:learning:

Practice Advice (Guitar)

I have gotten advice from various people on practicing the guitar. Here it is in no particular order.

Play slowly

when learning things go at a fraction of the tempo you mean to play it at. Play with a click track and nail it at a slow tempo before moving on.

Watch your form/ chronic injury

Use form that will help you continue to play through your life. Don't hurt yourself. A big part of this on stringed instruments is to not bend/contort your wrist as you play. (to the extent that this is possible) Pay attention to your wrist and adjust your grip so that you can straiten it out.

When you stop improving quickly, practice something else

in a particular practice session, when you notice the rate of you improvement slow considerably, take a break or go practice some other part of your playing. You tend to learn things best in spurts. After a bit, your rate of returns diminishes when you keep drilling the same thing. You make better use of your practice time if you move on when you notice that diminishing.

Use a metronome/ Record yourself

I used to hate playing with a metronome. To this day, if I don't have one on hand and in front of me I wont use it. However, it makes a huge difference to your playing and will help you be rhythmically tighter and teach to control your rhythm. Even better is if you record yourself and listen back, noting what you want to improve next time. This makes studio recording one of the best ways to practice your playing.

Remember to practice it standing up

I had a guitar teacher in high-school who was the coolest. A super practical piece of advice from him about performing. Remember to play your tunes standing up. If you only practice sitting down your body will not be ready to play out at a show standing in front of an audience. It sounds super simple because it is. It is also really useful advice.

backlinks

• learning