I’ve been back taking guitar classes for going on three years now, and I haven’t made nearly as much progress as I should have, mostly because I don’t practice enough between classes. The main reason is one I suspect is quite common among adult learners, namely that by the time I get home from work my brain is too fried to focus on practicing, especially if it’s an area where I’m especially weak (like fingerstyle). So does anyone have little tricks and tips to motivate me after a long, hard, brain-frying day at work?
Also, a related issue; I’d like to improve my manual dexterity for things like fingerstyle, or even scales. Anyone have ways to make the practicing slightly less dull/more fun?
The way my brain works for learning things: I’ve always loved learning languages, but when I started Russian I was going bonkers trying to learn all the case endings. I never really did nail it down until I was forced to speak it in an immersion situation; no amount of classroom repetition can duplicate real-life use. So how can I do guitar immersion?
I have the same problem. I’ve actually moved from guitar to piano, because I go through stretches of days or weeks when I just don’t have time to play a lot, and I couldn’t maintain calluses. So every time I’d get back into playing I’d be facing a long uphill climb.
But here’s my recommendation for rapid improvement: Set yourself some goals, and force yourself to stick to them by playing in public. Every time I’ve made a rapid advance in my music skills it came at a time when I was playing with friends or performing in public. So now I try to do that - invite people over to ‘jam’, and that forces me to practice the songs I want to play. I volunteered to play accompaniment on piano for my daughter’s violin recital, and that scares the crap out of me because I’m still very much a beginner. So I’ll be practicing more between now and then than I ever have.
Find some bars in your area that have open stage nights, and commit to going out and playing at one of them. I’ll bet you’ll find yourself practicing harder and with more eye for the details than you have in a while.
Another thing I find very, very useful is my computer. I download MIDIs of songs I like, mute the part I want to play, and play along. Virtual jamming. I use Cakewalk, and I can bring up the sheet music on the screen and play along. I decided to learn the pennywhistle this year, and I’ve picked this instrument up faster than anything else, ever, because I play it a LOT like this. Being forced to play though your hesitations and in tempo does wonders for focus and discipline. You can even record yourself, play your part back with the song, and listen for errors and nuance. Best.Practice tool. Ever.
The manual dexterity comes with the scales etc. I’ve seen a video for “Finger Fitness” or some such but I really don’t see the point. Back when I was practicing seriously I made up a backing track tape of the cycle of fifths and I’d practice scales/arpeggios over that. Not great fun but better than a plain metronome.
Observations on practicing:
Something is better than nothing. 15 minutes a day every day is better that two hours on Sunday.
Don’t practice mistakes, if you can’t do it right slow down (you knew this tho’).
An amateur will practice until they get a piece right. A professional practices until they can’t get it wrong. (I hate homilies like this but it’s true)
I’m not sure you can do ‘guitar immersion’. Music practice is mostly about concentration and repetition. But like Sam says, commiting yourself to a performance will motivate you to get to the ‘pro’ level.
Well, I’m way too chicken to do public solos. This is part of why I’m a damn decent choir singer/harmonizer, but completely clam up singing solo. But playing in an ensemble of some sort might help.
One of the other guys in guitar class used to invite everyone over either to his place to practice together, or to the back room of a bar down the block from the school to practice together. That was great. But he dropped out ages ago, and I’m kind of shy in person, so I don’t think I have the chutzpah to try the same thing, since I don’t know most of the people in the class. I miss having some of my old buddies around who played, but alas, they have all moved away or are tied up with other things and don’t play anymore. The school does have what they call a Six-String Social on Friday evenings, but it starts at 6 pm, which is usually far too early for me to be out of work and at the school with my guitar. I wish they did something like that over the weekend; I know I’d be fresher than on a Friday after work anyway. I suppose jamming is a form of “guitar immersion.”
I know I should do more scale-type exercises, but straight scales are so boring! Know any books, or tapes, or whatever with scale-related melodic patterns? That might take the edge off. Plus it’s mindless enough that I might be able to do it on a night when I’m too fried to concentrate on a song or a difficult solo. And I do have a metronome, but I hate it; it’s the electronic kind, and it beeps rather than ticking like the old-style pendulum-type ones. I find the beeping very distracting, and I think I need to find one of the old-style ones.
I am by no means strictly disciplined, but what sometimes works for me (with regards to scales) is to vary the pattern as I practice. For example, instead of going straight 1234 5678, I might go 1234 2345 3456 or 1324 3546 or use triplets or different rhythmic patterns or whatever. Also, “Joy to the World” goes through a scale (descending) during the “joy to the world” line, and this can be transposed to the key you’re practicing.
As a random bit of advice, I would advise not burning yourself out on any particular drill; try to take breaks to just play stuff you like (unless you’re actually enjoying the drill, of course :)).
