In my 30 years of playing music, there’s one trait that’s helped me practice ukulele and improve the most as a musician.
It’s helped me so much so that I…
Lose track of the time when I practice…
Have more fun when I practice…
And, have more patience for myself when I can’t perform.
Yesterday, I was working on practicing a particularly difficult bluegrass solo on guitar by the great flatpicker Tony Rice (I’m a lifelong ukulele player but also play guitar and piano!). The solo is a short, lightning fast 8-bar passage in the song Nine Pound Hammer, and for me, it’s just… hard.
Every time I step on the gas it falls apart.
I fail.
I practiced this solo for nearly two hours yesterday without taking a break, and you know what?
I had the time of my life.
In fact, I’ve been working on this solo for almost a year and I get excited every time I sit down.
And it got me thinking, why is this so much fun for me to keep failing?
For me, the answer is simple.
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