Practice makes perfect right? Well, no. We’ll never be perfect. Who is? But if we follow this highly scientific and brightly-colored road map, we can at least be awesome.

Your Road Map to Awesome!

Phase One: I suck
This phase begins when we first learn a new song, scale, chord, etc. We are terrible. Our fingers misbehave and we feel like beginners all over again. We practice hard to get out of this phase as soon as possible because, hey, who wants to suck?

Phase Two: I’m okay
This phase begins when we start to gather some momentum. We’re playing better and we get it right more than half of the time. We start to feel satisfied. Hey, maybe we don’t suck after all.

Phase Three: I rock
This phase begins when we can play it right just about every time. We feel completely confident in our ability to melt people’s faces. We are undeniably awesome.

Most of us have no problem practicing our way out of Phase One: I suck. We’re motivated to prove to ourselves that we can do it better. The reality, however, is that most of us are compelled to stop practicing our material somewhere in Phase Two: I’m Okay and we move on to something else. Where does that leave us? Smack in the middle of mediocrity. We’re on the road to awesome though, and mediocrity won’t do.

In order to be awesome at whatever it is we are working on, we need to self-evaluate. I use the above scale to measure my progress. I move on to the next song, scale, chord, etc. only when I’ve made it to Phase Three: I rock. I try to be honest with myself and practice accordingly.

Sometimes making it to Phase Three: I rock with a song, scale, chord, etc. takes a lot of time. Stay with it and be patient. You’ll be awesome soon enough.

For more information about me and the guitar lessons that I give in and around Baltimore, visit www.ewguitar.com.