How to be a Healthier Musician This Year!

Is anyone reading this as obsessed with Schitt's Creek as I am? I feel like I started this show being like “ok moderately funny” and ended it being like “what will I do with my life now that I can’t watch all my new weird best friends being humans!!” If you haven’t seen it, basically a super-rich family loses all their possessions and house and end up having to move to a super small town called Schitt’s Creek the family originally bought as a joke. Random and weird things are constantly being thrown at them, but watching the characters interact with everyone and everything that happens is just great and you end up loving everyone in it.

As musicians, “goal setting” in the new year can feel a bit like Schitt’s Creek. Like you can set out for things to be a certain way, but there are a ton of factors (like different people, the music industry, bands, and gigs), you can’t control because music is so based around other people.  Like I could decide how much I would practice each day, but couldn’t decide to almost fall off the stage while trying to turn on my looper pedal (sadly there was no moshing crowd there to catch me :( ). Music and shows are so unexpected so we must prepare for these things people!

It’s really easy to then let uncontrollable things affect your positivity and outlook on music. Because of this, I think it’s really really important as a musician to have a healthy mindset so you can move forward in becoming a better guitarist and more importantly, have fun playing music!

In this blog, I wanted to give you some of the top things I have found important for a musician to stay healthy both mentally and physically and not get burn out/ get down on themselves/ keep going!

1. Learn things that make you happy

It’s easy to think that as a guitarist, there are certain things you have to learn to be good, but I really think if you stick to learning licks and songs you genuinely love, you will end up better off! You will get in the bands of the style of music you like, find other people who love the same music as you, and when you are playing the song that fits your style, you will feel a lot more comfortable with the licks that sound good in that style.

2. Exercise

I may or may not be a Pilates instructor on the side ;) but exercise is a serious stress reliever and as a guitarist, it’s important to stay strong because traveling, lifting gear, and standing playing/ hunching over your guitar and playing can take tolls on the bod! As a guitar player, strengthening your abs is really important because it helps you to have better posture and will help your back stay healthy over the years. It also helps you maintain a healthy attitude and get those endorphins! If you don’t currently work out, even just taking a 20-minute walk each day can make a big difference.

3. Have fun playing

One might think I wouldn’t need to say this, but when you are thinking about staying with the band, getting solos and chords right, trying to find a record deal/publishing deal, booking gigs to make enough money, dealing with stage fright, playing with a band that doesn’t build you up, getting worried whether you are “good enough” or getting stuck playing alone in your room all the time, it can chip away at some of the joy that comes from music.

For me, a lot of the most fun, exhilarating, and connecting times of being a musician come from just playing with people I like and making music that’s fun! I love any gig where I feel like I can interact with the people watching or the people I’m playing with have fun energy on stage. Even really lame gigs can be super fun because you have more funny and weird stories to share later and meet the most unexpected new friends. I love that about music! My grandparents used to always say, “if you don’t like something, then quit!.” Life is too short to worry too much about guitar or putting yourself in situations that don’t bring you joy!

4. Create a Community

If you don’t have a community of people who you play music with currently, finding one can feel a little intimidating! You can check out my blog here for tips on how to find other musicians to jam with!. It’s so worth the time put in creating relationships with people who keep you inspired and help spur your creativity! 

5. Reflect on your successes 

It’s easy if you are a perfectionist (guilty!) to get overly focused on the 4 bars out of an entire song that didn’t go exactly as planned, rather than the whole set that went amazing. With guitar, there are just going to be times you are more on your A-game than others. Trying to think about the people you interacted with, the things that used to be difficult on guitar but now you never think twice about them, or that fact you got to play a gig at all is a lot more conducive to fueling your passion for music than constantly beating yourself up. You are your own worst critic and at the end of the day, no one in that audience is going to be kept up at night thinking about you hitting a “wrong” note! 

I hope these quick tips helped you as you are looking back on your year and thinking about what you want your new year to look like in regards to playing music! I think by staying positive about yourself and situations, you can truly make any experience into something fun, memorable, or something you can learn from. Thank you so so much as always for reading!