Meet Ben Howington, founder of Mormon Guitar. I was able to work with him recently and couldn't be more impressed! We can all learn something from his stories and his journey.
Q. When did music become more to you and your life?
A. Music was always a part of my life, but it wasn’t until I started MormonGuitar.com that it really became a bigger part of it. That was primarily because it was something that I had to consistently create new work every month. For most of my life, I’ve done music at my own pace. But now it’s different. I have people that are expecting something new from me every month, and it’s caused me to create some of the more creative things I’ve ever done. Lots of times before, I would have ideas for things, but ultimately would never do them. Doing Mormon Guitar forces me to come up with those ideas and figure out how I can do them. It doesn’t always work as well as I hoped it would, but sometimes it comes out better than I was expecting.
Q. You said you never saw yourself preforming, how did that come about? Did it all stem from the Deseret News Article?
A. Yes, in part. The Deseret News article is what led to the album, which led to performing. Covenant Communications had seen the article, went to the website and listened to everything I had posted, and then contacted me about making an album. I never thought that publishing that one video would lead to so many opportunities.
Q. What are your thoughts as you post a new video or walk out onto the stage?
A. I’m terrified. I never know how it’s going to go over. Sometimes what I think is good, turns out to be not so great. But that’s what drives me to not be complacent and to give it everything I have.
Q. What was one of the biggest challenges in getting to where you are?
I wanted to share this story and encouragement for all that need to hear it!
A. Myself. I had been sitting on the idea for a while. When it finally came time to hit “publish” on the first post, it was nerve racking. I put it off for a while. I was terrified of what people would think. I was terrified that I might not be as good as I thought I was and that all of my fears would be validated. Just gathering the courage to stop talking about it and just do it was the single biggest challenge. A big part of that, I think, is the world we live in. I can’t watch any music competition reality shows anymore. It’s too hard. Music isn’t a competition. Never has been. It’s a way to communicate and express yourself. It’s completely subjective as well. It’s about emotion, not skill. The most influential artists are not always the most skilled at their craft. Especially guitarists. There are people that I personally know that can run circles around me. So I stopped trying to compete with them, because again, it’s not a competition.
When I was in high school, I accidentally cut half an inch off my left index finger. That’s the single most important finger for guitar. I was crushed. I had been playing guitar for a few years already and had gotten pretty good. I though that was the end of it. After a few weeks I couldn’t stand not playing, so I picked up the guitar and for the next year taught myself how to play with only three fingers. I told myself that even if I couldn’t play all the notes, I was going to play the crap out of the ones I could. Today, I can use my index finger again, but it’s still not the same. It’s a little shorter, it doesn’t have a tip and is still very tender, so I can’t play on it for too long. I try to avoid using it when I can, which is why I use my thumb so much. Because of that, I know I’m a better guitar player. Everyone is handicapped in some way. No one is better than you are. Everyone was dealt different hands, but the same amount of cards. All you have to do is focus on what you are, instead of what you’re not.
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