Are You Spending Too Much Time in Your Comfort Zone?

Practicing what doesn't need practicing.

First of all, yes, reviewing old material is good. What many beginning guitar students do is practice what they already know, not what they're supposed to be learning. I hear the "that's too hard" excuse many times in the course of a week. Usually it means, "it's easier to play what I already know". The way to improve your guitar playing is to be trying new songs, picking techniques, working on rhythm and all the other things your teacher is showing you.

Getting distracted.

Where do you practice and how many times during practice is there an interruption? Cell phones, the internet, texting, television, way too many distractions. I even had a student tell me one time that he had the radio on in the background while he practiced!  Upon further questioning, he assured me that it was at a very low volume and not at all interfering with what he was doing. Wow.

Goals during practice.

Is it possible to have set goals and still have fun playing the guitar? Absolutely. There are times when you do need to be completely serious, but there are also times when you can let go. I encourage my guitar students to make a game out of practice. See if you can play the song or exercise a certain number of times without a mistake. See how slow or how fast you can play. Make up words to the songs, you get the idea.

Get out of the comfort zone.

Everyone needs to push once in a while to keep improving. Problem areas include never being able to memorize a song, going back and playing songs that are way too easy at this point, and never totally finishing a song. If there are still trouble spots, FIX THEM. Don't practice mistakes, and don't avoid the harder passages. Almost every song has at least one, so work it out.