Musicians who are better than you hold a valuable key. They are a magnificent resource of technical and intellectual learning power. Of course, this is common sense in any field you are trying to grow skilled in. And this is why I bring this up. It is especially important in the field of being a musician. So why is exposure around the experts so necessary?

They advance your level of skill.
No matter what level of skill you are at any instrument, you can always learn something new. Even just when you think you are as good as you are ever going to be, someone who is still of a higher level can make all the difference. Even if they play a different style than you, simply observing their own techniques can reveal a whole new area of skill for you to take on.

They evolve your level of inspiration.
There is always bound to be a time when you grow a bit dull on how to keep yourself growing in your musical talent. But hanging around a higher level musician can instantly reap all kinds of ideas and motivation to want to be even better. It could be simply watching them play. On another level, it could even be a lecture or casual conversation about their own personal thoughts about playing. The point is to take advantage of these conversations as an intellectual and even emotional resource for your musicianship.

They open you up to new ideas.
I know people who have begun to close their mind to new methods of guitar playing, genres, and various other areas that could revolutionize their natural talent had they invited them into their world. But if they were to hang out with their favorite guitarist for just one day, I can bet you they will open up their mind to things they never realized before when it comes to their own style of playing. Needless to say, this area of being a musician is a very important one.

They teach you how to be a teacher.
Many of us naturally don’t imagine ourselves teaching music in the future. Why? Maybe it’s because we don’t even know where we would begin. Teaching seems to bear a whole different slate of ideas apart from simply learning and playing. That is until you’ve injected the ideals of teaching during the time you’re actually growing as a musician yourself. One of the most effective ways to become a musical teacher lies within the realm of modeling the expert. If you model an expert as a teacher, their teaching can naturally inspire your own ability to teach after them.

Don’t insist you are the cream of the crop. There is always someone out there who is better than you. If you bask at this idea, you’ll limit yourself tremendously. Instead of loathing the idea of being “schooled”, use every advantage to expose yourself to an expert’s arsenal of knowledge and wisdom. Go out and seek an expert in your area. Make a new friend out of them. They don’t have to be recruited into your band or vise versa. This is simply about realizing that having a mentor as a musician is not only good, but is critically necessary for every area of your current and future musical ability.