subject: When You've Committed Seriously To Beginning Guitar Lessons, How Can You Make Time For Practice? [print this page] When You've Committed Seriously To Beginning Guitar Lessons, How Can You Make Time For Practice?
Many people start following a series of guitar tutorials, then realise they are going to need an unbelievable amount of practice if they actually want to get any good at it. Whichever way you look at it, it's true. There's no denying that only regular practice will get you there. The thing is not to focus on how to make more time for practice - but to look at how you can make the most of the time you already have. In other words, you need an effective time efficiency strategy.Now, I'm not saying you should just grab a few minutes here and there and practice at every opportunity. This is not the same as having a committed and executable practice plan that you can follow. You should, at the very least, make sure you can manage one 30 minute slot each and every day that is dedicated to guitar practice. Assuming you are committed to the (minimum) 30 minutes daily, the next thing to do is put together your guitar tutorials training plan. You can do this as a Word or Excel document, if you wish, or simply draw it out on a piece of paper. Once a week (Sunday evening usually works for me) sit down in a quiet place and consider what you want to achieve from your practice over the next week. Study the lessons you are currently working on, and estimate how far you think you can go. For each day, note what you particularly want to practice. Try to mix things up a bit, so that your practice regime is fun and interesting. Boring practice sessions, repeating the same thing day in day out, can be de-motivating. For instance, you could practice a certain guitar technique one day, then study some theory the next. When complete, transfer your rough notes into your practice plan.Now, make sure your chosen practice area is geared up for efficiency. First of all, you need to make sure you won't be disturbed. If you have family at home when you are practicing, put up on a notice board a copy of your planned practice schedule. They will then know that you are unavailable at this time, and not to be disturbed. They need to know how serious you are about learning the guitar - and this means being absolutely serious about practice. Finally, you don't want to be wasting time at each session setting up gear. Organise your practice area so you can walk in and begin playing straight away. If you are learning on an acoustic guitar, this should not be too difficult. Just make it so that, each time you practice, you are able to quickly review your daily guitar tutorials plan, understand what it is you are working on that day, and begin work immediately.
