That’s completely it, I know I could just relax by listening to music and leave it at that but I would say I’m of a slightly more participative mindset. While @tony wanted to be that guy on stage, I just want to be that person who can pick up my instrument of choice and play.
Re learning logs, yes it’s definitely the idea that I can look back and draw upon it as a source of encouragement, and be motivated by the small improvements, that has appeal – I haven’t given so much thought to goal setting as yet, but then I think I’ve had the luxury of goals being pretty much set by Justin so far. I’ll no doubt have to take an increasing amount of ownership for this as I progress.
I think recording (or performing before someone) was one of Justin’s suggested requirements in his grade 1 module 7 ‘How to Pass Grade 1’ video lesson but it is really reassuring to hear your viewpoint on the issue of recording. Thanks so much too for taking the time to look out those video links, I will certainly watch them, Jenny.
Besides my desire to perform, and even more so, every day I pick up the guitar to relax an escape. It’s a great boost for my mental health.
You also mentioned goal setting and leaning on Justin for that. Having my own goal certainly helped my motivation to learn and work through the challenges. Making that goal as specific as possible helped me.
Hi Jenny. A very warm welcome has already been afforded.
My mantra : learn songs, learn sings, learn songs.
There are so many layers and levels of goodness and benefit from doing so.
Songs are what we love, where we have our fun, and where we bring together our learning and skills and more.
Don’t worry, we’re all in for enjoying music in all facets it can offer us.
Everybody is free to use the material in the fashion and at the speed they desire.
We DO encourage to share but sharing can mean a lot of things;
ideas, opinions, dreams, purchases, samples, comparisons, recordings, advice,…
It’s hard to tell where people will go to and how they will grow. I though I would never perform and never sing and play guitar together and now these are the things I enjoy most in life. If I couldn’t predict that for myself, how can one expect from you to grow towards being a performer? perhaps you grow into composing stuff? Or you find super effctive methods to medidate through music? Or you find a whole new level of understanding and enjoying music, privately but profoundly? those are all wonderful paths
Meanwhile ther is a spin-off thread about “peer pressure” …
because it is an interesting topic but it does not need to happen here Peer pressure & sharing recordings
Great motivational story Lieven. You are very talented in playing and singing. I loved your version of Nothing Compares to You. I never thought I could do it either, but here I am playing in front of strangers even though I still need to improve a lot. I put myself out there anyways and for the most part people thank me for playing. Nobody says that F chord of B minor doesn’t look quite right. lol
In my experience it’s usually not a planned thing. The typical course of events goes something like:
You see an acoustic guitar sitting over in the corner.
You start talking to the owner about it, or maybe you pick it up and start tuning it, or playing it a bit by yourself in the corner. Alternatively, maybe the guitar is there and you don’t do anything, but someone knows you play the guitar…
Someone asks you if you play, or asks you to “play something”, or asks you to play a specific song.
You play a song, and more people start gathering around.
I think that’s very true – I don’t want to think too far ahead and second guess what’s around the corner, I’ll just concentrate on enjoying the lessons in the here and now and see where my learning eventually leads me… and it might be not where I expect at all, I’m thinking that’s all part of the adventure .
It’s really lovely to hear that you find so much enjoyment from your playing and performing. Many thanks indeed for sharing your thoughts with me on this, Jenny.
Hi Edgar, Thank you very much for the welcome, it’s lovely to meet you. I hope you’ve managed to catch up on your learning log since your post. Mine’s sketchy at best so far – it’s a work in progress – but I am definitely making the time to play so at least that’s the main thing.
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to send the link, Jeff. I visited this after reading your topic on Finding Yourself and seeing @LievenDV’s comments there – it was great to be able to follow up the words of one of our talented community members with an example from him. Thank you, Jenny
You recieved some great tips allready from a lot of people.
Will just say that i too would never ever sing in front of others… never
But i nerved up to put out an AVOYP,since nobody knew me i thought i could survive it… now i sing all the time and i only play songs that i can sing along too. Not life changing, but pretty close
If not for the AVOYP i would probably not sing much at all…
just my two cents
Hi, thank you for your warm welcome and good wishes Trond, I’m really pleased to meet you . And I think I should add ‘Wow!’ too, because that sounds like a big transition to have made. It’s great to hear about your personal experience on the subject of performing – and to know that making that leap had such a positive and significant impact. Many thanks for sharing your views on this with me. Wishing you all the best too.
Jenny
. a lot happened since last time and i don’t know if i’ll remember everything
– but I am definitely making the time to play so at least that’s the main thing. 
. So thank you for that and good luck with yours 
