How to Practice More Efficiently

Do you have trouble learning a complete piece of music?

When learning a new song do you always start at the beginning? If you make a mistake do you go back to the beginning? You may be spinning your wheels! Once you've got a good start at playing a song, the next step is to isolate trouble spots. It seems like every song has one. Playing the whole song over and over will make that spot better, the problem is it will never catch up to the rest of the song. Practicing the passage that gives you trouble in a methodical way is how to overcome the problem. Go slow, watch your fingering, and practice with a metronome or a program to slow the piece down if you're working with a recording. In my studio I use RiffMaster Pro  (affiliate link) to work with my students. With that program or a metronome, the idea is to go very slowly at first. Beginning guitar students tend to play too fast and if they have a trouble spot, tend to ignore it. When learning guitar you want to remember if you can't play it slow, you can't play it fast.  Slowing down is the way to go because you don't want to practice mistakes. Whether you're playing the correct notes or the wrong ones, your fingers will remember and go there again.

Listen to yourself play.

I know it sounds funny, but beginning guitar students sometimes get so caught up in their playing that they actually don't hear their playing. The mind wanders, they get distracted, and so they think they're practicing efficiently but they really aren't.

Set goals and make note of your progress.

When practicing, don't just go through the motions. Know what you're trying to accomplish and write down what you've achieved when you get there. Have a difficult passage you've now mastered? Write it down. That pesky C chord finally sounds good? Write it down. You get the idea. Instead of just going through every song you know without thinking about it, zero in on what still needs work and then make a conscious effort to improve it. You and your guitar teacher will both be much happier come lesson time.