talk about having masses to learn – even if they’re heading into their 70s after a lifetime of amazing work.

These two seemingly opposite approaches actually fit together perfectly. Let’s find out how you can get the best of both worlds…

Read more

Positive Thinking – Key to Success or Recipe for Disaster?

Balance positive thinking and reality

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of thinking positively. Of rock-solid self-belief.

But what about the risks?

Can’t being over-confident make things worse? Aren’t you in danger of having a completely unrealistic view of your abilities?

As you read on, you’ll discover when the positive viewpoint is exactly what the doctor ordered. And when stark realism should rule the day.

Read more

Do You Know How to Add Pressure to Your Practice?

Staying cool under pressure requires practice

Do you remember a time when you had it all sorted in the practice room – but everything fell apart at the gig itself?

Maybe this happens a lot. You always get the material solid in practice – but, somehow, that doesn’t seem to be enough on stage.

And just spending more time practicing doesn’t seem to improve things.

​Fear not ​– ​it might only take a slight tweak in exactly HOW you practice to turn this situation around.

Read more

9 Attitude Tweaks That Hold the Secret to Playing Your Best

Think right - play right

Music requires great skill. There’s no getting round the fact that it takes long hours of practice to hone your craft.

But music also needs confidence and focus.

I’m not going to claim that changing your thinking will magically transform you into one of the all-time greats. If your technique is flawed, then it’s still going to hold you back.

But technique is only half the story if you want to achieve the levels you’re capable of.

Read more

Do You Play Better In Practice Than Performance? These 7 Reasons Explain Why

Ditch the frustration that comes with playing better in practice than performance by learning to play your best when it counts

Stop me if this sounds familiar.

You’ve basically got it covered in the practice room. It’s not that everything’s perfect, but you’re reasonably happy with where you are, and you can see yourself making consistent progress.

When you get up on stage to perform, though, it’s a different story.

Things which sounded inspired just a day or two before come out sounding dull. Material that you had mastered becomes shaky, or even falls apart altogether.

You find yourself just trying to get through the experience rather than playing freely and really enjoying yourself.

And the most frustrating thing is that there doesn’t seem to be any reason why this happens. So what can you do about it?

Well, there are at least 7 things which can contribute to the problem. In this article I’ll tell you what they are and how to tackle them – so that you can play consistently at your best and feel truly proud about your performances.

Here's what we're going to cover:

  1. You're not used to playing in a performance context
  2. You're not comfortable with the feeling of pressure that performance can bring
  3. You're stuck in a practice mindset
  4. You resent the conditions rather than accept them
  5. You're trying too hard
  6. You care too much
  7. You need to strengthen your self-belief and think positively

Read more

Stop Taking Your Practice Mindset onto the Stage

You’ve worked so hard on how you practice. Got the process streamlined and efficient to maximise your learning.

All your exercises are laser-focused on what you want to improve. You can get into that practice mode effortlessly, spot any imperfections straight away, and immediately calculate what you need to do to fix them.

But did you realise that every step you take that improves your practice could be dragging your performance down?

Read more

Is Your Definition of Success Condemning You to Unnecessary Worry and Doubt?

Have you ever given what you thought was a terrible performance only to come off the stage and have people telling you they thought you played brilliantly? That they really enjoyed it.

It left you confused.

That new material you’d spent ages working on didn’t come out right in your solo. Or maybe you’re thinking of that glaring mistake you made in a part that you should be able to play easily.

How could they not see how bad it was?

Read more

>