We all have limitations. Some of us are better singers, some of us are better at pulling off a difficult solo, some of us are better at relating to the audience. The hardest thing to do as a musician is to recognize the limitations you have as well as your strengths. As a gigging musician you often learn to overcome some of your limitations. The hard part is dealing with the ones you can’t over come, at least right now.
Let me give you a good example. I know people who will play songs they they personally love, hell even most audiences love them. The problem is, these people cannot play or sing the song quite well enough ( in my opinion)to be performing it live. When this topic of discussion comes up the response is often ” it’s a good song and people love it so we have to play it”. OK, people love the recorded version, people love a good cover of it, but if you aren’t pulling it off well, whatever the problem may be, it is still unpleasant and people will not like it.
I wrote a post recently about how I just can’t nail down slide playing. As a result I do not play anything that requires me to play a slide part. I will leave it to another guitar player or play something that sounds similar without the use of a slide. I am working on overcoming this but in the meantime I am not going to subject people to the howls and screeches that come out of my guitar just because I want to play Freebird.
Adapting and overcoming limitations in your life and your music is a constant struggle. Practice will help you tackle most challenges and after that you’ll just have to realize what you are and aren’t as a musician. Remember, it’s not about what you want to do or play but what will make the audience happy that ultimately will make you a more successful musician.
Scott
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