Most of us have heard of the power of being consistent in our guitar practice. You know what I mean. Practicing something EVERY day until mastered. But do you do this? I know that in the past, I definitely didn’t…
I was a maniac when I first started playing! I had no real structure to my practice. I should have purchased a guitar lesson dvd but instead I just practiced off my ear. I just put in the hours and hoped that I got better. And I did! However, there was a problem. I never practiced the same thing twice. My practice schedule changed from one day to the next. This created two major negative side effects…
1. Sore hands. For example, I would frequently go so berserk on alternate picking workouts that my picking wrist would get extremely sore. It would be so sore that I could not practice alternate picking the following day. So what did I do? I then went nuts with legato exercises. So much so that I would not be in a position to practice legato the next day. Back I went to my trusty alternate picking. Mmmm…there’s a pattern developing here. I should have taken lead guitar lessons…
2. Slower Progress. Now, don’t get me wrong. I progressed faster than any of my friends. But I definitely don’t think I progressed at my fastest possible rate. If I had practiced every day on an exercises bit by bit instead of putting in long hours on one exercise, I feel I would have progressed faster this way.
I guess the moral of the story is to temper your enthusiasm with intelligence. Let’s look at how to start to be more consistent with your practice…
***Step One***
Determine on something that you would like to master. Create it something brief such as a lick, scale or perhaps a few bars of a song.
***Step Two***
Determine on a speed goal for the thing that you have chosen. This particular will be the target tempo. Make it challenging. Something which will produce you a significantly better player once you have achieved it. Of course, you require to hold in mind the current playing level. If you are a beginner and you set a speed goal of sixteenth notes at 240bpm, you are definitely setting yourself up for a failure!
***Step Three***
Determine on how much time you’ll invest practicing the thing which you have chosen. I would recommend setting a goal of 10-15 minutes a day. A small number done every day will give you better results than hours done irregularly.
***Step Four***
Create a commitment to practice what you have chosen on a daily basis. The key is to practice it every single day until the speed goal has been reached. No excuses,no crying, no moaning, no exceptions.
***Step Five***
Acquire to function! This will be the step that requires discipline. It can take weeks or months to achieve your speed goal! Just keep in mind that anyone may write down a goal, but unfortunately VERY few folks will follow it although to completion. That’s probably why there are so many more guitar OWNERS than guitar PLAYERS. invite you to attempt this approach to guitar practice. I’ve discovered that it truly helps me, as well as I’m certain you’ll benefit from it as nicely! I found the best online guitar lessons at guitarit.com
