[Transcript]

Hey, guys!  Welcome to the YouTube channel of the School of Feedback Guitar.  If you dig book reviews, book reviews for learning how to play an instrument and making it easier to play, I would highly recommend subscribing.  I will be doing a bunch of book reviews in the near and far future, but for today, I'm going to be doing a book review of possibly one of my favorite books on learning to perform and performing well called, "The Inner Game of Tennis."
 
Okay, this is a classic, classic book on performance psychology.  Absolutely classic, and remarkably little to do with tennis in this book.  There are all these sorts of things about the --  So, yeah, there are parts of how you play tennis, "This is how you swing a racket...this is how you do a backhand."  Whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right?  But that's not what this book approaches.  This book approaches more of the mental side of playing and it applies to music just as well as it does to tennis and really serious.

One of the great and central tenets of this book that I think is worth noting is that there are a couple of different mindsets that we can get in when we're performing or playing music.  If we're not thinking about performing and not thinking about playing music while we're doing it, then we really feel free.  We feel in the zone, and that's, according to Timothy Gallwey, who is the author of this book, says, "That's when self two has the controls."  

Now, self one is a little bit more of a brat.  That's like the side of brain that's just like, I suck at guitar.  I'm not doing this right.  Why aren't I playing better? Etc., etc., etc."  And whenever I feel like I'm doing that in my mind, I'm playing really, really badly.  I'm not trusting --  I'm not doing anything correctly.  It doesn't feel good.  Other people might like it, but it doesn't feel good to me.

Well, he makes a really good point in this book that there's a separation between those two places and if you can channel and go to the place of self two, which is more trusting, which is more open, and it's just --  I don't know how else to describe it.  It's almost impossible to describe what it's like to be in the zone.  If you can be in the zone more often during your performances, you're going to have a more enjoyable time.  

So, The Inner Game of Tennis is all about that.  It's about that.  It's about getting more of a flow state in your music, or even your sports or anything that you do where you "perform."  You might not even perform on a stage necessarily.  You might perform in a lesson.  

If you're taking guitar lessons, for example, and you want to do better in your guitar lessons; you want to play for your teacher better in guitar lessons, but feel like your brain is just too active, get this book! This book is amazing!

I think this book is incredible for practically all levels of guitarists from beginner to advanced.  I'd say this book is just incredible.  The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey.  Amazing, amazing book!  Just get it.  Just read it, and enjoy it.  It is a wonderful thing.

So, yeah, that's all I've got for this book review.  I hope you liked it.  Feel free to subscribe if you dig these sorts of reviews and you want to find more books to read that are going to help you get better at guitar or music or sports or whatever it is.  Feel free to subscribe!

And, of course, it would be great to hear from you.  Please feel free to leave a comment or something.  I'm going to write back.

So, yeah! Thanks again, and have an excellent rest of your day! Bye for now.