RE: Practicing guitar

Anyway back to what I was saying. I want to talk about Practice. Not performing, not a show, not playing in a band.... practice. I want to talk about practice.

So if you are new to playing guitar or want to get better at your instrument I'll need 100.3 percent of your attention, if you're not a guitar player, you're off the hook this time. I was thinking how important it is to give a new technique your entire attention, means no distractions. Not only practicing it SLOWLY and flawlessly but also in time with a metronome. Do I need to mention to turn off that TV?

Patience is key. I think that patience could be the #1 thing most people struggle with. They don't want to put in the time that it really takes to truly get good and not fake it. Okay, if you feel the need to try the technique real fast, fine. Do it super duper fast or whatever and get it out of your system then get back to seriously practicing. Hey, I'm totally guilty of that at times. Just be patient. And I'm talking about being patient for months, even years sometimes. Remember, being good at something takes a lot of time a dedication. I still feel like I have a lifetime to go of learning and practicing my instrument. Hell, maybe two lifetimes!

There are a few things that I think are much more important then speed. can you think of what they might be?..............Time is up! Well I was thinking of "time" and "dynamics". Try working on your dynamics of the technique. I always start out practicing a new technique at a very loud volume. I find it easier to soften up once I feel comfortable with the playing. I have found it more difficult practicing something over and over softly and then trying to add power. As for time, practice slowly and make sure your notes line up with the click of the metronome. As you are playing the technique with the metronome work on your dynamics. Play it softly, loudly. Soft to loud, loud to soft but in time. Very important.

Get to know your strengths and weaknesses. Really try to identify and work on the weaknesses. Most of the time you may only want to work on your strengths, but it's so important to work on the weaknesses!! Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with working on the strengths (keeping the pencil sharpened), hell turn on the TV for that one if you want. But for things you want to improve on or start to learn, seriously take the time to concentrate and pay attention to what you are doing. Try something for 5 min straight. You'd be surprised how long 5 min can be playing the same thing slowly over and over. And you'd be surprised how much better you'll be at it after the 5 min are up. Now, don't expect a huge improvement, but you'll notice a difference. By doing all of this you'll find that speed will automatically happen over time. As I've said before somewhere in this blog I have a metronome and a timer that I like to use when practicing. I actually like the old school wind up metronome, something real about it opposed to a digital click that feels completely lifeless to me.

Okay, my nails are dry and I need to get practicing as I don't have a lot of time these days so I need to make the most of it and typing isn't helping my playing any. So I shall say goodbye for now!

SD