EP E3 Journal

[EvolvingPhoenix]

@Shannon  I've noticed that practicing guitar drains me mentally REALLY fast and I'm starting to wonder... does all the mental energy needed for practice get used up by E3's programming? Just curious if E3's playing a role in how quickly I'm getting mentally wiped out by practicing the same riff over and over?

It isn't necessarily the sub. Learning an instrument is a very demanding task for the nervous system and takes up a lot of brainpower, especially in the beginning.

Gets better with time and practice, though.

Also you might want to mix it up a bit more, maybe throw in some, *cough cough*, fingering exercises every now and again (just find the tabs for the blues pentatonic scale in the Interwebz and have a ball; you can do some serious rokkin' based on just that), and don't forget to doodle around for the heck of it every once in a while.

Actually, in the beginning, it's best to practice in stretches of 20-30 minutes max, and then take a break. Do some sit-ups or something. Sure, lotsa guys (and gals) tend to work their instruments for hours on end, but *they've been doing this shit for years*.

Thanks, Have at Ye. I appreciate you helping me grow as a musician to help realize my dream. I will take your advice and practice some pentatonic fingering exercises. Actually, I should probably learn the spider exercises again too, cause I remember doing those once. I wouldn't even strum, just let my fingers go across the neck. It would hurt so bad by the time I was done hehe.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Oh shit. I just realized, that last post was technically a new day! I keep doing that lately: posting a new day's post late into the night, after midnight.

I'll just write my post for day 38 when I wake up tomorrow. And hopefully, I'll be able to let all this go.

I just have to remind myself: I DO deserve better, in spite of everything I did wrong. And I can give myself all the love and understanding I need.

Why do I care so much whether she knows it or not? Why do I care that she thinks I deserve this judgement and treatment? Why do I care that she wouldn't treat be so cruel to herself like this if she were in my situation? Why do I care that she can't be honest, look inward and see how she herself has it in her to do the things I've done? Why do I care that she rejects the self she sees in me? Why can't I seem to just let this go? Why am I holding onto this?

I have to let it go. I have to just let it go. There's nothing I can do to change her. I have to give myself the forgiveness and understanding I've been denied. I have to learn to appreciate that forgiveness and understanding. So many people on this forum and the other I go to sometimes have been supportive and understanding, in spite of what I've revealed about myself. I need to accept that THAT'S what I truly deserve and be grateful for it. Thank you all for your support and your understanding and your willingness to keep supporting me, even knowing what I've revealed about myself. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. Your support means a lot to me.

And Shannon, thank you especially for giving me the tools I need to move forward. I don't know what I would have done without your help. One of these days, I'm going to be in a position to promote your product and bring you more business, you have my word. Even if it takes years to get there. I won't forget all you've done for me, and I will repay you.

[Shannon]

You only have the power to change yourself.

The past is done and over with.

Would you buy a lottery ticket, have it win nothing, and then focus on that ticket for months and years afterwards, lamenting that fact? Or would you accept that it didn't win, and move on - to try again, or do something else?

You are welcome. But remember, you paid for the tools - I didn't just give them to you. And it was you who had to use them, and you who had to execute them, and you who had to make the required adjustments and growth.

You have more growth to accomplish. There will be more improvement. Just focus on that for the time being. The first thing I want from you in repayment is that you achieve the goals of the programs, and the goals you have for yourself. Then you can decide about promoting my products and repaying me in some other way.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Understood. I know I can let this go. And I'm sure your product will help me do so. Thank you again. I WILL get over this.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Day 38:

Been struggling to let go of last night's issue. Took a nap with E3 playing. Had a dream where I told her the things I wish I could tell her. Woke up, forgot E3 was running, went out to do some yard work. Now I'm back in my room, running E3 all over again. I'll be running E3 to get through this, as it has proven to be effective to run as needed.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Hey @Shannon

Do you know why I have such a hard time letting this go when I've got E3 helping me out? What's standing in the way and how can I facilitate this process?

[Shannon]

Sometimes, you need patience.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Sometimes, you need patience.

Understood. You seem confident I'll get there, so I am too!

[Have at ye]

@Shannon  I've noticed that practicing guitar drains me mentally REALLY fast and I'm starting to wonder... does all the mental energy needed for practice get used up by E3's programming? Just curious if E3's playing a role in how quickly I'm getting mentally wiped out by practicing the same riff over and over?

It isn't necessarily the sub. Learning an instrument is a very demanding task for the nervous system and takes up a lot of brainpower, especially in the beginning.

Gets better with time and practice, though.

Also you might want to mix it up a bit more, maybe throw in some, *cough cough*, fingering exercises every now and again (just find the tabs for the blues pentatonic scale in the Interwebz and have a ball; you can do some serious rokkin' based on just that), and don't forget to doodle around for the heck of it every once in a while.

Actually, in the beginning, it's best to practice in stretches of 20-30 minutes max, and then take a break. Do some sit-ups or something. Sure, lotsa guys (and gals) tend to work their instruments for hours on end, but *they've been doing this shit for years*.

Thanks, Have at Ye. I appreciate you helping me grow as a musician to help realize my dream. I will take your advice and practice some pentatonic fingering exercises. Actually, I should probably learn the spider exercises again too, cause I remember doing those once. I wouldn't even strum, just let my fingers go across the neck. It would hurt so bad by the time I was done hehe.

No prob, I'm glad you don't mind me being a smartass. I'm just kinda taken back to when I took up the 'ol electric when I was 15, learned stuff the hard way.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

@Shannon  I've noticed that practicing guitar drains me mentally REALLY fast and I'm starting to wonder... does all the mental energy needed for practice get used up by E3's programming? Just curious if E3's playing a role in how quickly I'm getting mentally wiped out by practicing the same riff over and over?

