Thursday, October 24, 2013
How to Practice More Efficiently
When learning a new song do you always start at the beginning? If you make a mistake do you go back to the beginning? You may be spinning your wheels! Once youve got a good start at playing a song, the next step is to isolate trouble spots. It seems like every song has one. Playing the whole song over and over will make that spot better, the problem is it will never catch up to the rest of the song. Practicing the passage that gives you trouble in a methodical way is how to overcome the problem. Go slow, watch your fingering, and practice with a metronome or a program to slow the piece down if youre working with a recording. In my studio I use RiffMaster Pro (affiliate link) to work with my students. With that program or a metronome, the idea is to go very slowly at first. Beginning guitar students tend to play too fast and if they have a trouble spot, tend to ignore it. When learning guitar you want to remember if you cant play it slow, you cant play it fast. Slowing down is the way to go because you dont want to practice mistakes. Whether youre playing the correct notes or the wrong ones, your fingers will remember and go there again.
Listen to yourself play.
I know it sounds funny, but beginning guitar students sometimes get so caught up in their playing that they actually dont hear their playing. The mind wanders, they get distracted, and so they think theyre practicing efficiently but they really arent.
Set goals and make note of your progress.
When practicing, dont just go through the motions. Know what youre trying to accomplish and write down what youve achieved when you get there. Have a difficult passage youve now mastered? Write it down. That pesky C chord finally sounds good? Write it down. You get the idea. Instead of just going through every song you know without thinking about it, zero in on what still needs work and then make a conscious effort to improve it. You and your guitar teacher will both be much happier come lesson time.
