The Thing About Knowledge.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

When I was a 14 year old learning to play the guitar, there was no internet. Which meant that, if you wanted to learn a song, there were only a few ways to do it. 

You could try and learn it ‘by ear’; you could have a friend show you how (assuming you had a friend who played guitar and knew the song in question); you could buy a guitar magazine and check out the included sheet music (assuming they transcribed that specific song in that specific issue); or, you could order the sheet music and once it was mailed to you, learn it off of there. 

Needless to say, those weren’t the most efficient options - neither cheap nor easy - which is far different from today. 

Today, if you’re interested in a song, you simply go to YouTube or download one of a countless number of apps onto your phone, and in a few short minutes, be walked through and shown every aspect of the song - from the rhythm to the key riffs to every note of every solo. 

In other words, there are more resources available today than ever before when it comes to learning your favorite song or, for that matter, any aspect of the guitar. 

It’s not just the guitar, though. Pick any hobby or craft or vocation - musical or otherwise - and there are countless tutorials, lessons and courses to teach you absolutely everything about that subject. And almost always, at little to no cost. 

But, like all things in life, it comes with a catch. You have to want it. 

You have to pay attention and make the time. You have to be motivated to carve out chunks of your day and dedicate it to that craft. You have to do the hard work of studying. 

Put more simply, it makes clear what our priorities are. 

Because we no longer have any excuses - the tools and the resources are all there.  

It’s just down to whether we want to make the sacrifice to better ourselves, or whether we’d rather watch a little more Netflix.