Law of Attraction

Discipline, Daydreaming and Your Musical Mind

By Adam Rafferty 16 Comments

Recently I read a post by Seth Godin about the “laboratory” vs the “factory” mentality and it really resonated with me.

Seth went on to encourage creativity in a laboratory / discovery / scientific spirit.

In the laboratory:

we are dreamers
we don’t know how things will turn out
we don’t know or care if we can “sell” what we are making
we may not even know what we will find
we allow time to search

The lab is all about discovery and exploration.

In the factory:

we are “task masters”
we do what works, over and over so that
we can sell more
we tighten up the speed, efficiency and costs involved with producing our stuff
we don’t waste time “searching” for a different way

The factory is about predictability and production.

As I Began to Love Myself: Charlie Chaplin on his 70th birthday

By Adam Rafferty 26 Comments

(Note – a reader just alerted me that this may have been written by Kim McMillen, and somehow was attributed to Charlie Chaplin…well, whoever wrote t – it’s awesome. Enjoy!)

As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today, I know, this is AUTHENTICITY.

As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody as I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this person was me. Today I call it RESPECT.

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow. Today I call it MATURITY.

As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance, I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens at the exactly right moment, so I could be calm. Today I call it SELF-CONFIDENCE.

A Personal Transparent Update & 2014 plans

By Adam Rafferty 19 Comments

Hey Gang!

I have been a little off the internet radar lately, and I must apologize for a lag in posts, emails, youtube videos and all that good stuff.

It has been a VERY busy time for me actually. I will quickly get you up to speed, and I promise to post & blog from the road over the next few months.

Here is the God’s honest transparent news update that I’d give you if you were drinking a coffee with me right now.

An Amazing and Creepy Coincidence

By Adam Rafferty 10 Comments

Guitarists Peppino Dagostino, Adam Rafferty, Pepe Romero and Carlos Barbosa-Lima

This is too weird. Enjoy…

When I attended the High School for the Humanities in NYC I was in the graduating class of 1986.

At the time I was a 17 year old aspiring classical guitarist, practicing hard for my first year of college in the conservatory.

A few of my high school teachers were “guitar aficionados” and one in particular, “Mr. S”, encouraged me very much. I’ll never forget when he said “You’ll be the Pepe Romero of the year 2000!” This was incomprehensible to me.

Commitment vs Flirtation

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

Hi Gang! I am back in NYC for a short breather between tours…

On the road recently someone came up to me and said “man, I worked on your version of Superstition for like 5 months and still couldn’t get it perfect.”

My reply was “only 5 months?”

I explained to him that he needs to dive in with a full ongoing commitment and not watch the clock or calendar.

Like this:

I’m gonna play this arrangement no matter how long it takes to learn and practice. If I can play one note, then I can play two. I’ll play those 2 until they sound good, then I’ll add note 3.

I’ll do a little every day and it will surely build. I’ll sand the edges, work on the groove, listen hard, and allow improvements to reveal themselves with time.

I’ll be mindful that my hands feel good and my whole body feels the groove as I play. One day it will sound good.

I’ve been “hammering” at all my guitar arrangements for the past 6 years – and there’s no end in sight.

The real issue is not about guitar….it’s about “commitment” vs “flirtation”.

I can feel in me when I “flirt” with something vs when I totally “commit.”

Things like playing chess, fooling around with electric bass or drums – and even figuring out other guitarists riffs – these are fun things that add richness to my life – but it’s flirtation.

Playing slow scales, practicing my arrangements (and now learning easy Bach Preludes on the piano) and 30 minutes a day of meditation are “commitments”.

Because they are “commitments” I can relax and breathe as I do the work.

I don’t try to practice everything in a day. I am mindful of relaxation in my hands, neck, shoulders and I don’t “overdo”. The fact that I plan to spend the rest of my life on this stuff helps me chill out!

(Please note – I am not saying you have to be a pro and spend hours a day. You can be a hobby player and commit to practicing a piece of music in the way that I am saying.)

Only after a good long period of time do results show. There’s a sweetness to knowing and feeling that I’ve (you’ve) accomplished just a little something by coming back to it again and again.

The moral of the story is….hobbies are ok, flirtation with stuff is fun and ok – but committing is also ok too.

The opposite of immediate gratification is one of the sweetest satisfactions in life! Don’t miss out.

Know where you stand – and if there something you early really want, put it in your focus and never look away! The “out projecting” of your vision will in fact, create the “thing” or experience in real life.