One of my favourite pearls of wisdom is based on three. It is a simple plan and I (and friends) have often used it when making gig decisions. Now I'll pass it onto you. It came from The Hellecaster's Will Ray (he may have got it from the legendary LA session player, Tommy Tedesco) who, during an interview, talked about what shaped his career decisions. To paraphrase, him doing a gig required at least one of the following three points to be ticked:
- Good for the money
- Good for the CV
- It will be fun!
Think about it.
If you've been offered a gig (or already doing a gig) and at least one of these points isn't tickable, don't take it (or ditch it). It has no benefit to you.
Of course, this type of blue print can be applied to the time you spend with the guitar too. Try this:
Repertoire
Technique/theory development
It will be fun!
You may need to learn Hotel California (repertoire) or improve your picking stamina (technique). Then again, you may just want to solo over a blues backing track mainly using the 3rd and 7th intervals derived from each chord (fun). All these unrelated topics are easily accommodated here, proving the plan's scope for variety and development.
So go on, try it for a few months and then let me know about your results!
