Featured Video: A Powerful Way to Memorize Music
Read my latest Post: Music Theory? Why Should I Care?
Three Illustrated Concepts: 1. The musical fingerprint: I like using the musical fingerprint as a symbol because playing classical guitar is all about touch, about using the pads of your fingers as they interact with the wood and strings in unbelievably complex ways. Hearing music is also touch—the sound waves touch your eardrums in unbelievably complex ways. And getting in touch with all of your own sensations of playing, from simple to unbelievably complex, is one of the keys to discovering your musical self, to powerful and uniquely individual self expression on your chosen instrument, the guitar. This is my musical fingerprint. What’s yours? 
2. The guitarist’s key-chain: I like this guitar key-chain illustration because there are some powerful keys to learning guitar that will open up 90% of the musical, technical doors, gateways that you’re going to encounter. There are other, less useful keys that might open a few doors here and there but will also waste you years forcing your way through fences and thickets of frustration and tension. Every time you sit down to practice, you need to make sure you can find the right set of keys, so you can turn on the ignition, get rolling, and have a way to open all the gates, doors, and hidden musical grottoes that you’re going to encounter. 3. The musical clothesline: Another drawing I love is this one: 
a musician hanging his notes out to dry. The process of music-making takes care, time and patience and is extremely resistant to trying to get everything perfect right away. Sometimes the finished product can be pretty slick and polished, but to get there you also have to hang your notes out to dry, over and over, in a place where the sun can get to them. And quite often, where everyone else can see. So three things:
- Find your own musical fingerprint: be yourself and ground your self-expression by staying in touch with all the sensations of playing.
- Keep track of your musical keys.
- And remember to hang out your notes to dry.
—-Jay 10 of the Worst Mistakes Classical Guitarists Make In my Ebook “Ten of the Worst Mistakes Classical Guitarists Make,” I share with you 10 of the most common ways I see classical guitar students slow and even sabotage their progress. 
Actually, I’ve managed to sneak in more than 10, because some of them come in pairs, and some of them have several variations….. I also go into a lot of detail about the most important thing of all, when it comes to mistakes: I talk about how to deal with mistakes so they help you rather than hinder you. Your relationship to mistakes is THE key to how quickly, continually, and thoroughly you improve on the guitar. Here are five important truths I’ve learned (the hard way) about mistakes, in both my playing and in my teaching: 1. Don’t Deny or ignore Mistakes. Mistakes wreak havoc over time when you don’t deal with them. 2. Don’t Fear Mistakes: Mistakes are the prime raw material of learning. Make as many mistakes as you need. 3. Yesterday’s solutions can become today’s mistakes, bad habits, sticking points or blind spots—if you don’t keep embracing new challenges as they arise. 4. Learn not to attach your self worth to mistakes: simple as that. 5.There are many, many more things that you’re doing right than wrong, Learn to appreciate everything you’re doing right, and be just as sensitive to gradual improvements over time as you are to the “mistakes” that help you get there. To learn more, type your email in the form below, click submit, and I’ll send you a copy of this information-packed ebook.