GUITAR
WRITE IT ALL DOWN | James Duke
I’ve always looked forward to New Year’s Day. life. I wanted new opportunities to come my attributes is our imagination. Our imagination is
January 1 can be a clean slate. An opportunity way. I wanted to record, tour, and work with how we create. It’s how we write songs, come
to reevaluate where you are at and set new famous artists and musicians. I wrote that up with hooks and solos, tones, rhythms, etc.
goals. I always sit down, take out a notebook, down. I wanted to travel to different countries It’s not just for kids to use for imaginary friends
and write down my goals and dreams for the playing music. I wrote that down. I wanted to and playing with their toys. Giving yourself
new year and beyond. I think there’s something make more money. I wrote that down. Specific the space to dream about your life, career,
to putting a pen to paper that makes it feel guitars, amps, cars, airplanes (also read as relationships, cars, and houses can change
more real to me. It also allows me to go back to saving money), I wrote that down. I wanted to your perspective and put you on a new path.
those pages and see where I’ve made progress be a much better musician than I was at the Don’t allow past discouragement to keep you
or where I need to make some changes. beginning of the year… wrote that down. from dreaming big and setting big goals.
As a musician, I’ve always tried to push myself I could go back to those pages and consider As we are beginning a new year, I encourage
with my guitar playing and songwriting. I make how to realistically achieve those goals and you to grab your own pen and paper. Sit down
it my responsibility to reimagine what a guitar what I needed to do in order to make them and allow yourself to dream a little. Who do
can do within the music I find myself playing. happen. When the next year rolled around, you want to be and where do you want to go?
In the past, however, I wasn’t much of a “goals there was still some things that I hadn’t quite Where would you like your career to be in a
guy’. I think my only goal as a teenager through gotten to yet. There were also a lot of things year? Which Hawaiian island are you going to
my early twenties was to “play my guitar”. I that had happened, goal wise, that I hadn’t vacation at this year? Do you want to graduate
reached that goal and just let the wind take even considered were those new opportunities from a van to a tour bus? Pay off debt? Buy
me wherever it wanted. It wasn’t until I realized (and gear) that I had written down at the a house? Want a 1963 Stratocaster? Need a
that I had achieved the goal of playing my beginning of the year. It was really encouraging, Klon Centaur on your pedalboard? Write it all
guitar (you’d be surprised how long it took me and sometimes a little encouragement can go down. Now go play guitar.
to figure that out) and that maybe, probably, I a long way. A lot of times it seems easier for me should set some new goals. to feel discouraged and not see all the great
st
things going on around me. This was a game
I sat down, grabbed a pen and a notebook,
changer for me. It became a tradition.
and wrote down whatever I thought of, or
had always dreamed about happening in my
As musicians, I feel like one of our greatest
January 2020
James Duke
James is a musician, songwriter, and producer from
Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Most known for playing
guitar alongside artists like John Mark McMillan, Matt
Redman, Johnnyswim, and Steven Curtis Chapman,
James also records his own music under the name
All The Bright Lights. He currently lives in Nashville,
Tennessee with his wife and 3 kids..
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