Are you musically frustrated with yourself? Are
you not the musician that you want to be? Or
not as good as you could be or should be? Do
you look with envy at other musicians who are
doing what you wish you could be doing? Does
reaching your musical goals seem out of reach?
I think just about everyone has had these
thoughts go through their mind from time to
time. Fortunately, you are not alone and there
are things you can do to combat the negativity
of frustration. Many of the great masters of
music have been frustrated at times with their
own musical abilities. I've provided four (4)
examples from famous classical composers:
1. Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827) worked
for long periods of time on his compositions
before completing them. He revised his pieces
over and over again, reworking them, doubting
his original efforts. This was almost unheard of
in Beethoven's time. Many of you may already
know that Beethoven gradually became deaf
later in his life. Because of this, Beethoven quit
performing as a pianist in 1814 (13 years
before his death). He stopped composing in
1815.
2. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was so
frustrated with his composing abilities that he
spent twenty-one (21) years composing his
first symphony! He felt as if he could never
compose a symphony as well as Beethoven.
Brahms kept starting over with his symphony,
revising it, abandoning it, starting over,
reworking it, etc.
3. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) (master of
symphonies), revised his symphonies and other
works after having doubts about what he had
composed originally. Mahler kept revising his
works until his death. It must have been
frustrating to keep revising pieces that were
already published.
4. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) actually stopped
composing for about 30 years because he felt
that he had run out of new musical ideas. He
doubted his abilities to compose anything
worthwhile at the height of his popularity. He
worked on new music for those 30 or so years,
sketching his ideas during the day and
throwing them away every time. That is some
very serious frustration!
Beethoven began composing again in 1817.
Many of his most important compositions are
from this last period in his life. Beethoven broke
new ground and had done things never before
done in music once he began working again.
Had he continued to let the frustrations of his
deafness paralyze him musically, Beethoven
would not be as highly regarded as he is to this
day.
After the twenty-one (21) period of composing
his first symphony, Brahms felt relieved. The
shadow of Beethoven was lifted enough to
allow Brahms to move forward. He finally found
a way to move on and deal with his
frustrations. He completed his next symphony
in less than one year.
Frustration can be help you or hurt you
depending on how you deal with it. As you can
see, Beethoven and Brahms eventually found
positive ways to deal with their frustration and
overcame it. Unfortunately, Sibelius never did.
He is perhaps the most extreme example of a
person who let frustration destroy him
musically. Sadly, he died without finishing any
substantial music compositions during the last
30 years of his life!
When I was a teenager, some friends of mine
(all guitar players) and I went to see Yngwie
Malmsteen perform in Chicago. After the
concert had finished, some of my friends made
comments about how they felt depressed after
hearing Yngwie and that they just wanted to
quit playing guitar completely. We were all
young and knew how much better Yngwie was
as a musician than we were. The main
difference between their reaction and mine was
they let their awe for Yngwie frustrate them to
the point of feeling hopeless in their efforts to
become better players. Many of my friends
stopped playing their guitars for several days,
one of them actually did quit completely.
My reaction to the event was quite different. I
used my awe for Yngwie as a massive positive
inspiring force. I was so inspired that I went
straight home and practiced through the night
until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.
The point here is not to seek to avoid
frustration, but to use it to your advantage. I
have always turned my own musical
frustrations as the biggest source of
motivation. I was always looking for other
players to jam with that were better than I was.
Of course that was easy to do when I was a
beginner and became increasingly more
difficult over the years that followed. I got a lot
out of those experiences.
In a past article I wrote on perseverance, I
wrote of the importance of believing in yourself
and not giving up. I don't want to be too
redundant here, but those points are worth
mentioning briefly again.
Too often players don't ever reach their own
potential because they feel they couldn't
measure up to other players or their own
expectations. Why compare yourself to others.
Does it really matter if you are, or are not, as
good as someone else? Of course not. Music
should not be thought of as a competitive
sport. It is, and should be, an art. All that really
matters is how well you are able to express
yourself. Therefore the only question should be
this: Do you currently have the skills to express
yourself fully in music?
