Adam Rafferty’s Blog – Guitar and Spirit

Keeping Promises to Yourself

One of the most positive, affirming things you can do is keep promises with yourself.

Be clear with yourself at the onset of any goal you set. If you plan do do something, see it through to completion; if you don’t plan to do it, don’t even get started!

There is a hidden benefit in the completion of tasks you set for yourself, whether they are small or large. This benefit extends past the task itself.

Every time that you follow through on a promise to yourself, you get an enormous self esteem boost. This self esteem boost is the inner voice saying “I am a winner!” This is very healthy.

You will actually experience an endorphin rush through your body and get addicted to this wonderful inner drug! You’ll become addicted to the “I am a winner” feeling and want to repeat it again and again.

Your goals can be small such as committing to a single task that you will follow through on today – “I will jog for 30 minutes tonight”. It can also be a large project, and you can commend yourself each time you chip away towards it’s completion. It may not be finished, but by taking a step closer your inner voice knows you are a winner.

Following through on what you say you will do builds your “foundation” and character from the inside out. No approval from anyone else can give you this, no money can buy this, it has to be cultivated and earned within. You wll approve of yourself, build your winner mentality thereby becoming magnetic to others.

On the flip side, when you make promises to yourself that you don’t keep, your inner voice says “I am a loser.” You come to know yourself as someone who does not follow through, and this builds a failure mentality. This is not good for self your esteem.

A negative inner dialogue and self interpretation will then color your future aspirations and hang over you like a dark cloud with feelings like “I never accomplish anything” and so on. Stay away from this like the plague!

So – I am very careful about what I promise myself to begin with…I don’t promise things to myself like “I will run 10 miles every day” simply because I know if I don’t keep my promise I’ll put my self esteem in the gutter. I can promise myself that I will run 3 times a week, or more.

You can start with very small things like “I commit to practicing guitar for 15 minutes tonight.” When you wake up the following day, you will feel that you followed through, you will experience a self esteem boost, and you are in a far better position to achieve more – because you activated the “I am a winner” feeling to which you’ll be addicted.

Now…get to work!

Cause and Effect

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

I just finished reading “The Master Key System” by Charles F. Haanel on my iPad. Apparently this book inspired Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard and build a tiny little company called Microsoft.

I enjoyed this book very much and plan to read it over and over regularly. The book was written before “self help” and “law of attraction” were an industry…so there is a seriousness and passion in the delivery of this information. Charles Haanel was not seeking to be a Guru – he was seeking to convey information about which he was passionate.

The writing style is very early 20th century and almost technical. It is not a warm and fuzzy read, but as you get in deeper, it shows a deep reverence for the magical process of bringing things into the physical world through use of the mind. About halfway through, I found the book to be a very spiritual book indeed!

The main idea in the book is that every effect in our lives is brought about by a cause. Preceding that – the first cause of anything is the thought in our mind. When we impress the thought of our mind on the unseen substance of the universe, we then get the effect.

As I read, I studied events and achievements in my life over the last few years and determined that what has gone well, been successful and brought me happiness.

Then I asked myself “are these things causes?” Actually the answer is no….the touring, the income, the friendships, the happiness, the satisfaction and excitement for ongoing achievements are all effects.

So what are the causes?

Meditating, practicing guitar, creative thinking, contacting people and being in touch, producing CDs, DVDs are casues…and they all start as thoughts.

Pesitive effects are delicious, like chocolate ice cream. Causes take work and brains and may not feel fun all the time.

Any person can see effects…it’s like looking in the rear view mirror. Many people deal with effects but not causes. It takes a creative person to pay attention to causes through their own thought.

My new axiom is to work on “causes” every day, and to always ask myself “am I working on cause or effect?”

What Do You Spend Your Days Doing?

By Adam Rafferty 3 Comments

Greetings friends. Top o’ the morning to you!!! 6:14 am…thunderstorm outside. Coffee brewing…it’s a great day!

Recently a fellow musician was asking me about how I have produced DVDs, CDs, booked tours and basically been a productive musician.

He himself is an awesome guitarist, so musical talent and skill wasn’t the issue at all. However, he found himself running from gig to gig hurriedly, and was curious about lessening the “craziness” in his life and accomplishing more meaningful things musically, financially and spiritually .

