3 Tips to Practicing Every Pro Knows

Each page needs to address a specific problem and give a solution with something fun to learn and play:

First up, thanks for taking the time to check this series out.  I think you will find this 3 part series is going to get you excited about playing the guitar and seeing some real results!

So let's jump right in.  We are going to work on creating a mindset where we want to play guitar.  Where we want to pick it up and practice.  How do we do that?

By working through a system that gives us immediate results and is not too difficult but also challenging enough that we feel good about what we are accomplishing and how we are progressing.  Most importantly, it needs to be fun!

How do we create fun?

Songs 🙂

But not just songs, songs that are wrapped up in technique and theory and the things that will make you fee like you are growing.  Not just learning songs.  But of course what fun would it be to learn guitar and not play songs?  It is the main reason most of us pick up the instrument in the first place.  So my job is to introduce songs in a way that has us moving forward in all the important  areas of guitar (technique, growing our chord vocabulary and strum patterns, etc) meanwhile learning a cool song you can play for yourself and others.  And of course challenging enough to make us feel great about our playing but not frustrating 🙂

Thank you for your coming along on this practicing for results journey with me 🙂

You may want to check your email spam folder to be sure the extra material gets to you!

Part 1 (Other Parts will be other pages but for now will be on this page while I sort out ideas)

The Breakdown and it's importance to Making the most of your practice time

Something I need to think about:  It seems to me like all 3 parts (breakdown, consistency and Staying in Control) all fall under the Making the most of your Practice time.  But not necessarily.

Here is the lesson to learn:  when we break parts down it may seem like it will take longer to practice and get the song but it is actually the opposite.  By breaking it down you will absorb it quicker and are more likely to retain it when you return to practice.

And remember we are into creating a mindset but it will happen on it's own.  We will want to practice because is fun.  And it is fun because we see results quickly 🙂

So now I prove this with a great breakdown -  keep it short and easy

Breaking Things Down

This part cannot be overstated.  You must break everything you practice down into the smallest part possible.  At first it will seem as though it will take forever to learn this way but I can promise you it is probably the single most important practice tip pros do every time they sit down to practice something new.

The Lesson:

Ideally a good breakdown on a riff or song that might appeal to a lot of different people and different levels.

Consistency

Now I know you are probably thinking daily practice and of course daily practice is great but from decades of teaching I know this is not easy for most people.

So we want to focus on consistent material.  In other words if you start working on an AC/DC song today or a specific arpeggio shape, it is very important every time you pick up your guitar you play these things.  Does't necessarily mean a lot of time needs to be spent but just that you be sure to spend a few minutes on them every time you pick it up.

The Lesson:

Let us use a cool strum pattern and song with just a couple chords to get started!

Staying in Control

This is probably the biggest mistake I see students make and is certainly one of the biggest I made in my first few years of playing guitar.  I would try to play everything faster then I could.  In other words, if I could play a scale at 80 bpm but not at 85, I would practice it at 90.  What would happen?  I would be play sloppy and pick up a lot of bad habits.  So you may think,  I can already play it at 80 but not 85, shouldn't I practice it where I can't play it.  No.  And I would say, Stay at 80.

I will show the calendar method as far as working on speed.  Whether it be a scale, arpeggio, riff or song!

The Lesson: 

Focus on the calendar method for speed and a continuation of part 2.  Just slightly more advanced.  But fairly simple and easy to understand.