As I am beginning to learn how to sweep pick on guitar I am starting to realize how flawed the way I do things really are. Sweep picking requires great precision and repetition. If your fundamentals and habits are flawed, it shows. Over the years I have found my own ways of holding a pick and figuring out how to do certain techniques.
I ended up doing processes I was comfortable doing rather than discovering the best one. I took the easy way out… At least I thought it was.
You realize that your comfort zone eventually puts you in a box. You can only go so far with it. Sometimes you are never told you are doing something in an impractical manner. While it can create great results at first, you eventually hit a wall. Our process starts to fail us.
Then at some point in time you run into someone that says “hey dude, there is a much better way of doing that. Let me show you.” or something along those lines. You start to see how your habits are the cause of your struggle. You need to work on the foundation on which you work upon.
How do you overcome the fear of starting over?
When it comes to replacing the foundation of our processes you have created into habits it is extremely hard to bear. You easily become stressed because you just want to do it your way again. The old habits yell and scream to be used.
You just have to focus and stick to it. It’s very much a mind over matter situation. Difficulty at its finest. You are creating new and better habits for yourself. A process that will open new doors and deconstruct that box you built around yourself.
I am going through these motions right now with guitar and sweep picking. These new ways of playing make me feel like a really crappy guitar player, but I know that in the end I will reap the benefits. Not only for me, but for others. Sharing new found wisdom and technique is a big deal.
When you learn something new, especially after fearing it initially, be willing to embrace others and help them. Make them better. The world needs more of that.
We need more better.
