Beyond your ability

The Black Page is a somewhat obscure Drum solo written by Frank Zappa as a challenge to his extraordinary drummer, Terry Bozzio.  In drumming circles it is considered a sign of mastery to be able to play it.  Most instruments have such pieces that are pinnacle showpieces.  On Electric guitar, the solo to "Freebird" or Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption" might be considered the highlights.

Being able to play something like "Flight of the Bumblebee" requires high skill, commitment and time.

No matter your instrument or level, you should always have an ultimate piece that keeps you challenged. To begin to tackle your song, you will want to get your head organized; don’t attempt to learn the entire song all at once. Take a look at the entire song, find any similarities, or, if learning by ear, listen to the different themes and phrases for similarities. You will want to begin with the most common theme or phrase and learn that section. Why? Because once you learn it, you’ve already learned a majority of the piece and this makes it easier to swallow the tough stuff to come.

Next, you will want to look or listen to the first section. Is there anything challenging happening here? If so, take it measure by measure, or riff by riff. Learn just a few notes at a time, then connect those phrases together, within 30 minutes to and hour you should have this tough phrase smoothed out. If not, you may want to try working on another area or, just take a break to let what you’ve learned sink in. When you come back to that section, chances are you will play it perfect, sometimes things just need to marinate a little. You will need to do this with any challenging phrase you find in a piece.
Now that you have learned the main theme and all of the challenging phrases, you are ready to put them together. At this point you may be able to play your song perfectly, but chances are you will need to spend some time connecting and smoothing out phrases so they blend together just right since you have learned them separately.

Although simply put, it won’t be easy. You will need to spend a lot of time learning your song. Just be organized and patient with yourself and it will come.

Less is more

Do you play too many notes?

Expand your Palette

When we begin to learn any instrument, we have a genre, style or maybe even a specific artist that we emulate.  Once we learn the basics, we imitate and experiment and acquaint ourselves with our instrument - if we make it through the steepest part of the learning curve.  Most see that playing effortly takes work and talk themselves out of continuing.  The hand eye coordination, the muscle memory, the ability to read charts, the tedious scale work requires commitment and perseverance.

So if you have made it through the learning curve I want to suggest that you consider broadening your instrument's palette and your personal range.  If you are a metal thrasher, look at classical.  If you are a jazzer, look into Flamenco or Celtic.  If you are into hip-hop, look at blues or R&B.  The idea is that your instrument likely has many different "voices" - other genres where you can learn variations on phrasing, melody, rhythm and tone.  How awesome was it when Paul Simon when African on "Graceland", or when Eric Clapton went acoustic on "Unplugged", Ray Charles went country, or Sting went jazz?

Every genre has something to teach us, and gives us a new language to incorporate into ourselves.

What instrument you play doesn't matter!

I have an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and a classical guitar.  Each instrument requires a different technique to play.  Because you can play an acoustic guitar does not mean the same technique will work on an electric.  None of these instruments are limited to what they can be used for musically- the only limitation is the musician.  I like the tone of the classical for jazz, flamenco and classical.  Each style requires different technique.  My acoustic guitar is my go-to for worship, folk, pop, Celtic and blues.  My electric is my power blues, rock, funk, jazz and progressive choice.  Different colors, different styles, still my personality spoken with a different voice.

Do not neglect to broaden your palette!

Next I will talk about the benefit of playing multiple instruments...