How To Practice
For the Student and Parent
Practicing requires as much physical work as it does mental work and this holds especially true for the guitar. When you practice you are not only teaching your fingers to do things they haven’t done before but you are also learning a new instrument and language while at the same time teaching your ears to hear in new ways.
1. If your practicing is rushed or unfocused your time will be largely wasted and your progress will be negatively impacted. With this in mind use your time wisely and carefully, be patient and observe the following.
• Build a private and quiet practice place that includes all the items you will need including a music stand, instrument stand, picks, pencils, music you are working on, a tuner and a small table. This should be a place you want to go to and should have all the elements required for a productive session.
• Begin by establishing a Timeframe for your practice session and then divide that timeframe into smaller tasks . Create a group of tasks to achieve and then apply the time frames to the tasks.
Session Duration – Divided by Small Tasks Durations
Example:
30 minutes divided by 3 = 3 X 10 minutes
Apply these time segments to tasks:
Scales – 10 minutes
Learning a Song – 10 minutes
Chords – 10 minutes
2. Play and practice at a tempo (speed) at which you are making no mistakes, never play faster than you can think, always “slowly and accurately”.
3. Repetitions of the task should always be with full concentration with your ears wide open listening carefully for a musical result. Engage your mind as well as your fingers and allow your eyes to assist both your left and right hands and never forget to listen to what you are playing.
4. If you get bored redirect your attention. Work with steady concentration and stay focused for the duration of the task/timeframe and breathe. Clear your mind and concentrate.
5. Make sure your instrument is always tuned perfectly, use a digital tuner. The sounds that are coming from your instrument should make you excited to practice. Never be satisfied with anything less than an enjoyable musical experience.
“Perfect Performance begins with Perfect Practice”
For complete articles on practice go to the My Guitar Pal blog at http://myguitarpal.com/blog/
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