Practicing in the morning before work can be helpful as well. Dividing practice sessions can help too. I find my mind is focused only for a maximum of 45 minutes at a time. Two half hour sessions a day may be more beneficial and easier to manage.
I think Sam Stone provided a lot of good advice, especially about working toward a goal. I recently started playing violin again after about six years off and found a new teacher. It’s been a very slow uphill climb, but I can sense it beginning to pay off. My goal is to be able to audition for an orchestra by next fall, and I’ve been working hard towards that end.
Of course, it is a little easier for me, in that I’m still relatively young, don’t own a house, have no girlfriend/wife/family or many other interests. I’d say the single-mindedness does help.
As far as technique and things to work on, it depends a lot on what you need to get out of it. Scales don’t have to be boring if you keep challenging yourself. Start slow, then gradually increase the speed until you think you can’t actually go that fast. Back off a little bit, then push forward. Expand the scales to 3 or 4 octaves. And don’t be afraid to be critical of yourself. Are you producing a pleasing sound? Are you playing all the notes evenly? You see what I’m getting at; there is always room to grow.
If you are serious about the instrument, then you have to schedule practice time as part of your day. It should be like taking a shower or eating dinner, you always do it.
You have to play with other people to get better. That is the immersion that you are looking for.
Make sure your practice time is quality. Have an idea of what you are going to practice and stick with it. Don’t spend 10 minutes jamming power chords or playing “Smoke on the Water”. If you practice what you are supposed to, then do the other stuff.
I teach guitar, and I will actually give my students assignments. They will normally have two weeks to complete what I ask of them. Sometimes after a week of working on the “homework”, they will tell me they don’t think they will be able to get it down. The response from me is always the same: You will have the assignment done by next week if you practice enough. If they can’t do it, I make them skip a lesson. Give yourself an assignment and due date, and no excuses for “late work”.
Good luck with your playing, let us know how it goes.
I just started taking guitar lessons… I work 8 hours a day, commute 6 hours day, sleep (if I can) 6 hours a day. That leaves 4 hours to do everything that needs doing. I have to force myself to sit down and practice, even if only for 10-15 minutes… I love playing, and learning, and even practicing but some weeks… I get to my lesson and I have to confess to my teacher that I have barely practiced all week. Luckily, he’s very understanding and not at all militant so he takes it a little easy on me… but it’s definitely a challenge.
I have a guitar lesson every Monday night, a wife, two little kids and a full-time job, so practice is definitely something that has be squeezed in.
However, I am a little surprised that you are too fried to practice – that’s pretty much the reason I play the damn thing. I mean, there isn’t anything on the tube, I fall asleep reading, so the only way to really relax after 9:00pm is to bust out the piece and play a little.
I have been at it for 3 years now and I know the feeling of not improving as quickly as you’d like.
First, a good practice book is Scales over Chords . It has a ton of material and allowed me to learn to enjoy playing scales and appregios.
Also, check out Total Guitar and Guitar Techiniques magazines. They come out every month and come with a CD and always always always have something to play.
I guess the real thing is, as has been mentioned, practice something over and over again until you can do it. Not letting yourself take the path of least resistance is difficult but rewarding - I am sure you know. Oh, and if you don’t know the CAGED system, learn it. It doesn’t take that long - a few weeks - and really helps to learn the fretboard.
Finally, as I am sure you know, improving is a funny thing. It sometimes seems that there is a long stretch where I am not getting any better at anything. It can be very frustrating. But then, all of a sudden, things start to click and it’s like overnight I can play what has been hanging me up. So I guess the thing is, don’t quit. If you are still playing 3 years from now, you’ll be much better than you are now. That’s what I use to motivate myself. That little pearl.
Same here. Wife, two kids, job, plus a 120-year-old brownstone that is in the process of falling down and needs even more attention that the other distractions. And a saxophone/improvisation lesson every Thursday night, after the family dinner I gotta cook.
I deal with it by wailing in despair and frustration.
I’m lucky if I can squeeze in a couple practice sessions a week. As a result, I’m still squinting at lesson books and saying “Wait lemme do it over” when I should be zinging up and down all the scales of the Mixolydian mode with my eyes shut.
I SHOULD be taking the attitude that my wife takes towards her exercise schedule, which is “Fuck all of you, it’s MY time to GO RUNNING/BICYCLING/WEIGHTLIFTING/TO THE GYM. So youse all can suck an egg until I get back.”
Unfortunately I feel too guilty to ignore the laundry/dirty dishes/lightbulb-changing/reading to kids duties, and tell it all to piss up a rope until I’ve nailed the Bb Minor scale and run through “Lullaby of Birdland” eight or ten times.
So I’ll be following this thread closely to glean brilliant practice-fitting ideas.
I’ll post more later -thanks for the ideas, guys! - but right now I have to run off to a wedding. As for Russian immersion? Well, my favorite technique was always to fall head over heels for a guy who speaks no English. Long story, but the technique is highly recommended.
