TAC Family Forums

Hello @the-old-coach ;

So, when Lewis and Clark traveled across the USA, you could say they were “lost” the entire way. They were lost in the sense that they had never been where they were at the moment, and they had no maps of this area save for the one they themselves were making. And they didn’t know anyone who knew this area. And they had no idea how much farther they had to go or what they would find along the way.

Yet, they weren’t lost. They had a very concrete idea of the path from where they started to where they were at the moment and had drawn a map. Second, they knew exactly where they were going… in a very vague way. Their goal was to reach the other side of the continent and map the whole thing. That’s it.

So, one morning, Lewis wakes up and says to Clark, “What now?” And Clark says, “Well, we just keep going in the same direction”. And Lewis says, “Oh, of course, I knew that”.

So, of course, you knew that. What are we missing? The real question is “Why are we doing this?” They had a commission from the President to map the country. Simple.

So what is your commission? Why are you putting all this time on your guitar. You see, the answer to that question is what guides you and let’s you know you are still on the correct path going in the correct direction.

Let’s take an example. “I’m on this guitar journey simply because I enjoy playing the guitar.” Now the only thing that changes is you are confident that the time you are spending everyday is the right thing to do.

You may not realize it, but your 2 goals are rather vague in that they are very general. You have not given specifications. There are many excellent guitarists that may not be able to “just play any song”. If they are a studio musician or a guitarist in a cover band, then yeah. But what if they are a well known classical guitarist? Could they pick up an acoustic guitar and play any popular song you asked them to? Maybe, but not without looking up the chords or listening to the song. So, you must be specific to be able to get where you want to go.

The second thing, writing songs. You’ve already written some, so why are you not feeling content? What more is it that you want? Do you want to record some songs and put them on Spotify? And when you do that, “Then What?”. See where I’m going.

Stop worrying about your goals and find your reason. My reason is to write songs that help me process my feelings. That’s the reason for me continuing to play my guitar and get better and continuing to write songs. I’ll never be famous. I’ll never make money. I don’t care if I ever have any songs on Spotify. But I have a reason that will never end and it will always help me to define whether my time is being spent “correctly” or I need to adjust my course.

Lately, I have been changing my focus a little. I am still pushing on “writing songs”. But I’ve already written a number of songs that I really like, but I’ve never played them enough to be good at them. So, will being able to play them better help process my emotions? Simple question, and the simple answer is YES. So, that’s what my focus is now.

How about recording? Would making one of my songs a more complete production by recording tracks and adding more instruments and background vocals help me to process the emotions better? That’s a little more difficult, but I think yes. Take one song as an example. The first song I ever wrote is named “Gratitude”. Would the lyrics have more impact on my emotions if I spent the time trying to turn it into a production? Well, yes, I do. But what if I’m wrong? Well, I can always change course. But for now, I need to start playing songs with a metronome so I can record. Right now, I can’t record a simple acoustic guitar rhythm track and stay in tempo. How do you add more tracks to something that changes timing? That is a very specific thing that will take time. But I know that it’s what I want to do because it’s in line with my purpose.

As always, Mark @the-old-coach , it may seem that I have spent more time helping you than perhaps I should. However, it also helps me. By using my own purpose and goals and steps toward those goals, I have solidified my own decisions. So I will say thank you up front for giving me a reason to do that. 😎

MG 😀