PRESENCE - Volume 47

Inspiration For Guitarists

---

Hey friends,

As the year wraps up, I’ve been thinking about a pattern I see every January.

A lot of guitarists feel motivated again — which is great — but that motivation usually turns into doing more instead of doing better.

More videos.
More scales.
More techniques.

A few weeks later… frustration sets back in.

Here’s a simple shift that actually works:

Don’t change what you practice in January.
Change how long you stay with it.

In other words — don’t spread your practice too thin.

Most players reset by chasing new material.
The players who make real progress pick a small handful of things and live with them long enough to see connections.

If you’re practicing scales, don’t add new ones — try:

• playing them in two positions instead of one

• connecting them to a chord shape you already know

• or limiting yourself to a short phrase and making it musical

Same material. Better results.

That’s the lens I teach through — focusing on a few essential systems and practicing them in a way that actually connects to music.

In early January, I’m hosting a live New Year Reset session for Essential Skills course members. I’ll also be including it as a bonus for anyone who joins the course during the New Year window.

On that call, I’ll walk through how I think about practicing at the start of a new year — what to focus on, what to ignore, and how to build momentum without overwhelm.

If guitar keeps slipping to the back burner, it’s usually not a motivation problem — it’s a clarity problem.

Talk soon,
Dustin