Too many times I have seen friends of mine starting to learn the guitar and they give up as it seems they cannot take the pain and the exercises.
They say things like:
“It’s too hard for me”
or
“I don’t have the spare time to practice”
or
“I’m not getting the results I want”
or
“I’m too tired to keep practicing”.
Friends of mine who give up on the guitar after a few months old. Why is that? I have asked myself that question many a time. After all, you not only have to practice a lot but also you have to find the time and place to play.
If you are not getting the results you want, then why quit?
Playing the guitar is not easy. As I said, it is not easy to master a skill and get results like:
1) Playing a melody on a guitar
2) Can hold a whole song together (improvising)
3) Can perform high jumps
4) Can play a death metal solo
5) Can play an impressive guitar solo
To master all those areas, you have to practice a lot. So where do you find practice time?
invigorating!
Here are some ideas…
- Practice with a Mentor – find a guitarist who has become successful as a studio musician and ask him/her to be your mentor. Teach the person some of your best techniques. Your instructor will appreciate your efforts and Cliff’s notes and endorse your efforts.
- Home Work – this is where you really boost your skills. Get good enough to perform with a band or have a backing track (a.k.a jam track) using your computer or iPod. Download all sorts of backing tracks from the net, but make sure that you practice with them so that you master those particular tracks. Using backing tracks is a great way to learn scale sequence, licks and get faster. This will also help you improvise.
- Community Guitar – find a group of guitarists and ask them to jam with you. This is perfect for developing solo improvisation. Some of those people might be more successful at soloing after jamming with you.
- Record yourself playing the guitar. This way you will see how much you need to learn. You can later decide to pick some of your characteristics (tone, phrasing, speed, finger dexterity, accurate picking,uting, etc…)
- Listen to other guitar music. Sometimes you can learn from other musicians with whom you would not otherwise connect in a musical way.
- Develop your own guitar style. Do not be afraid to experiment a little to create new, unique music for yourself.
- Feel the music – believe that you have the right to express yourself through your guitar if you believe in your playing. Combine different musical elements together. Write different songs, and play them. Some succeed in this dare, most fail. Remember, the only goal is to learn how to play the guitar. The rest will come with practice, perseverance and patience.
- Emulate the greats. Pick an idol, a player or a musician that you really admire. Learn all you can about their musical style. Note their technique. Note where their influences come from. If you do this, you will be developing your own style in no time.
- Get a good guitar course. There are some outstanding online guitar lessons where you can get quality, high-quality training that will get you results right away.
- Learn one new thing everyday. Create a little exercise or aPages in your notebook to get your musical ideas flowing. Even learning new things in your job such a Tim who is a ready mix concrete supplier, found a new way to pour concrete and he told me it helped him with better ideas to play the guitar.
- Find other musicians with whom you can jam. Jamming is a great way to practice technique and practice improvising.
- Play with a metronome. The metronome can help you keep steady time.
- Find a backing track for yourself. Some jam tracks are downloadable. Find a widely contrasting backing that will encourage you to practice. Playing with a backing track will also help you learn to sync your internal timing to the external beat.
- Find other musicians to jam with. If you jam with anyone else, be open to playing in a duo, trio, or larger ensemble. Otherwise, start thinking about creating a band.