As much as I have never liked or respected
Nirvana's singer/songwriter/guitarist Kurt
Cobain, I must admit that he was able to
express himself fairly well. Despite the fact that
Kurt's musical skills were primitive and very
limited, one could hear his personality come
through his music. It didn't matter that he was
not a good guitarist. It didn't matter that his
knowledge of music theory was probably close
to zero. It also didn't matter that he played out
of tune and had an absolutely sloppy guitar
technique. Fortunately for him, what he wanted
to express didn't require any of the skills that
most musicians generally consider to be good
and necessary. Had Kurt wanted to express
anything more significant or complex he would
have been extremely frustrated because he
didn't have a lot of musicianship skills beyond
what could be heard in his music. So in the end,
it worked out well for him and my guess is that
he probably wasn't very frustrated with himself
musically because he wasn't trying to be a
better guitarist, songwriter or singer than
anyone else. He didn't make those types of
comparisons between himself and the rest of
the music world.
This is, in my opinion, the only significant thing
to that we can all follow. Of course Kurt
Cobain's approach to not caring about those
comparisons is certainly not a new idea,
countless others before and after him have also
done so. He is used here as an example
because most everyone during our time knows
him.
In my own life, the thought of quitting guitar
early on did occur in my mind (although never
very seriously). As a teenager, I too was
frustrated when I thought I may never become
a virtuoso guitarist (like Yngwie or Jason
Becker) and may never become a master
composer (like Bach or Chopin). When I
stopped trying to compete with everyone else
and made new goals of self-expression,
everything changed. I stopped making
comparisons to other guitarists, composers
and songwriters, because with my new goal,
those comparisons did little or nothing to serve
my new quest to simply express myself fully
through music. I felt liberated from the burden
of having to compete with the rest of the world.
Beginning in the early 1990s, my only focus
was on gaining more of the skills, tools, etc.
that I would need to express what I had inside
me.
In my case, what I want to express does
require a high level of guitar and compositional
virtuosity, musical complexity and integrity, etc.
Because I need those skills, my journey to
reach a higher level of musicianship has taken
a lot more time, effort, studying, etc. than it did
for someone like Kurt Cobain who had very
different needs to express himself than mine.
Most musicians who will read this will have
much greater musical ambitions than Kurt
Cobain and so for you, you will feel frustrated
whenever you feel limited by your abilities. The
key is to use that as a positive force in the form
of motivation and inspiration. Masters of all
types of art have gone through what you are
going through. Today you are at whatever skill
level you are at. Through your frustration and
motivation, you will eventually reach your
current goals. As you reach those goals you
will probably still feel frustrated because your
desire to improve even further will make you
establish new goals for yourself. And so the
cycle will go on and on. But you too are
progressing and improving on and on.
you not the musician that you want to be? Or
not as good as you could be or should be? Do
you look with envy at other musicians who are
doing what you wish you could be doing? Does
reaching your musical goals seem out of reach?
I think just about everyone has had these
thoughts go through their mind from time to
time. Fortunately, you are not alone and there
are things you can do to combat the negativity
of frustration. Many of the great masters of
music have been frustrated at times with their
own musical abilities. I've provided four (4)
examples from famous classical composers:
1. Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827) worked
for long periods of time on his compositions
before completing them. He revised his pieces
over and over again, reworking them, doubting
his original efforts. This was almost unheard of
in Beethoven's time. Many of you may already
know that Beethoven gradually became deaf
later in his life. Because of this, Beethoven quit
performing as a pianist in 1814 (13 years
before his death). He stopped composing in
1815.
2. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was so
frustrated with his composing abilities that he
spent twenty-one (21) years composing his
first symphony! He felt as if he could never
compose a symphony as well as Beethoven.
Brahms kept starting over with his symphony,
revising it, abandoning it, starting over,
reworking it, etc.
3. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) (master of
symphonies), revised his symphonies and other
works after having doubts about what he had
composed originally. Mahler kept revising his
works until his death. It must have been
frustrating to keep revising pieces that were
already published.
4. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) actually stopped
composing for about 30 years because he felt
that he had run out of new musical ideas. He
doubted his abilities to compose anything
worthwhile at the height of his popularity. He
worked on new music for those 30 or so years,
sketching his ideas during the day and
throwing them away every time. That is some
very serious frustration!
Beethoven began composing again in 1817.
Many of his most important compositions are
from this last period in his life. Beethoven broke
new ground and had done things never before
done in music once he began working again.
Had he continued to let the frustrations of his
deafness paralyze him musically, Beethoven
would not be as highly regarded as he is to this
day.
After the twenty-one (21) period of composing
his first symphony, Brahms felt relieved. The
shadow of Beethoven was lifted enough to
allow Brahms to move forward. He finally found
a way to move on and deal with his
frustrations. He completed his next symphony
in less than one year.
Frustration can be help you or hurt you
depending on how you deal with it. As you can
see, Beethoven and Brahms eventually found
positive ways to deal with their frustration and
overcame it. Unfortunately, Sibelius never did.
