I dedicated all the time I had to it. The 10 hour workout was just what I put in the magazine at the time, but for me it was every waking moment.
Interpretation
Dedication to one's passion is an all-consuming endeavor that goes beyond mere appearances.
In this quote, Steve Vai emphasizes the depth of his commitment to music and practice. He suggests that the hours reported in the magazine only scratch the surface of his true dedication, which encompasses all his waking moments devoted to honing his craft and pursuing his passion for music.
In practice
During a speech on perseverance, I might reference this quote to illustrate the importance of hard work.
I think every artist subconsciously wants to evolve themselves. Sometimes they get stuck in ruts because of pop culture, peer pressure, stuff like that. But what excites me most is exploring my own musical insights and expanding upon them.
If you want to play something that you hear, you need to listen with your mind's eye. You've heard of the mind's eye, right? Your mind has an ear too. It's a kind of listening, but it's not using your ears to listen. It's listening with your inner ear, and that's what you want to translate onto the guitar.
The tone is in your fingers, not in your amp or effects.
I could never overstate the importance of a musician's need to develop his or her ear. Actually, I believe that developing a good 'inner ear' - the art of being able to decipher musical components solely through listening - is the most important element in becoming a good musician.
If you want to play something that you can't, you need to see and hear yourself doing it in your minds eye. It will start to happen
A good solo is like a book. It will start out in a phrase, it will go on in paragraphs, and then it will have a great ending.
Excellence is the best weapon against prejudice. I intend to be part of the solution and not the problem. You've just got to keep on banging out good performances.
The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors.
Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.
Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything, or creating anything. Period. If you ain't desperate at some point, you ain't interesting.
Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.
I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.
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