Subject: How To Get The Most Out of Your Practice Time
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, Practice.Just hearing the word conjures images of solitary confinement in a stark room playing the same thing over and over again. Unfortunately, these types of images in our minds don't fill us with any real excitement to sit down with the guitar for our daily half-hour session. Really, why did we want to play guitar in the first place? It certainly wasn't to play scales all day long, now was it? No, we got into guitar to play music. We heard and saw our favorite band or artist playing guitar as they sang songs that filled us with the emotions of life - love, sadness, longing, excitement, anger, etc. To play these songs, we have to learn how to make good sounds come out of this instrument. And then we have to train our hands and fingers to apply this education. Practice is necessary to master the skills and techniques of playing guitar. Notice I didn't use the word "learn." Your practice time is not the time to learn techniques - it is the time to master them. Ideally, learning and practicing are separate times so that your attention is focused. I think one of the biggest reasons so many guitar players get frustrated with their progress is because...
So What Should Practice Be? When most people "practice," it means they're in a room, by themselves, playing their guitar. They don't really have a plan for what they're going to practice or for how long. They typically end up messing around with a song or randomly playing a chord progression or riff. That's not practicing - it's noodling. You won't achieve your goals by playing random things on guitar. The general guitar teacher population doesn't spend enough time discussing practice methods (myself included), so how are students supposed to know what practice is and how to do it effectively? I mean, we give assignments but don't typically direct our students with the details of the task; the number of repetitions of an exercise, the tempo and when to increase (or decrease) it, what specifically to focus on when executing the exercise and dozens of other possibilities. [Note to self: I definitely need to improve in this area with my students.] Here's an example of what practice should be: you sit down in your practice area with a specific goal in mind. The area is already prepared - metronome and timer is ready (and recording tools if you record your session), your practice notebook and a pencil is there for notes and thoughts, the guitar is tuned, you've already taken care of your personal needs, you have a clear purpose in mind (or better, written down in your practice notebook) and most importantly, all distractions have been removed! That means no people, animals, TV, phone, Facebook, Twitter, email etc. Another key ingredient to effective practice is to slow down. I think guitar players have been given the impression that speed in playing is proof of a good player. The faster they can rip up the neck, the better they must be. Don't get me wrong, I like fast shred line as much as the next guy, but shredding for the sake of fitting as many notes into a measure gets tiring to hear. I prefer a solo where the notes are allowed to breathe and capture the feel, with well executed speed riffs at the right places to create tension and movement. I want to hear the tone and sustain coming from the fingers. I want the solo to complement the song, not compete with it for attention. Slowing down allows you to focus on the subtle things like tone - ensuring your fingers are properly placed to get the best sound out of the string, just the right amount of vibrato, the correct pick angle and attack. So that you can have effective practice sessions, you need to have set some goals for yourself. Goal Setting It's a given that you need to know what the end goal is before you can create an effective plan to get there. It's pretty well established that most successful people are very goal oriented, so we should take that queue and set some goals ourselves. One of my business coaches from years back had a saying: Set a goal, create a plan, forget the goal and work the plan. The idea is that if you focus your attention on the step-by-step plans to achieve the goal, you should be able to reach it eventually. I generally agree with this approach, but obviously there needs to be some fairly regular review of your progress to make sure the plan is leading towards the goal. I suggest you work with your guitar teacher to do these assessments. It's not enough to have long-term goals. As I implied, you should also get into the habit of setting specific goals for your practice sessions. For example, let's say you want to focus on your picking speed and accuracy. You could actually set a session goal of playing a passage at a specific tempo with 95% accuracy. Record yourself so you can listen back to the performance and confirm your accuracy. The point is to look at practice as an opportunity to make improvements on specific skills and techniques, and set goals that you can measure to make sure you're achieving the improvements. Fall In Love With the Process Not everything we practice is enjoyable. Some of it can be downright boring. But like any other endeavor, you'll have things that you naturally do well and others that feel like you're dragging a log up a muddy hill. If you have set your long-term goals and your practice sessions are focused and effective, some of the more mundane drills and techniques can become a comfortable place to wind down and relax after working on a difficult riff or progression. The point is, when we use the simple and mundane exercises to help us warm up or cool down in a session, they reinforce the work we're doing and keep us prepared. But you have to get those fundamental skills down before they become foundational. This can only be done by working through the practice process. This article is getting long, so we'll come back to the topic again later. Have a great weekend! Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. If you buy a product based on my recommendation, I will receive a commission. However, my emails also contain links that don’t require any investment on your part and are jam-packed with "juicy, guitar learnin' tastiness". We don't rent or share your name with anybody. Feel free to forward this issue to any friends you think would enjoy its contents. They will thank you. So will I.
|
