| | | Hey Friend,
Happy September! It's Friday again and here I am, late for the newsletter. I went to bed last night with my computer torn apart to reassemble on my desk, expecting to have everything put back together quickly. Oh, Davey, when will you learn?
The desk is new - something my wife got for me on her last expedition to Amish Country in mid-Ohio. She loves the furniture auctions and inevitably finds some cool deals on solid wood pieces. As guitar players, we can all appreciate good woodwork!
As I was trying to get my computer loaded in the side compartment of the desk, I discovered the access hole for power was half-covered by a panel holding the keyboard tray. Next thing you know, I'm hunting for tools to take it all apart and cut an access hole. Two hours later, I have a workable solution, but no working computer.
As you might surmise from receipt of this message, I did finally get the computer back in order. Not without a bunch of little side projects that distracted me from the main task at hand, though.
Focused Practice
It's not unlike sitting down to play my guitar. I grab the axe that's speaking to me at the moment and aim to practice a particular riff from a song or a speed drill. Or I might be going into a scheduled practice session and I have my agenda laid out in front of me.
I start off focused enough. Minutes into session, however, I begin to drift into noodling around the fingerboard, looking for a cool riff for an intro to a song, or maybe an interesting chord progression and melody.
I'll bet that happens to you, too. You've got your daily goal to practice your scales or chords. You set up your timer and metronome and get to work, only to jump into playing Freebird or Stairway To Heaven after a couple minutes. Heck, I got distracted watching the video links I gave you here!
It's real easy to get off track with our daily practice. Face it, playing the exercises that help us learn the fingerboard or increase our speed can be somewhat boring. Play, analyze, repeat. Kind of dull, I get it.
This type of practice is necessary, though. It is an established method that yields results. We're the stubborn ones. We're the ones that have a hard time sticking to the plan we set for ourselves.
If we hope to improve our skills, exercising a little discipline to stay focused on our practice plan is what we need to do. It doesn't have to be a chore - we can make it fun.
Break the allotted time down into 5 minute increments and set your timer. Work that exercise, and then give yourself a reward. Set the timer again and play a song for five minutes. Do another exercise, then break off and practice the song again.
You're actually achieving two things doing this - you're improving your skill, and in a round-about way you're applying what you've learned.
More Than One Way to Skin A Cat...
I'm not saying traditional practice is the only way to approach learning and improving guitar skills. But there's plenty of evidence - all you have to do is look at your favorite players. Sure, not every one followed long-established practice methods to master their craft, but the majority did it the old-fashioned way - sitting down and putting in the time working the exercises.
Let me just mention, jamming with other musicians is a form of practice, too. It's amazing how we push ourselves to improve when we know other people are relying on us to hold up our end of things. You also tend to learn a lot more about actual playing when there are other musicians around. There is a certain synergy you develop live that you just can't replicate playing to backing tracks or along with a song by yourself.
Don't beat yourself up when you find yourself off-track with your practice routine. It's easy enough to stop what you're doing and get back to the exercise at hand. Just do it.
One, two, ready...
Wait, was that a squirrel?!
Have a great weekend and Labor Day (if you're in the States)!
Peace~
Dave
P.S. No cats real or fictional were harmed during the writing of this message.
|
| |
|
