There are two main factors when it comes to discipline in practice. They are practicing regularly, and practicing well. Both of these are important points.
Practicing regularly is the most obvious and easy thing to do. Basically, you should play the guitar every day. These don’t need to be mammoth, three hour long sessions, 30 minutes will generally be fine if you are focused during that time. Doing regular, small amounts of practice throughout the week is far better than doing one or two long sessions.
Life gets busy and it can be hard to make the time to practice but to be honest, 30 minutes a day is achievable for most people. There is no set time that is best for practice but many people prefer to do it in the evening simply because they find that playing the guitar is a relaxing way to wind down after a stressful day.
Practicing well is a much harder thing to do and there are many reasons for why this is the case.
Bad practice affects even the most experienced player but it can be overcome with some help. Here are some of the problems that you may have when practicing and some useable solutions:
1) Problem: Getting stuck in a rut. This is a very common problem that affects nearly all guitarists at some point in time. You end up playing the same thing over and over every time you play and you can’t seem to move on to anything new.
Solution: Aspire to play everything perfectly. However, if you are stuck on this one thing and you feel like practice is getting a little stale, you should really move on to something else that inspires you. It is so important to be inspired in your practice and you can always come back to something later when you are in the right mood.
2) Problem: Moving on to new skills too quickly. Also a very common problem, moving on too quickly will ultimately turn you into a “jack of all trades and a master of none”.
Solution: This problem is the opposite of the last problem we looked at. You can now see that there is a balance between too much and not enough emphasis on perfecting a song. You should master each thing before you go on to the next, but if you are finding a particular skill impossible to master and you are dying of boredom trying, maybe that skill is a little out of your reach. In this case, it is best to go back and learn something less difficult.
3) Problem: Becoming narrow minded in relation to the different areas of learning within musicianship. Some people get into the situation where they are practicing only one style and neglecting everything else.
Solution: Try splitting your playing into parts. For example, spend 5 minutes practicing new scales or chords, 10 minutes working on writing new music and maybe 15 minutes learning a new song or part of a song. This way, your practice never gets boring and you can achieve a lot more.
4) Problem: Playing things too fast when learning them. This can cause you to become disillusioned with your playing when you are trying to learn a new song.
Solution: A fairly obvious solution here – Slow down. Try playing a song or new skill at a slow speed before trying it at a fast pace.
Practicing properly and regularly is the best way to become good at anything including playing the guitar. This requires discipline; not only discipline to practice regularly, but also discipline to stay focused and on track when you are practicing. If you stay disciplined with your playing you will develop in to an excellent player.
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