If you aren’t getting the results you’re looking for, it’s not that you don’t have what it takes. While there is always a lot of hype about what to learn and what is popular to play, very little time is really spent going over practice method. This isn’t just a minor oversight. Sure, it’s critical to know what to practice. Without direction, you can’t really expect any significant progress (except for possibly becoming an expert at playing “Smoke on the Water”). What to practice can vary considerably from person to person. It’s determined by things like personal goals, learning style, interests, etc. The truth is, knowing what to practice is just the beginning and it is virtually meaningless without having a solid answer to a bigger question: “how do you practice effectively?”
Now this is a subject that I could pretty easily write a book series on – not because “I’m so knowledgeable,” but simply because there is so much that can be discussed. While every basic principle of practice method can be expanded upon endlessly, you only really need a few instructions to get you moving in the right direction. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Before the knowledge of what to practice is even useful you must know how to practice – and before knowing how to practice can be useful, you need to know how to get yourself to practice and stay practicing.
It might sound like we’re going around in circles, but stay with me. The biggest pitfall guitarists run into with practicing is the challenge of keeping up with it. This one takes a little determination and self-training, but it’s a fairly simple concept. In order for any task to be interesting it must contain two specific elements at all times. For one, it must be challenging. If you don’t feel like there is something to push you and without having some sense that you might fail, the task just doesn’t seem worthwhile. Imagine playing Checkers against a 5-year-old. If you’re goal is to win, it might be satisfying the first couple times that you play but, eventually, it is going to become mind-numbingly dull. On the other hand, what if it’s too challenging? If you’re the 5-year-old in that metaphor, all you are getting out of those games is endless frustration. There’s nothing fun about playing a game that you can’t win – over and over. So, for starters, you must be willing to set up your practice in such a way that it gives you the right level of challenge. That, in itself, is not difficult to figure out. If the practice is too easy, you will get bored. If the practice is too hard, you will get frustrated. You’ve got to find the sweet spot. One other thing. If you aren’t getting regular rewards, you just aren’t going to keep up with it. This is critical. Set small, attainable goals for yourself. Take the time to appreciate the success, no matter how small. You deserve it anyway. The more of these little successes you can accumulate, the more satisfying practice will become for you. You’ll actually get addicted to the process. And, in case you didn’t know, being addicted to practicing is basically the opposite of procrastination heh heh.
Okay, so what about actual practice method? Well, this article is getting a little bit long already…. So stay tuned and I will do a whole article dedicated to the nitty gritty of practice itself. However, as important as practice method is, remember that it is essentially useless if you don’t have a handle on what I mentioned above. So why not try getting a handle on that in the meantime here. I’ll be back with some specific tips and methods.
Dan Mumm
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