Guitar Gear

I have been a youth minister and occasional inspirational speaker for several years. A few years ago, I did a series of talks and workshops based upon Q.U.E.S.T., an acronym that I came up with to help people focus in their learning processes. This morning on the way to work, it dawned on me that I could easily apply it to learning guitar, and that I have been unwittingly using the QUEST process the past few years to become a better guitarist/musician. So here’s QUEST in a nutshell.

Background

First, life is a process and to go through life, whether you buy into it or not, you are the central figure in the process of your life. Many people spend their entire lives letting outside influences rule the direction they take, instead of taking the reins and taking charge of their destinies. QUEST is a way to focus on your process. The very word lends itself to seeking out and discovering; something no one can do for you. But unlike the quests of old, there’s no prize, and really there’s no end, as this QUEST is a continuous process itself. So let’s go over the QUEST process:

Q – Question

The first step to growth – of any kind – is to question the foundations of your beliefs. This doesn’t equate to doubt; rather, it pertains more to examining where you’re at, what you’re doing, then posing questions like: Am I doing enough? Have I considered other directions? With respect to playing guitar, a lot of times we become fixed on certain styles or methods of playing. By questioning the things on which we are fixed, we open ourselves to new and different possibilities.

U – Understand

This really means “understand yourself.” Another “U” word that could be used in its place is “Uncover.” Growth demands an innate understanding of what our motivations are. Especially with musicianship, learning or doing something “just because” is not good enough. If you want to get better, you need to uncover and understand your motivations to become better; in other words, understand yourself.

E – Explore

This is really the active phase of the QUEST process, where you actively seek out possibilities and break new ground. It’s also the funnest part of the process because you come across all sorts of new things or new ways of playing. While the other steps in the process are much more subtle and cerebral in nature, this step is where you actually experiment with the things you discover. It’s the really exciting part of the process.

S – Surrender

I can’t stress enough of the importance of surrendering. Surrendering simply means to not get in your own way. During any growth process, it’s inevitable that our old, established patterns of thinking come creaping up, and can possibly sabotage the growth we’ve recently experienced. Surrendering to your growth process maintains your open state of mind. As an example, I recently wanted to understand what appeals to my older kids’ love of hard-core rock. So I sat down at their computer, opened up iTunes and started listening. Being a musician whose foundation in music has been built on a more melodic approach, I found that my instinctive negativity towards this style of music kept surfacing while I listened. So I had to check myself and essentially surrender to what I was listening, so I could give myself a chance to “get it.” The net result is that I learned alot about that style of music: Super-fast guitar licks, trip-hammer-double-bass-drums; in other words, high-powered energy. I still don’t like the music, but I now understand the appeal.

T – Trust

Sometimes, change is very subtle, so you have to trust in your process of learning; trust that your going in a direction that will ultimately improve your abilities down the line. Like surrender, this another checks and balances step that’s important in the process because by trusting, you won’t give up your quest to become better.

I realize that this isn’t a specific technique to become a better player. It’s more background. But to me, it’s important background. Personally, if I had not gone through this process, I wouldn’t have evolved as a musician. I literally spent 30 years playing nothing but acoustic guitar, and I’d gone about as far as I could go. Then a few years ago, I “pulled the rug from under” myself and incorporated electric guitar into my playing. I still play acoustic guitar – and a lot of it, I might say – but I now have a much broader musical canvas with which to work – and learn.