It isn't necessarily the sub. Learning an instrument is a very demanding task for the nervous system and takes up a lot of brainpower, especially in the beginning.

Gets better with time and practice, though.

Also you might want to mix it up a bit more, maybe throw in some, *cough cough*, fingering exercises every now and again (just find the tabs for the blues pentatonic scale in the Interwebz and have a ball; you can do some serious rokkin' based on just that), and don't forget to doodle around for the heck of it every once in a while.

Actually, in the beginning, it's best to practice in stretches of 20-30 minutes max, and then take a break. Do some sit-ups or something. Sure, lotsa guys (and gals) tend to work their instruments for hours on end, but *they've been doing this shit for years*.

Thanks, Have at Ye. I appreciate you helping me grow as a musician to help realize my dream. I will take your advice and practice some pentatonic fingering exercises. Actually, I should probably learn the spider exercises again too, cause I remember doing those once. I wouldn't even strum, just let my fingers go across the neck. It would hurt so bad by the time I was done hehe.

No prob, I'm glad you don't mind me being a smartass. I'm just kinda taken back to when I took up the 'ol electric when I was 15, learned stuff the hard way.

At least you learned it. And while you were still young to boot! I'm 29 going on 30, and I'm only just recently learning guitar. Song by song.

[Shannon]

@Shannon  I've noticed that practicing guitar drains me mentally REALLY fast and I'm starting to wonder... does all the mental energy needed for practice get used up by E3's programming? Just curious if E3's playing a role in how quickly I'm getting mentally wiped out by practicing the same riff over and over?

Just remember that learning takes time because your brain has to make physical changes.  It requires input and rest/processing time, not just input.  

Doing too much at once can actually slow you down.  When I started trying to learn to ride my electric unicycle (Gotway MSuper V3s+ at the time, MSuper X now), I would spend hours and hours trying to do it and come home sore all over, exhausted and generally beat up (even though I never really fell off).  

Later came to find out that not only was I approaching how to learn the wrong way (nobody to teach me, so I had to stumble through figuring out how to learn to ride it alone, too), but I was actually trying too hard.  When I started using the methods I found described for how to learn to ride on YouTube, and I started doing it for less time per day (in my case it went from 2-4 hours a day to 30-45 minutes a day), I actually started learning faster because I was matching the input to the processing time available.

Hot Tip: If you're learning to ride an electric unicycle, get a shopping cart to hold on to and push around in front of you until you're comfortable not holding it!

Now, not saying that your times for practicing will be the same as mine were, that's apples and oranges.  What I am saying is... go to YouTube and find everything you can on HOW to learn to play guitar.  Learning HOW to learn something is the first step, and most people don't know that.

And never, ever give up.  You can only fail if you stop trying.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

@Shannon  I've noticed that practicing guitar drains me mentally REALLY fast and I'm starting to wonder... does all the mental energy needed for practice get used up by E3's programming? Just curious if E3's playing a role in how quickly I'm getting mentally wiped out by practicing the same riff over and over?

Just remember that learning takes time because your brain has to make physical changes.  It requires input and rest/processing time, not just input.  

Doing too much at once can actually slow you down.  When I started trying to learn to ride my electric unicycle (Gotway MSuper V3s+ at the time, MSuper X now), I would spend hours and hours trying to do it and come home sore all over, exhausted and generally beat up (even though I never really fell off).  

Later came to find out that not only was I approaching how to learn the wrong way (nobody to teach me, so I had to stumble through figuring out how to learn to ride it alone, too), but I was actually trying too hard.  When I started using the methods I found described for how to learn to ride on YouTube, and I started doing it for less time per day (in my case it went from 2-4 hours a day to 30-45 minutes a day), I actually started learning faster because I was matching the input to the processing time available.

Hot Tip: If you're learning to ride an electric unicycle, get a shopping cart to hold on to and push around in front of you until you're comfortable not holding it!

Now, not saying that your times for practicing will be the same as mine were, that's apples and oranges.  What I am saying is... go to YouTube and find everything you can on HOW to learn to play guitar.  Learning HOW to learn something is the first step, and most people don't know that.

And never, ever give up.  You can only fail if you stop trying.

Thanks Shannon. I've spent a lot of time on Youtube collecting/watching videos on how to learn without ever actually applying anything. Truth is, I never figured out what the most efficient way to learn guitar was, other than figuring out that I just need to start practicing, so I'm practicing songs. What I'm doing now is simple: practicing songs, piece by piece, until I have the songs I want to learn learned. I figure by the time I can cover Metallica's "...And Justice for All" album, my rhythm guitar and pentatonic soloing chops will be quite solid and then I could start learning how to play my own stuff with the skills acquired. There are too many videos on learning guitar that differ on how they think the best way to learn is. I haven't really quite come to an efficient model, and instead of trying to create the perfect model for learning, I'd just start playing songs and trying to perfect my ability to play them, piece by piece, song by song. So lately, I'm just practicing the same part to Thunderkiss 65 by White Zombie over and over again. Is this the most efficient learning method? Perhaps not. But it IS taking meaningful action. Still, I can devote some time to trying to find the best learning method. But I should get into the habit of playing first so I at least have the habit of practicing established first. At least that's my view. Still, I probably should try figuring out the most efficient way to learn guitar. Thank you for the wise advice.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Day 39:

It seems to be a pattern lately where I'm good throughout my day and then towards the very end of it, I'm bothered by my past again. I'm just lying in bed playing E3 in response to this. I'm deeply hurting and just playing E3.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Day 40:

Just woke up. My sleep cycle's kinda f****d atm.

So nothing to report just yet.