Topic Talk #1: Musical Goals

Quick advice, tips, and tricks for improving at fingerstyle guitar, ukulele, etc.

In order to progress as a musician it is important to have clear long-term and short-term goals. This is relevant not only to fingerstyle guitarists and fingerstyle ukulele players, but to all aspiring musicians regardless of their chosen instrument or genre of music.

Figure out what your long-term goals are. Make realistic short-term goals that help you progress towards those long-term goals. In a future Tone Talk episode, I’ll talk about building a specific daily or weekly practice schedule to achieve all of these goals. In yet another future episode I’ll talk about choosing and maintaining the right repertoire to help you achieve these goals.

You can learn to play music by simultaneously using a variety of resources including teachers, online resources, and books.

My eBook: Arranging for Fingerstyle Guitar: go to http://joemcmurray.com/checkout/ to purchase a pdf of my eBook. Learning to arrange melodies will also help your fingerstyle songwriting and your understanding of the inner workings of fingerstyle guitar.

My music is available on all streaming platforms – links on my Linktree page: linktr.ee/joemcmurray

Pins on the Map: my third fingerstyle guitar album was released on January 19, 2024. Watch the first single, “Open Road,” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/uPBh8sZQsT4?si=EM_wAwnHFqU1VC9C.

Riding the Wave and Acoustic Oasis: my first two fingerstyle guitar albums.