Tag: practice

Avoiding Guitar Practice Hypnosis!

Nicole Neal2 Comments

I’m sure we’ve all been there (I certainly have done in my time) – playing a scale or an exercise over and over and over and over and over and over and over….. And then before you know it 20 minutes has passed and all you’ve done is play one scale and it’s not really changed much from when you started and you can’t even really recall what you were doing in that 20 minutes!

Practice – regular, consistent practice – is of the utmost importance, but so is how you practice.

Mindlessly playing through pieces start to finish, skipping over stumbling blocks, playing scales and other technical exercises for the sake of playing them or without understanding why we’re doing them can, at best, be a limit to progress, embedding bad habits, limiting the introduction of better habits, limiting real listening and active, focussed practice.

At worst, practicing, practicing and practicing without actually thinking about what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and importantly, why can also lead to physical pain and potentially longer-term physical damage to the hands and arm.

Playing and practicing without being aware of what you’re doing, even with the most seemingly simple of movements can instill bad habits. We must take care with and be really aware of even the most simple of movements and hand positioning in case we (a) injure ourselves (pins and needles or carpal tunnel syndrome anyone?) or (b) find months or years down the track that we’ve picked up a bad habit that we have to unlearn and replace with the correct technique (and I should know in this instance, I’ve been there) or we’re not going to be able to progress much further.

Understanding what you’re doing, why you’re doing and how is absolutely key. Slow, concerted and focussed practice of studies, of new pieces, of tricky sections, even of our true and trusted pieces gives you a key foundation stone of learning to play correctly – with precision and accuracy, with speed, with poise, and with fantastic sound (because of course, you’ll be playing with complete awareness of the sound quality you’re making right?).

Awareness

When practicing with awareness, touching base with basic movements, more or less each time you practice is advisable – these are your scales, your arpeggios, and various other left hand and right hand exercises that may be relevant to the pieces you’re playing or learning at the moment. Practicing these slowly with great control, precision, awareness of movement, before speeding things up (if required) is important, as is being aware of which exercises may help.

And being aware of the sound you want to make, as well as the physical mechanics of playing is also vitally important. We should ideally aim to be continually striving for this in our practice, in our exercises and pieces. We may initially do this in isolation perhaps, or in glimmering moments of awesomeness during a piece. However, over time (and yes, it does take time), that slow, focussed and applied practice will start to bear to fruit. I promise you.

Bust out of that habit

So the next time you sit down to practice, remind yourself of what you’re going to practice, how and, importantly, why. And if the practice hypnosis is too beguiling…… play that scale again, play that scale again, play that scale again, play that scale again….. Ahh! Yes, if it’s too beguiling then perhaps set yourself a little timer or buzzer or something to prod you every 5 or 10 minutes, to wake you out of your practice reverie and make yourself ask the questions “Am I practicing what I need to be practicing? How far away am I from it sounding as I want it to sound? What do I need to do differently?”

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Slow and steady wins the race – regular practice is the key to classical guitar mastery

Nicole NealLeave a comment

Put purely and simply, if you’re not practicing you’re probably not going to progress very well with the guitar (unless, of course, you have some kind of special superpowers!). And when I say practicing, I don’t mean just once or twice a week, I mean frequent and regular practice. Ideally this means daily practice, and at the very least every other day.

Playing guitar is like any other skill that you may choose to turn your attention to – getting “good” (however you may choose to define that) simply doesn’t happen overnight. It requires dedication and actively choosing to put in the work and the time required. It is said that to obtain mastery of a particular skill you need to dedicate around 10,000 hours to the pursuit of that skill. That’s a lot of hours!

When I say “daily practice” it doesn’t have to be great whacking chunks of daily practice time. I’ll bet you my right arm that you’ll progress much faster, experience greater improvements and consequently enjoy your playing a whole lot more by spending even just 15-20 minutes daily on practice, than if you spent two hours in one sitting, or even two lots of one hour.

Why is this?

This is all to do with how the brain works. The brain works best when it has seen and experienced something numerous times, rather than one big, fat chunk of something just once or twice. The brain also functions best when its not stressed, when it’s rested, and when it’s having fun. It also likes a good drink of water and fed well to keep the neurons firing!

So, a little and often works best where practice is concerned, especially so when just starting with the guitar, or learning a new technique, or even a new piece.

Amount of time for practice?

This all depends on numerous factors – your stage of learning, your attention span, other stuff going on in your life right now, exams or performances coming up, time between coffees and so. You’re probably a pretty good judge of how much time is right for you (trust yourself!), but talk to your teacher or even drop me a line if you need some direction with that.

Compounding interest

As you progress you’ll come to realise the compounding effect of that work you put in in the early days. Your technique improves, your left hand becomes more agile, more stretchy, more accurate, your right hand movements become more and more refined, more powerful, your tone improves, your musical awareness becomes more and more developed, your understanding of the instrument, its capabilities and musical expression become ever greater. This is you building your foundation – and it will allow you to build a most fantastic edifice on top.

Once you’ve done this work, and you keep doing it, it’s like cash stashed away in a long-term “locked” high-interest savings account – it’s there, it’s all yours as a result of your hard work, and it’s earning more and more compounding interest as you put more and more in, earning you ever greater returns.

But I’m just not talented and it’s sooo challenging!

Yes, talent is one thing and will determine how quickly or otherwise you may pick up a technical skill, but perseverance, dedication and PRACTICE will the greatest determinant of your guitar-playing success. I have a little postcard on my studio wall with a quote from the great Winston Churchill as a reminder of this to my students. It simply says “Never, never, never give up” – sometimes we may feel as if we’re not getting very far and that our practice is in vain.

Well, let me remind you that these things are incremental – it’s like a tree growing. If you watch it intently, closely every day (as you’re doing with your practice) it will seem as if it’s not doing anything. Your teacher, however, or your friends and family will most definitely be able to see and hear the change week to week, month to month and beyond. Before you realise it your tree will be touching the sky. Keep practicing!

And don’t just take my word for it, Maestro David Russell has a bit to say about this too:

http://www.davidrussellguitar.com/index.php/home/tips-for-guitarists