He flat out asked me “What do you spend your days doing? What does a day in the life of Adam look like?”

Great question, and I hope you enjoy the answer.

I feel as though through my 20’s and into my 30’s I had a tricky time navigating “making a living” much the way he did. Not just money-wise, but making for myself a life of quality, fulfillment, and happiness in general.

I very much hope that anyone reading this (particularly younger musicians starting a career) will get the most usable, most important piece of info they’ll ever get…right here.

I say this not out of arrogance or self importance, but out of respect for the information itself, which I did not create! I have been fortunate over the past few years to have learned “sacred information” taught by wise men for generations.

Ready, set, here goes. This will take some work.

1. Determine your life’s main objective.

2 Write down 5 to 10 goals you’d like to achieve.

3. Determine the ONE of the 5 goal that is the most important, the one will have the most impact on your life.

4. Fully visualize its completion with absolutely no concern of how to do it. Know unfailingly that once you see it in your minds eye, it is achieved.

(The sky is the limit by the way.)

“What? That’s it?” you ask. Yes – but in this tiny answer runs a depth too vast to explain in a short post!

To visualize something not yet here, to use the imagination faculty is planting the seed of great accomplishment in your life.

Many will tell you to “be realistic” and look what’s around you. Frankly, if you are looking at what’s around you, you are seeing the “past”, the end of the life cycle of creation.

It takes enormous courage to look into yourself and set a goal. Size is not the issue – you can visualize a penny or a million dollars for example. Visualizing them costs nothing except your time and effort – same energy required!

When you decide clearly what your goal is, your daily activities then support the goal, the vision, the objective. You become a 24/7/365 problem solving, goal achievement machine.

Any creation requires a plan. I love to use mundane, everyday examples. Take for example a Thanksgiving meal, and let’s walk through the visualization and manifestation.

The visualization comes first. Let’s say you want the following on the table by a given time: turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, rolls, gravy, vegetables, and something to drink – let’s say wine for grown ups and juice for kids.

Then – all actions lead to the goal, but please meditate deeply on the fact that the end vision came first, and the actions come after the vision of completion. These actions may include making a list, shopping, chopping, buying utensils, inviting people over via phone & internet, defrosting items, and planning a coordinated cooking schedule so everything is served hot at the same time.

Do you see that the full visualization of the end result informs the actions? Seeing the end makes you into a mechanism to achieve the end objective and pulls you to the vision, every time, without fail. We do this constantly in everyday life. It’s a natural law – like gravity.

Every single time I travel by plane, I think of the Wright Brothers, who did the same thing. It took incredible vision before anyone had flown, for 2 guys to see this possibility and not give up until it was reality.

The common person can say “planes, yeah whatever” because they only have the strength to look at what is – which is already the past. To say “yeah whatever” to planes is easy, lazy and what most common people do.

To look into your own life, with imagination and create and do what the Wright Brothers did is the mark of greatness.

To then see this in action, you will realize – it’s not about the goal itself. To see the Divine Laws in action and bring your visions to you is the most fulfilling thing in life…breathtaking. Through achievement, you grow spiritually and see with new eyes.

So to answer my buddy’s question “what do you spend your day doing?”, I review goals, determine the most important, and then get to work on finishing them.

Even if you work a regular job, have kids, or go to school – you can still set a goal and choose the most important one, and visualize it’s completion.

Homework Assignment…don’t read it, do it!!!

1. Determine your life’s main objective.

2 Write down 5 to 10 goals you’d like to achieve.

3. Determine the ONE of the 5 goal that is the most important, the one will have the most impact on your life.

4. Fully visualize its completion with absolutely no concern of how to do it. Know unfailingly that once you see it in your minds eye, it is achieved.

The Pinky Finger and the Sistine Chapel

By Adam Rafferty 2 Comments

If you’ve ever recorded in a studio, either solo or a band you probably know that you get to know every nook, cranny and mistakes of your own recordings better than anyone else.

It’s the audio version of when people look in the mirror and see every fault, pimple, and anything that looks different from a Hollywood actor. Some of the most beautiful men and women in the world always feel like they are falling short – looks wise…crazy, huh?

