March 2025

Rob MacKillop is a guitarist with a great variety of experience, popular for playing classical music without nails.

As an artist I draw inspiration from other creative fields such as writing and music. There are so many parallels between the various art forms.

MacKillop inspired me with some powerful ideas in a few interviews. I watched them several months ago and have been affected by them since. I just re-visited them and found even more good advice than I remembered finding the first time. Here are the interviews with some quotes and paraphrases of my key takeaways below, but there’s plenty more in the videos; so grab your notebook and dig in.

• “You’ve got to fall in love with music and let that be your guide . . . it’s so important that you love every note you’re playing on the guitar, and if you don’t love the notes you’re playing, why play them?” (59:20)

• “Just be yourself because if you’re not being yourself, who are you being?” (1:07)
• “The beginning point is to find a little kernel of something that is you, not to start with technique.” (2:19)
• “There’s no reason to try to convince others that what you do is great; your own voice will come through; and there are people out there who will like it.” (3:18)

• “Don’t worry about making a mistake; it’s the bigger picture, the bigger story that matters.” (55:49)
• “I didn’t mind the little mistakes he was making here and there because I was listening, not to the guitar so much, but to the story behind what he was playing.” (59:58)
• “Learn from lots of teachers. Be prepared to disagree, but don’t fight with them. Listen and absorb it all, but develop the strength to find your own way. The big journey is actually back to yourself, not out there to other people. It’s me with this box with strings on it — how can we communicate?” (1:07:02)
• “The greatest teacher you can have is the score of music. When you study technique too much you tend to coat everything in that; but if you treat the score like a unique thing in the universe and listen to what it wants, it will teach you how to play guitar.” (1:09:02)

If you’re an artist I hope you’re able to see how MacKillop’s advice strongly applies to making pictures. Artists, writers, musicians – we’re all storytellers trying to discover our identity and master our craft. Just be yourself, love what you do, and tell your story. Technique and mastery will follow.

Lastly, please do visit Rob’s personal YouTube channel and website to hear his music and learn more about him and his work.