Getting Results in Pillar #1

Total Artist Development System - Start Here

Repetition breeds familiarity. EXACT repetition, performed consistently and systematically, programs your motor memory to be able to operate on auto-pilot, forming what becomes your playing vocabulary. Everything in Pillar #1 informs and defines you as a player and what you can do on the instrument.

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The 1st Pillar of the Total Artist Development System (TADS) is entirely devoted to what informs and defines you as a player.

If we had to pick where traditional guitar lessons would fit into the scope of the Total Artist Development System, it would start and end right here in Pillar #1.

While they would only cover a fraction of the scope of Pillar #1, everything you would be looking for in guitar lessons to address strictly your guitar playing is all here in Pillar #1.

The 1st Pillar is technically where every musician's journey starts.

However, that DOESN'T mean that it's necessarily where YOUR journey starts within the Total Artist Development System.

That all depends on where you are on your journey as a musician. Musical playing skills generally DO need to be there in order to write music well, let alone doing so on the spot in real-time.

If you're new (or at least relatively new) to the guitar in general, then Pillar #1 is where you should spend most of your time at first, although there is also essential work for you to do in Pillar #2 right now at this stage as well, so that you don't fall into the common trap of just "collecting exercises" and later find yourself unable to turn anything you've learned into actual music.

By balancing the mini-pipeline of Pillar #1 → Pillar #2 with everything you do, THIS is how you avoid being stuck in that predicament.

If you've already got some experience and skill on the instrument, then you may OR may not have as much need for work within Pillar #1. It depends on what you need more focus on as you browse through the course and see where you may be lacking.

Proportionally though, Pillar #1 will almost certainly account for less of your overall strategy than if you were a beginner on the instrument, and Pillars #2 and #3 will likely take up a larger portion of your time and focus (along with some of the early planning phases of Pillar #4 as you begin formulating your vision for your future project(s)).

If you're already a skilled late-intermediate to advanced guitarist, then most of your focus will be within the other 3 Pillars. However, there's always something new you can pick up, especially within the Sequences and Scale Knowledge Onion courses, which can significantly further broaden your vocabulary, so it's strongly recommended that you read through the overall course structure and read the descriptions of each section to "shop" for areas you can improve from implementing.

Here are a few things to remember:

No single Pillar contains everything you need, period. Your focus will invariably involve at least 2 of the Pillars, minimum. This is the ONLY way meaningful musical growth can happen, when skills are not only practiced in isolation, but applied in real-life situations and incorporated into the everyday things you do in general.

There's always room for improvement, so no matter how good or how fast you get on the guitar, or how many albums you've released, there's still going to be something you can dramatically benefit from within Pillar #1.

Repetition fosters familiarity, and familiarity is the key ingredient in being "good at" something. The things you do all the time become what you're good at.

The concepts in Practicing For Results & The Top Secret Book of Practice Routines apply equally to Pillars #1 and #2, so at minimum, you should constantly be cycling between these 2 Pillars as you work to expand your musical playing abilities.

Lesson Resources

Music Career Blueprint: Overview

This is the full image of the 12 steps of the Music Career Blueprint at the heart of the Total Artist Development System. This will give you an overview of what the journey ahead of you entails so you're not going in blindly.

Click the button to open it in a new tab and read through it closely.

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Music Career Blueprint Workbook [Coming Soon]

Download and print out the full PDF so you can follow along and carry out each action step.