Challenge Yourself!

Need to get off the plateau? 

Sometimes it seems like progress has come to a stop and you'll wonder if you'll ever get better. Relax, it's something that we all go through. I've had band practices where we just couldn't seem to do anything right and it was everyone in the group. When that happens, you just take a break and try again tomorrow. How to explain it? Could be you're not in the mood to play or practice, you've got other things on your mind, you're tired or there are more pressing problems.

Crank up the intensity and the challenge level.

After properly warming up, (you do warm up, don't you?), isolate the problem or problems and spend extra time on those. Set your metronome to a speed where you can play the passage comfortably, and then play through without a mistake several times. Don't increase the speed until you're sure you can get through the trouble spot perfectly. This builds confidence and makes you feel like you can play the difficult part with ease. If you catch yourself giving up and playing something you already know it just makes things worse. Issue a challenge to yourself and make it a game. Beginning guitar students tend to avoid the problem instead of working through it. Play so slowly you can't make a mistake and then build from there. The advantage of using a metronome is that you can increase speed in tiny increments so that you hardly feel like you're playing faster. Balance the intensity with the playfulness and you'll get off the plateau and on your way to playing and sounding better.