Practicing Tips
The way you approach practicing will directly affect the results that you achieve. If you want fast progress, than it is absolutely critical, to develop highly effective and efficient practice routines. Finding a guitar teacher who specializes in this area will eliminate much of the trial and error approach.
This is so important to understand, that I chose to put this at the head of list to help stress this point. Here are a few additional tips for practicing and playing in general, which can be very effective in helping you on your musical journey.
1: Tune your guitar before practicing. This is so basic, yet so crucial. Many players totally overlook this. Every time you pick up your guitar, check if it’s in tune. Not only is this good ear training, if you practice with your guitar out of tune, you are also likely to play out of tune. Obviously this will not sound good to your listeners. Tuning is most important right before ear training exercises.
2: Practice with your eyes closed. You may find this quite challenging at first, but once you nail whatever you’re practicing with your eyes closed, doing it with your eyes open will be a breeze. Practicing in this way will increase your sense of touch, your aural perception and GREATLY increase your fret board awareness!
3: Study your picking hand. Most guitarists look at their fretting hands 99% of the time during their practicing/playing. This often leads to a great imbalance between the technical ability of each hands, usually resulting in synchronization and articulation issues. Spend some time staring at your picking hand. Ask yourself these questions as you play:
-Is the picking controlled?
-Is the hand tensing up? If yes, when?
-How much pick is hitting the strings (tip: you don’t need very much)
-Can you make the motions smaller?
4: Record yourself regularly. I can’t stress how important this is. Not only is it a great way to critique yourself, but a great motivational booster when you see how much you’ve progressed. I suggest that you record yourself at least once every month (more if you can).
5: Find ways to make what you are practicing even more challenging. There are many different ways to do this (depending on the technique/practice item) such as practicing at higher speeds then required, using weaker fingers to play the part, or increasing the size of the finger stretches by practicing the same part lower on the fret board. Many times, by practicing in a way that makes it more challenging than usual, you will find that when you try practicing it the way you were before, it will be WAY easier.
To find out more about guitar lessons in Beaver County, click the link that says contact me. From there we can schedule a Free, no obligation, guitar lesson. Feel free to even just ask a musical question.