Many of us freak out about how we can't play as fast as Paul Gilbert or why our alternate picking isn't as clean and fast as we'd like or how we don't have the musical depth and complexity of Holdsworth or why we aren't just as good as we'd like to be in general. i know, because not only do i get many emails asking advice about how to pick properly or get a guitar sound or develop left hand strength or any one of a host of other questions.

Now i certainly do not mean to trivialize any of this. As guitar players, this stuff is important to us. Very important. i write this because many of us really truly freak out and get depressed that we can't do something like someone else. But i have to tell you, diligent reader, that it ain't worth it.

Life is so short and so fragile and we really take it for granted until something bad happens. How good your alternate picking is, for example, means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Nothing. Take joy in the fact that you are even blessed enough to be mentally and physically healthy and able to play the guitar, let alone have any amount of skill at it. Take your time. Enjoy it. It's not a competition. Music is the most beautiful form of expression and communication of the human race and is immensely powerful. It transcends spoken language. Think about it; how many times have you heard a certain song and it just put you right back in our mind to a time and place before. Believe me, i know from first hand experience how healing music can be. i am so blessed and happy to be able to have music in my life. Not only is it a cool thing, but it has really saved my life on more than one occasion. Literally.

Remember also to never, ever, let someone make you feel bad about yourself or what you do. You'll grow up fucked up.This is mental abuse and even more damaging sometimes than someone beating you physically. You do not have to take it. Ever.You are an artist, not simply a guitarist. Treat yourself like one. Take pride in your playing and in yourself no matter what level you're at or what you think you still have to learn. Many people, including many parents, look down on musicians and think of music as a little novelty thing and certainly no career choice. Even if it's your own parents telling you this, fuck them. You are your own person and have every right to make your own decisions, even before you can legally move out of your parents house. Every right. Music is a hard life but if you truly have it in your heart and can think of no other thing you could possibly do with your life, do it. Be passionate about it. Throw yourself into and don't take any negative crap from anyone about it.

Now, as artists, we are the vanguard of society. In other words, we-the musicians and writers and painters and dancers who are generally criticized as "soft" or "weird" are the very people who have the courage, intelligence and vision to go off into that uncharted territory that no one has been to and where they all fear to go. Then we bring back the knowledge of it to the rest of the average people and increase the boundaries of the human race. Think about it. Where would science be, for example, without science fiction.

Again, always feel good about yourself and what you do. Don't EVER stuff all the negative crap that people say down inside you. Believe in yourself and tell them to fuck off.

Here's what i want you to do tonight: get your guitar. For me an acoustic works better. Don't think about all the technical stuff and how fast you can play. Just sit quietly and strum some major chords, in a progression that feels good to you. While you're doing it, i want you to think about how blessed you are right at the moment to be able to mentally and physically do what you're doing, even if there's other bad crap happening in your life it could be worse. Believe me. i want you to think of all the people you love and all the things you love to do. Really think about them. i want you to breathe in and out and rejoice at how lucky you are to be here and how healthy you are, with alot of life ahead of you. We all have problems but they are really only temporary and not so important in the bigger picture. Thank God for the good things you have. Just take a few minutes and let all the worries go and all that anxiety flow away, if even for just those few minutes. Anxiety will rule your life if you let it. Believe me, as sure as you read these words. You can't even imagine the depths to which you can sink and thank God you can't. Then, either tonight or tomorrow, i want you to do something you've wanted to to for a long time but always held back. It can be even a small thing like finally telling your mother you love her. Maybe it's something that you think "geeze, i feel really corny or dumb doing that". i don't care. Do it. There's nothing to stop you besides yourself. Just do it. And mean it.

Life is literally what you make it, friends. And no matter what level you're at musically or what color you are or what things you're into or what age you are, YOU are in control and you don't need to take ANY negative shit inside. Always remember that and rejoice in who you are.

For all the kind words people continue to send me about my music, playing and teaching: i deeply thank you from the bottom of my heart.

God bless, Terry