Thomas J. West Music

This is a guest post from TeachStreet featured blogger Patrick Vesperman. TeachStreet is a website dedicated to providing online and local classes, as well as guitar lessons.

Practicing seems like a drag to many guitar players. They think it is fruitless, tedious, and definitely something to avoid. But practicing guitar should be a time where you can de-stress, have some alone time, and improve a skill. These should be moments you spend developing your dream of being a better guitar player. Your practice time shouldn’t be an obligation to dread. When you can view practice as a time of enjoyment and growth, real improvement starts to come easier. Here are some simple tips so you can get the most out of your practice time.

1) Find a Time When Your Mind is Fresh and Calm. Focus comes easier and you get more accomplished when your mind is in a state that is ready to accept instruction. Some will find this time in the morning before the busyness of the day begins. Others can only get this mindset after the children are in bed and the house is finally quiet! Whenever you know this time is available, be sure to schedule a slice of time for practicing where you know your mind is going to be most prepared to practice.

2) Find a Dedicated Place. Whether it’s a “man-cave” or some other location, there needs to be a consistent area in your home that can be specified as your practice spot. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. It just needs to be a place where you can keep your equipment and have it ready for you every time you practice.

3) Make Sure Your Guitar Materials Stay Out. This is a something I figured out a long time ago that I still do. Keep your guitar on a guitar stand in a room so you can see it often, instead of in a case hidden in a closet. If your guitar is easy to get to, you have one less step to perform before practicing. You’ll also hear your guitar “calling” to you as you pass it multiple times a day! Plus, any spare time you find, it will be easy to just grab it and practice a little.

4) Log Your Practice. Documenting your practice can be very motivating and rewarding. It doesn’t need to be super detailed. Simply record the date, length of practice, what you worked on, and perhaps a small goal that you can achieve by week’s end. It has been proven that writing something down makes you more accountable for accomplishing it.

5) When You Practice Guitar…really PRACTICE! While practicing, don’t just mess around playing your favorite riffs, popular songs, or “jamming”, etc. Practice time is a time to focus and work on areas you want and need to improve. Focus on things that are hard for you - things that are giving you problems. Play through trouble spots slowly, and break down the songs and even measures… working out each fingering challenge, slowly speeding up as you get them under your control.

Practicing guitar is more about focus than length of time. I always hear people saying they don’t have the time to practice. What I tell them is five minutes of serious practice is much more valuable than half an hour of randomly strumming your guitar on the couch while watching television.

Remember, your dream is to learn guitar! Today is a great day to get closer to mastering it. While there are many things that clamor to fill our day, we need to remember to make time for what is truly significant to us.