A very close friend of mine who is a fine painter told me once that she’d see aspiring artists in the Sistine Chapel in Rome doing painting studies of Michaelangelo’s works…and missing the point. They’d have an angel’s pinky finger perfectly copied, but miss the fullness of the body of the angel, and miss the entire composition that the angel was part of – the Sistine Chapel!

So attention to detail is very important…but it has to be met and balanced with attention to the big picture…in visual art maybe it’s stepping away from the canvas (or ceiling) and looking at the whole. As a jazz player it’s about forgetting the cool licks and lines and listening for sound and groove (music)…and as a studio musician and producer – it’s about NOT listening to your recording 24 hours a day so that you can actually hear it with fresh ears!!!

The other night a good friend, Joel Martin (genius pianist & composer IMHO) came over and I played him the Michael Jackson solo guitar tribute CD I have been working on. I had not listened for a few weeks, in order to give my ears a rest.

Magically – everything that sounded like a “blemish” or imperfection to me when I listened to it over and over in the studio – vanished and what was “front and center” was melody, groove and tone. With fresh ears, I got to enjoy the big picture. What’s really nice, is that if I like it, I have confidence that others will too! 🙂

During the recording process, I had my trusted team listening to my MJ takes – 3 musicians and 2 engineers. All of them have great ears and recording experience, giving me their input on which takes grooved best, which takes had “life” and even advised on the order of the songs. They helped see the big picture in case I was focused on details like quieting clicks and scrapes! 🙂

If you are recording yourself, or even preparing for a show – find someone whose opinion you truly trust, and let them give you input on how to improve. They may give you some very interesting advice. You may be looking at the detail of the “pinky finger “, and they’ll gently remind you of the big picture – “the Sistine Chapel.”

The Bandstand is Sacred

By Adam Rafferty 4 Comments

Last night I played one of my venues in Austria that I first played 14 years ago…it’s a modest place….just a schnitzel, beer and good time music spot for touring acts.

It’s insane to think I stepped in that same room 14 years ago on my first European tour!

In preparation for last night’s gig, I made a list in the hotel of a bunch of tunes I either have not played recently, have not played yet, or new ones I wanted to try out.

My attitude for a moment, was that since this wasn’t a “serious” concert hall gig I could try things out and experiment.

But wait – there’s a flaw in that kind of thought…because that’s like saying “these people” in the audience don’t matter as much as “other people” in a concert hall.

Basically that’s like saying “you don’t matter”. What if you were one of the people at last night’s show, and what if I took that attitude?

As the place filled up, I saw longtime fans and friends in the room and knew they came for a great show. My adrenaline started pumping. I often think of the Billy Joel lyric to Piano Man – “he (the bartender) knows that it’s me they’ve been coming to see, to forget about life for a while.”

Like a bull that sees a red cape waving, when I see an audience, I know there is no holding back, there are no more excuses, there is nothing short of giving 10,000%! Life is not a rehearsal. Bullshit walks. Excuse my French.

The stage is the final destination for which all the sacrifices, hard work and practice hours have been put in. To squander it on “trying something” instead of really “doing something” is a waste IMHO. This is where the world class performance goes down. Not sometime in the future – but RIGHT NOW.

By the 3rd tune in to my first set, the sweat was dripping, I was soaked. I saw people out there grooving. I pulled out all the stops…humor, beatbox, chops, beauty of sound and a blues feel from hell. Of course I played the heaviest and sweatiest groove I could muster up.

I take no prisoners…I play as if it’s my last gig on planet earth, and I give thanks each and every time for the opportunity to have this blessed life of playing music. When I finish the gig and take bows, I give thanks to God, The Universe, my musical fathers and the audience again and again.

Slam dunks baby – in your face! 🙂 That’s the attitude.

What a night it was…it felt so good, so right to give give give to the audience, to bring these people joy, and it was a magical night.

And then I thought back to my mentor, Mike Longo and all the other jazz mentors…and they always said that “The Bandstand is Sacred”. Now I understand even more what he meant.

Being on the bandstand means it is time to “hit” – not to try things, not to experiment, not to give anything short of 100%, ever.

Every gig counts.
Every time you play music it counts.
Every one who listens to you counts – the most!

Music is as “serious as a heart attack”. If you are not serious about it, move over – because I am, and I’ll run you over.

The Bandstand is Sacred

I’m glad it was taught to me, over and over – and I am glad I remembered that last night.