Guitar Chord

How Long Should You Practice, and How do You Find Time?

Beginning students, especially adults, seem to have a lot of trouble finding time to practice. The list of excuses is very long, and I believe Ive heard almost all of them by now. Here are some tips to getting yourself into a practice routine.

• Make the time. Yes, thats right, make the time.  Like any other skill, playing guitar takes time, concentration, and commitment. A set time of the day is best, so schedule it like any other important appointment. 
• Youre too busy, really? I hear that more and more. Heres a hint: turn off the TV, close Facebook, put the computer to sleep and pick up your guitar. Just like exercise, practicing guitar will become a habit if you do it at a set time each day. 
• Any time spent practicing is better than none. We all need to practice more, me included. The question I get from parents all the time is "how much time should he/she be practicing?" The general answer is 15 minutes or more, the practical answer is as much as possible. You dont have to spend hours, but playing every day is a lot better than 3 hours one day and then none the rest of the week.
• Find a comfortable space to practice in. If at all possible, find a place where you can practice thats quiet, away from any distractions, and preferably set up as a guitar practice space. Having your guitar on a stand is a good idea, since its harder to ignore it when its right there in front of you. Invest in a decent music stand so you dont have to waste valuable time locating your music, finding a place to put it, and then finally getting started on your daily practice.

So make time for playing your guitar every day, or at least 5 days out of the 7. If youre an adult student, one of the reasons you decided to learn guitar is most likely as a way to relax and enjoy yourself. Make practicing fun, and devote some time to your playing. Even though guitar can be overwhelming in the beginning, the more you practice the easier it will become. Taking private, one on one lessons is a great way to not put pressure on yourself. Have your guitar teacher map out a plan for you and youll have no one to compete against, no set timetable, and no pressure.

Multi-tasking is overrated, I repeat, Multi-tasking is overrated.

Beginning guitar players are understandably excited about learning the instrument, but that can also get in the way of progress. There are so many concepts, techniques, and skills you need to learn, it can be very hard to know what to work on first.

Mastering one thing at a time.

• There are lots of ways to get started on playing guitar, and what you learn first is at least partially decided by what you want to do with the guitar. For example, you may want to play and sing, which means youll work on chords, then strumming techniques and then ways to spice up your playing.


• Jazz or classical guitar? You should start out by reading music, being able to play single notes, and then adding chords.

• Rock or country guitar? Chords, scales and lead guitar techniques. Every style of music has its own sound, but before you can learn that you need to build a good foundation.

Pick one aspect of playing whether its notes, chords, scales or songs, and then concentrate on that until youre able to play and move around easily. Only after you master one thing should you think about learning something else.

If you have any questions or comments, Id love to hear from you. For more tips about getting the most out of lessons be sure to visit my webpage: www.blguitars.net

Practicing what doesnt 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 theyre supposed to be learning. I hear the "thats too hard" excuse many times in the course of a week. Usually it means, "its 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. Dont practice mistakes, and dont avoid the harder passages. Almost every song has at least one, so work it out.

The method to your teachers madness!

It happened again the other night, a student who "wants guidance" but doesnt recognize it when hes getting it. Heres 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. THATS WHY IM PLAYING TOO!

I cant 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. Youre 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 whos teaching you. He or she may know exactly what theyre doing, or, they may not be a much better player than you are. Keep in mind that a good guitar player isnt 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. Dont worry about palm muting if you cant change chords in time. Dont 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 dont come easy."