Learn from Videos and Recordings, But Don't Compare Yourself

Hi, friends.

I often recommend that we watch videos and listen to recordings. I want to pause for a moment and speak to this a little more. The challenge is that when we do this we can become discouraged because the person who is playing sounds amazing and they play so incredibly well. Yes, they do, but they were also once beginners as we are.

It is also important to keep in mind that these folks are sitting in front of a microphone, and possibly even an expensive recording setup.

My commitment to you is that even if I upgrade my equipment at some point that I will do so only to make the recording sound even clearer and more realistic.

Many of those we look up to have this same commitment, and I thank them for this. We learn from these incredibly skilled players. However, it is important for us to avoid putting ourselves down by comparing ourselves to them. Learn from them, emulate them, but don’t compare your skills to theirs. Watch them to encourage yourself and learn.

There is another group of videos and recordings that mix and modify the sound so that the recording or video sounds better than it would in person. I will even recommend some. Please bear in mind that if it sounds like someone is playing in an echo chamber or the sound is almost too good to be true that this result was likely achieved through expensive hardware and software.

I do not mean to give this group of folks grief. I love listening to their work. However, no one can sound like they do. Learn also from these folks in the way they express the tunes and use ornamentation, but don’t expect to sound like them.

If we want realism, then listen to a raw recording of someone attending a session somewhere.

the video to the right to access the video lesson.