Category: How To Practice

Here is a question most beginner guitarists need answered at least once a month:

“Assuming an average student with no “natural talent”, with a teacher and 2hr. daily practice schedule, how long until you can play some decent songs competently (I don’t mean flawlessly). I am referring to something like a “Jim Croce” kinda tune.”

Here is the answer from Jamie Andreas of guitarprinciples.com:

“In the ideal situation someone practicing two hours a day would begin to be making music in about three months. This means strumming chords all the way through a song, changing smoothly and keeping up with the tempo. The ideal situation would be that they are being taught according to The Principles, so that there would be no hit or miss results, but rather, they would learn how to practice right from the beginning, how to train the muscles to move, and the fingers to develop strength and stretch, without at the same time building in the very “hidden” tensions that will actually make smooth controlled movement impossible.

In other words, I know that if I have someone sitting in front of me, and I train them in how to practice according to The Principles, they will without a doubt be able to play notes and chords smoothly, they will be able to “make music”. Now understand that when you say “play a Jim Croce song”, or any other song, it all depends on HOW you play it. You certainly won’t be able to play the complex fingerpicking arrangement used on “Time In A Bottle” within three months, although perhaps some very talented individuals might. But anyone can reach the level of strumming chords to a steady beat. And in time, anyone can reach the level of doing those fingerpicking arrangements. ..”for all those taking lessons: in any 6 month period, if you are not seeing any real indications that you are becoming able to do things you couldn’t do before…… then something is wrong.”

The bottom line is that with enough time and correct practice, anyone can reach any level they desire. The level of technical sophistication of just about anything you are going to hear in the folk/pop realm, is attainable by anyone. And a good rule of thumb for all those taking lessons is this: in any 6 month period, if you are not seeing any progress, any real indications that you are getting better, and becoming able to do things you couldn’t do before, then something is wrong. If you are not finding the things you can already do becoming easier to do, then something is wrong, your technical development is not being tended to properly.

And further, as a person who constantly sees guitar students who come from other teachers, I can tell you that in the majority of cases, the technical development of students is (I would go so far as to say) COMPLETELY neglected. All you have to do is read some of the testimonials and some of the reports that students who I am presently working with have posted on my site to see the truth of that unsettling comment. So it is each students responsibility to oversee the integrity of their own development.”

Jamie Andreas’ guitar method is thought by some people to be too oriented towards classical guitar players or too analytical but if you want to learn to play any style of guitar and you need a source of inspiration in your email inbox every week, go to guitarprinciples.com and sign up for the newsletter.

And today’s video answers the question, “What can I do if I put my mind to it?”

Technorati Tags: strumming chords, fingerpicking

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The guitar is admired like no other musical instrument. Listening to and watching talented guitar virtuosos perform amazing feats of dexterity as they make their instrument sing in a way that touches the hearts of their listeners makes us want to emulate the guitarist’s achievement. But this is the glamorous side of guitar playing. When we are pulled out of our everyday selves by musical excellence, our egos want to attract the admiration of crowds of people just like the guitarist does. We could be inspired to be guitarists today, and tomorrow we want to be circus acrobats. Such is the fickleness of the human psyche.

If you learn to play guitar do you get any real and lasting benefits? Is there a lifetime of substantial rewards that lasts beyond the first thrill? Well, yes, and they can be roughly divided up into physical, emotional and mental benefits. A life devoted to the guitar has meaning beyond the extraction of music from an inanimate object.

If you learn to play guitar you are refining motor skills which we all have in a small way. Most people’s motor skills are developed to the point of being able to ride a bike or get dressed in the dark. Learning the guitar enables us to meet challenges of a kind that no other musical instrument can offer. The opportunities to refine your motor skills are endless as you learn more chords and scales, more music which demands instant coordination between the left and the right hand with a control of the fine muscles that no other instrument demands of you.

Of course, nobody can spend an hour or two a day maintaining a relaxed posture while holding a guitar and practicing barre chords without lifting their level of fitness. This aspect of learning guitar may depend on what kind of teacher you have because many amateur guitarists have actually done serious damage by trying to play the guitar with too much tension in their bodies.

You will not believe it unless you try it, but a long guitar practice session enhances your mental capacity. The act of trying to interpret a piece of music on the guitar awakens the parts of our brain that delight in asking questions and solving problems. Once you have settled down to a serious study of guitar music, you will find that organizing your guitar practice, finding time in your day for restringing your guitar and learning new music has taught you how to organize the other sides of your life. That is assuming you do not have a housekeeper.

Now to the emotional benefits of learning to play guitar. The study of any kind of music brings about an emotional change. There is a distinct difference between listening passively to music and trying to play it. If you think of yourself as a not particularly sensitive kind of person, you might be surprised at the shades of feeling you are capable of as you make your own interpretation of a piece of music. It is a whole new game of soldiers when you are experiencing music in separate passages that need to be strung together to make a whole new song or instrumental with your personality stamped all over it.

Today’s video features a guitarist who has obviously taken fullest advantge of the benefits available to guitar students.

An alarm clock. Discipline.

You need an alarm clock to learn how to play guitar because at present you may not have any discipline. But if you use the alarm clock diligently, you might develop discipline.

Decide on something you want to do but at the moment you cannot. Let us say for the sake of argument, changing from the Am chord to the G7 chord smoothly.

You set the clock for ten minutes. When the alarm goes off, you stop your practice.

Immediately.

Take a break, have a cup of coffee, check your email, whatever.

Now go back to your guitar practice.

The total length of time you practice is up to you but the important thing is to practice in short bursts punctuated by breaks where you can refresh your energy in some way. If you prefer to play for hours at a time, that is fine but ask yourself at the end of each day, “Am I improving on the guitar?” Right now you need to take other people’s advice on how to practice. If you develop some discipiline in this simple way you will gradually find your own direction without having to seek advice from Ricky or Uncle Google or anybody.

Technorati Tags: learn how to play guitar, guitar practice