Subject: Learning and Practicing Guitar - Two Different Things
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, When you sit down to do your guitar work, how are you focusing your time? Are you using your time to learn something new, or are you practicing? Do you differentiate between the two? There's definitely a difference, and if you've never really thought about it, I'd like to have you do that now.As a guitar teacher, I get really excited teaching my students new things. This is a problem because I tend to go overboard, way past introducing concepts and basic skills. I have to repeatedly check myself with the information I'm presenting - if I don't it can be a short trip to glazed eyes and confused stares. To help keep myself in line, I've adopted a teaching system that both keeps my students focused on core fundamentals and keeps me from going off on too many tangents. I won't say the system prevents me entirely from overloading my students with information they aren't quite ready for, but it has certainly helped. Guitar Teaching "McDonald's-ized" Because of the structure of the program, I am able to present new concepts in little doses while reinforcing previously learned materials, skills and techniques. By slowing the addition of new ideas to one or two per week, it's a lot easier for students to maintain what they already know and assimilate the new information. Again, I can't say I've perfected my delivery method, but using a system keeps things a lot more consistent and me more on track. Guitar playing is a discipline that rewards repetition. It is built on patterns that repeat themselves, and with enough time and discipline applied, anyone can become a proficient player. It's the time and discipline that become the stumbling blocks for so many people that start out excited and end up quitting after a couple months of lessons. In the beginning, students can imagine themselves playing guitar with ease, but the reality of devoting real practice time to memorize the skills can tarnish that image pretty quickly. Part of the problem is most guitar teachers don't follow any type of systematized process to help their students succeed. Teachers promise to help you learn how to play your favorite songs, and that's a great marketing approach because this is what we really want - to play songs. But the reality is without learning the basics and then practicing the basics until they're something you could do in your sleep, playing songs isn't a possibility. Even when we simplify a song to easy chords and tabs, we're not helping you get any better. You're merely substituting a quick snack for the meal you imagined enjoying when you first picked up your guitar. A system keeps me on track to teach you what you need to learn in order to reach the playing goals you have. You then take what I teach you and practice it daily until it's easy for you. This is how you will progress, and this is why daily practice of repetitive patterns and techniques are so important. The great news is as these skills become part of you, you will pick up new patterns and techniques more easily. Skill acquisition is not a purely linear process where it takes you an equal amount of time and effort to master something. Guitar practicing is geometric, meaning the better you learn and memorize (both mentally and in your muscles) things, the easier it will be to build on that base. You will acquire new skills faster with less effort as your foundational skills get stronger. Practice is Mandatory I would say the key tenet behind the success of the teaching system I'm using is the insistence on daily practice. At a minimum, 20 minutes is a place to start, but 30 minutes or more per day is the sweet spot to be sure you have enough time to practice the techniques that will deliver the end results most people are looking for (namely that they can easily strum along to their favorite songs). The difference between practice suggested by most guitar teachers (if they mention practice at all) and the practice I assign to my students is linked directly to the materials we covered in the lesson that week. Because each lesson builds on the work of previous weeks, there is the potential of increasing the student's proficiency of the various techniques, providing they spent enough time to allow muscle memory to begin forming. Guitar skill mastery doesn't come from playing along to your favorite songs. It comes from practicing repetitive movements with very focused attention until they become second nature. As the patterns become ingrained in your muscle memory, something phenomenal starts to happen - the unique way your fingers fret notes or your hand mutes strings becomes a signature for you. Just like no two fingerprints are the same, no two guitar players sound the same. That "you" exclusive sound can only be brought out by practicing the fundamental skills. Embrace the Practice It's not very sexy, all this talk of repetition and daily practice. We all want to pick up guitar and play beautifully without having to put in all the time it takes to become good, but it rally is no different than any other pursuit we might have. Not one of us starts off with the "skills" to do anything except eat, sleep and cry, but we're sponges and we learn quickly. As we get older, we lose sight of the fact that we still have this ability to learn and apply what we learn. Maybe that's because we've suffered some setbacks in our lives, or maybe we weren't encouraged enough when we were young, but learning is natural for us. Practicing is where we have to embrace a little stubbornness and push past our desire for instant success. The world hasn't helped us out much with that aspect. Almost anything can be had immediately with a push of a button, but winning at the guitar game requires real work. The work is practice, and if you can find a teacher that uses a system to teach, all the better. Learn well, but then practice what you learn so it becomes yours. 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.
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