He is perhaps the most extreme example of a
person who let frustration destroy him
musically. Sadly, he died without finishing any
substantial music compositions during the last
30 years of his life!
When I was a teenager, some friends of mine
(all guitar players) and I went to see Yngwie
Malmsteen perform in Chicago. After the
concert had finished, some of my friends made
comments about how they felt depressed after
hearing Yngwie and that they just wanted to
quit playing guitar completely. We were all
young and knew how much better Yngwie was
as a musician than we were. The main
difference between their reaction and mine was
they let their awe for Yngwie frustrate them to
the point of feeling hopeless in their efforts to
become better players. Many of my friends
stopped playing their guitars for several days,
one of them actually did quit completely.
My reaction to the event was quite different. I
used my awe for Yngwie as a massive positive
inspiring force. I was so inspired that I went
straight home and practiced through the night
until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.
The point here is not to seek to avoid
frustration, but to use it to your advantage. I
have always turned my own musical
frustrations as the biggest source of
motivation. I was always looking for other
players to jam with that were better than I was.
Of course that was easy to do when I was a
beginner and became increasingly more
difficult over the years that followed. I got a lot
out of those experiences.
In a past article I wrote on perseverance, I
wrote of the importance of believing in yourself
and not giving up. I don't want to be too
redundant here, but those points are worth
mentioning briefly again.
Too often players don't ever reach their own
potential because they feel they couldn't
measure up to other players or their own
expectations. Why compare yourself to others.
Does it really matter if you are, or are not, as
good as someone else? Of course not. Music
should not be thought of as a competitive
sport. It is, and should be, an art. All that really
matters is how well you are able to express
yourself. Therefore the only question should be
this: Do you currently have the skills to express
yourself fully in music?
As much as I have never liked or respected
Nirvana's singer/songwriter/guitarist Kurt
Cobain, I must admit that he was able to
express himself fairly well. Despite the fact that
Kurt's musical skills were primitive and very
limited, one could hear his personality come
through his music. It didn't matter that he was
not a good guitarist. It didn't matter that his
knowledge of music theory was probably close
to zero. It also didn't matter that he played out
of tune and had an absolutely sloppy guitar
technique. Fortunately for him, what he wanted
to express didn't require any of the skills that
most musicians generally consider to be good
and necessary. Had Kurt wanted to express
anything more significant or complex he would
have been extremely frustrated because he
didn't have a lot of musicianship skills beyond
what could be heard in his music. So in the end,
it worked out well for him and my guess is that
he probably wasn't very frustrated with himself
musically because he wasn't trying to be a
better guitarist, songwriter or singer than
anyone else. He didn't make those types of
comparisons between himself and the rest of
the music world.
This is, in my opinion, the only significant thing
to that we can all follow. Of course Kurt
Cobain's approach to not caring about those
comparisons is certainly not a new idea,
countless others before and after him have also
done so. He is used here as an example
because most everyone during our time knows
him.
In my own life, the thought of quitting guitar
early on did occur in my mind (although never
very seriously). As a teenager, I too was
frustrated when I thought I may never become
a virtuoso guitarist (like Yngwie or Jason
Becker) and may never become a master
composer (like Bach or Chopin). When I
stopped trying to compete with everyone else
and made new goals of self-expression,
everything changed. I stopped making
comparisons to other guitarists, composers
and songwriters, because with my new goal,
those comparisons did little or nothing to serve
my new quest to simply express myself fully
through music. I felt liberated from the burden
of having to compete with the rest of the world.
Beginning in the early 1990s, my only focus
was on gaining more of the skills, tools, etc.
that I would need to express what I had inside
me.
In my case, what I want to express does
require a high level of guitar and compositional
virtuosity, musical complexity and integrity, etc.
Because I need those skills, my journey to
reach a higher level of musicianship has taken
a lot more time, effort, studying, etc. than it did
for someone like Kurt Cobain who had very
different needs to express himself than mine.
Most musicians who will read this will have
much greater musical ambitions than Kurt
Cobain and so for you, you will feel frustrated
whenever you feel limited by your abilities. The
key is to use that as a positive force in the form
of motivation and inspiration. Masters of all
types of art have gone through what you are
going through. Today you are at whatever skill
level you are at. Through your frustration and
motivation, you will eventually reach your
current goals. As you reach those goals you
will probably still feel frustrated because your
desire to improve even further will make you
establish new goals for yourself. And so the
cycle will go on and on. But you too are
progressing and improving on and on.
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