Those of you who visit this site have probably noticed a slowing down of current posts. This is due to a sense of urgency for finding a new place to live. Our landlord has sold the property we rent from and hence the new landlord is forcing everyone out. I’m bummed but not down. Therefore, other priorities have taken order.
With the above in mind, I have been pondering the sense of urgency for the guitar. Did you ever think about urgency when you were in school? Probably not, but I bet you felt the sense of urgency. Remember those assignments that you had all semester to finish? When did you begin working on them? I bet for most of you it boiled down to the last week before the due date. Even for those that worked throughout the semester, you put in longer and more intense hours the week before the due date to ensure the best results. The same applies to guitar, even when it is for enjoyment.
We all need a sense of urgency to really motivate us to finish what we start. We need it to drive use to a higher level than we would otherwise achieve. That’s why you need to create a sense of urgency when it comes to learning the guitar. There are a few ways to do this and probably many more in reference to your own life.
- Create a deadline for a YouTube video. This forces you to get your work done because it is a performance to be seen by millions of people over the web.
- Create a deadline for sending a recording to a friend. This isn’t as “out-there” as a YouTube video but still puts a sense of urgency into your practice. Another way to think of it is to record something for a birthday or anniversary.
- Schedule a live performance. This is the end all of everything you are doing to learn the guitar. The goal is to share music. Even if you are not performing to a huge audience, this type of motivation is hard to beat. Schedule a dinner party and let everyone know that you are going to perform for them after dinner and before dessert.
The above are just a few ways to encourage you to begin to create a sense of urgency in your playing. It will make you a better player and will reward you by getting feed back and giving enjoyment to those who listen.
Last night was my first night seriously practicing in a couple of years. I have spent my time really learning how to teach the guitar effectively in the meantime. But in my inner most being, I still desire the joy of playing and performing. Therefore, I have chosen to resume my practicing and given myself deadlines to persue for performances.
Returning to a three hour practice session was quite interesting to say the least. Sitting for three hours with a guitar in my hands felt wonderful. However, I had to take a few precautions to ensure that my hands made it through the session and did not hurt this morning. I stretched very slowly before and after the session. I also took a few breaks throughout. I made myself get up every 30 minutes to stretch and refocus my mind (or to let it rest after deep concentration).
All-in-all, I enjoyed the three hours. I worked 30 minutes on technique and spent the rest of the time on new and old repertoire. I always encourage people to work on sight-reading but my goals have a different purpose at the moment. I feel that my time teaching has greatly benefited my sight-reading to a point that I am much better than when I first began teaching seven years ago.
I have much to work on, but I am delighted to see that I still have quite a bit of movement in my hands after such a long hiatus from practicing. It’s not that I have not played entirely for the past couple of years. I have spent many hours playing in lessons. But the difference, of course, is the focused work that can be accomplished during practice to reach a desired performace.
I feel good and look forward to keeping you updated as I return to my performing form.
Suggested Resources:
A Guitarist’s Guide to Better Practicing by Pete Huttlinger
When learning most of us usually break material down into smaller pieces without even thinking about it. Take the lick, riff, or section of music you are trying to learn and break it up into smaller, more manageable pieces. Practice each piece until you can do it correctly. When two small pieces are learned consecutively, then attempt to perform one after the other until you turn them into a single larger section. Once you have a larger section, you can then join it to
another larger section. And the process goes on and on . . .
While you’re doing this remember to play and learn each section correctly. It is extremely important that you master each smaller section before you try to make larger sections out of them. Do not confuse this with playing a section fast. However, you do need to be able to perform it accurately and almost without thinking.
For instance, mastering a particular scale would require you to no longer look at where your fingers are positioned. Having to look at your hands would mean that you have to consciously think about where to place your fingers. The ultimate goal is to do it almost without thinkning.
Now I bet you didn’t like to read that title and think I had anything good to say.
There are many lessons about the greatest techniques, licks, and riffs. But what about playing them up to speed. This is always the trouble for most. We tend to think that once we can hack our way through a passage or lick then it is time to turn up the speed. However, choosing to speed things up too quickly will destroy any chance of obtaining the speed you desire.
Your muscles do not know whether they are playing good or bad notes. All they know is what you teach them to play. Therefore, if you begin to program incorrect movements then you will play incorrect movements. Playing at a higher speed than what allows you to program your finger movements will ultimately slow you down. If you cannot think about and control your movements then slow down. This will allow your muscles to establish a habit of movement. Once you establish this habit, you can then move on to speeding up the lick or riff. But I warn you to be patient! The process will be different for every movement that you are trying to learn. Also, remember that you are programing your right hand movements as well. Ask yourself, “Which picking pattern is the most efficient?” Then proceed from there when deciding on a right hand pattern.
By programming your hands before you try to establish speed, you will shorten the time it takes you to get up to tempo significantly. You cannot play fast without establishing your habits and programming each hand’s movements.
It is sometimes difficult to always get guitar practice into your daily routine. Let’s face it, unless you are retired, the day is going to have many more things packed into it other than guitar. Whether it is more hours at work, a baby crying at night, or the car has to go to the shop, time is precious. Yet, we all want to keep improving on the guitar and know that consistency is the key.
If you are struggling with this very thing, then maybe you should consider organizing what I call your Worst Case Scenarios. This is a folder system (though you don’t need to use folders) to organize your best and worst days of practice. It is a system of three different scenarios wrapped into each folder. I like to divide it into 15, 30, and 60 minute increments.
Let’s say you only have fifteen minutes available one day for guitar practice. Therefore, you grab the fifteen minute folder. In it you have planned out scales and arpeggios to keep your fingers limber and moving. Another day finds that you have thirty minutes to practice. You grab that folder and you do your scales, arpeggios, and then add a piece or two. Finally, it is your day off and you have an hour or more to practice. Grab the sixty minute folder and do your scales, arpeggios, and some old repertoire and then your new pieces.
The sixty minute is the one you’d wish you could do every day. However, life does not always allow for such large chunks of time to be at your disposal. On the days you have very little time, you do maintenance. On the days you have more time, you add pieces that you are working on to your maintenance. You don’t have to organize it this way, but I have had many students give (and heard it in their playing!) me good reports of how they like using this system.
Tension causes many problems in guitar playing. However, we must focus on the harmful tension when referring to problems because no matter how good you play there will always be tension. Holding down a string creates a from of tension just as much as tightening your right shoulder to try and play fast creates tension. Therefore, we must find a balance between the normal tension of using the muscles and excessive harmful tension that can lead to injury.
If your hands are unusually sore or tired after playing, especially in a short period of time, then you are probably holding onto too much tension. It is a good idea to give your hands a break and stretch them at the beginning in the middle and at the end of a practice session. Tension in your shoulders and arms has to be consciously noticed and relaxed. Set a timer for every five minutes during random practice sessions and when it rings immediately pay attention to your body to notice any forms of tension. Then, do something to correct it.
One last note is to remember to breathe. Too many students and amateur guitarists breathe incorrectly. They hold their breath during hard sections and then gasp for air as they finish. Holding your breath actually creates more tension in your body. If it helps, then try to breath rhythmically with the piece that you are playing. I don’t mean keep the beat with your breath, but rather breath in sync with how the piece flows.
