Negative Expectations

Are you sabotaging your chances for success?

"I'm going to give it another month, and if things don't get better I'm selling the guitar." This is another classic example of not making the time, but making plenty of excuses. What is going to change in the next month when that's the attitude you're carrying around with you?


How to make it work.

Don't try to convince yourself that you have no time. If you want to something badly enough you make time for it. Yes work, family life, political campaigns, vacations and everything else you mention does hinder your ability to make time. The problem is, you need to have an iron clad schedule that nothing can change. Start off with a few minutes a day, get into the habit of making it work, and pretty soon you'll find that you feel awful when you miss a day of practice. I always use exercise as an analogy, it's great when you commit yourself, but blow it off for a few sessions and pretty soon you're your old couch potato self.

Choose your environment.

A comfortable, padded chair with no arms, a sturdy music stand, a metronome and a kitchen timer are all you need to get started. Turn off the cell phone, close the door and issue a do not disturb mandate to the rest of the occupants in your home. Convince yourself that this is your private time and that phone calls, emails and text messages can certainly wait for you to finish practicing. Set the timer for whatever amount of practice you feel you can get in and don't let anything stop you.


Have a reason for practicing.

Practicing an instrument is not "running through each piece a few times." Pick a song, a technique, a trouble spot, or something else that needs work and get busy on that. Record you practice session and listen to it at the end so you can hear some progress. If you don't have a teacher, get one! It sounds self serving, but there's a lot more motivation if you're accountable to someone.

So don't give up easily, set aside a specific time to practice, make sure you're in a quiet place that makes it easy to practice, and work on something. Again, get yourself a teacher so you have to show that you've worked on playing on a weekly basis. The more you practice, the easier it becomes, the easier it becomes the more you'll want to practice.

Learning a New Song

How do you go about learning a new song? There are different approaches, and it's important to remember that what works for one person may or may not work for the other.

Phrase by Phrase:
One way to learn is to take a small piece of the music and practice it over and over until you can play it flawlessly. This is a good way to learn if you can stand to make what seems like little progress. The key elements would be a metronome, a program to slow songs down, and lots of patience. I use and recommend Riff Master Pro (affiliate link) to set up a loop that plays the phrase over and over. Choose a speed that's slow enough that you don't practice mistakes, and speed up a very small amount once you can play at the previous speed without any errors. A few measures at a time is best, no longer than one line.

The Whole Song:
I learn a new song by playing through the whole thing to see what I'm up against, and I'll do it a few times. Every song will have phrases that are fairly easy to play, some that are a little harder and some that will require the phrase by phrase, or even note by note technique to get them smooth and up to speed. Once I've played the song I have a better idea of what's going to need work.

One Page at a Time:
A long song or one that has different parts to it or maybe more than one solo is another challenge. I'll treat it like each solo is a separate song and work from there. Again, I'll play it all the way through before I break it down into smaller pieces.

Listen to the Song.......Often!
One of the common beginner mistakes is to think they know the song well enough that they don't need to listen to it. You may believe you're playing it right only to find out later that you've practiced a mistake over and over. When I took music theory our professor told us that you need to hear a song at least 10 times before you start to know and understand it. Note the key words start to know and understand it. Many times I'll have a student march into the room and proudly proclaim that he or she has memorized the week's assignment only to play it wrong. Trust me, play along with the recording and just as important, listen to the song when you're not practicing.


 

Being Logical and Taking Your Time

The method to your teacher's madness!

It happened again the other night, a student who "wants guidance" but doesn't recognize it when he's getting it. Here's what he needs to be looking for and listening to.

Why do we play songs at the lesson?

The best thing a music teacher can do for you is listen to you play, then play the song with you. This helps you learn to make music with other people, understand why timing is important, and it helps you get over nervousness/stage fright. Yes, I know, you play better at home. THAT'S WHY I'M PLAYING TOO!

I can't make the song sound like the recording.

The recording has been made by professional musicians with thousands of dollars' worth of equipment. In addition there is more than one guitar on the record and someone is singing or otherwise providing the melody. You're supposed to be playing rhythm guitar which means keeping a steady beat. A common beginner mistake is to try to strum with the phrasing of the tune to the song instead of a straight rhythm part.

Beware the evils of internet overload.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record about this point, watching You Tube videos of a "guitar teacher" showing you how to strum, how to play chords or whatever, you have no idea who's teaching you. He or she may know exactly what they're doing, or, they may not be a much better player than you are. Keep in mind that a good guitar player isn't necessarily a good teacher.

Take your time and learn it right.

The key to learning guitar is not multi-tasking. My emphasis is on teaching and learning each technique as a separate function. Don't worry about palm muting if you can't change chords in time. Don't worry about complex strumming patterns until you can play the song up to speed.

Summing it all up.

Learning to play guitar or any other instrument is a time art. Hurrying through so you can learn the next technique catches up to you in the long run. In the words of Ringo Starr: "You know it don't come easy."

New Year, New You?

Happy New Year!

The new year has begun and there's always a lot of soul searching, resolution making, and bad habits that are going to be fixed. That usually lasts anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, then it's back to the same old, same old. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started.

New Strings.
If your strings have not been changed since last New Year's, now's the time. New strings make your guitar sound better and they're not rusty or caked with gook. While you have them off, clean the fingerboard. I use Gibson Fingerboard conditioner which cleans the wood and adds a little moisture.

New Books or Songs.
Are you still practicing the same songs you were playing months ago? Congratulations, you've found your comfort zone! The bad news is, you're not making any progress. Yes, it's fun to play songs you know well, no, you shouldn't forget about them. Think about how excited you were when you first started to play them and how happy you are now that they're polished up and ready for public consumption. Get yourself a new book, or pick out a new song and challenge yourself a little. Maybe a different genre or something that's more technically challenging to get you to the next level.

New Guitar.
Is your old guitar kind of clunky? Does it make you want to sit down and play it or have you gotten to where you really don't like that make or model any more? If you can afford it, treat yourself to a new one. Or if you do like it, try something different. Maybe a classical guitar, a 12 string, an acoustic if you only play electric, you get the idea.

So have a wonderful New Year and dig back into playing and practicing your guitar!