subject: 3 Steps To More Effective Guitar Practice [print this page] Plenty of practice, of course, is super important when you're trying to get a handle on guitar. It's been said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master any skill.
More important though is HOW you practice. If you spend your 10,000 hours playing the same AC/DC song over and over, it won't do you much good. And if you go about learning songs the wrong way, it will take longer than it should.
Here's 3 tips on how to practice more efficiently so you can accomplish your guitar goals quicker.
1. Use a metronome. The biggest thing that separates an amateur player from a professional one is how good the groove is. It doesn't matter how fast you can play or how many arpeggios you can whip out if your meter is no good. Using a metronome when you practice will help develop your internal sense of tempo. This will allow you to play with a steady meter whether or not you're playing with a time keeper in a performance. This is important if you play with a drummer. Doubly important if you don't.
2. Slow down. I have a rule with my students: Don't play faster than you can. It sounds foolish, but everyone tries to play faster before they're ready. That doesn't mean you don't want to push yourself. But don't try to play a song at 220 bpm when you can barely handle it at 100 bpm. All you're doing is banging your head against a wall. Instead start at a tempo that's comfortable. Once you can accomplish the piece at that tempo with no mistakes, bump your metronome up just a notch or two. When you can play it there, another notch or two. The effect of changing the tempo that slowly is that your brain doesn't really register that you're going much faster. So it doesn't hold you back from playing accurately. With enough small bumps of the metronome, you'll be flying along at the proper tempo without having to force it.
3. Break up the song. Always break the piece down into small chunks that you can easily accomplish. Depending on the complexity of the piece, those chunks may be a whole section, just a phrase, two measures, one measures, or even just a couple of beats. However small you need to go to accomplish each section without too much work. You should be able to play each chunk 5 times in a row without a mistake before going on to the next one. Then, as you collect your chunks, start sewing them together to create the song. At times this will seem like a longer way of learning. But I guarantee it's more efficient and you'll learn the song more thoroughly than just banging through it top to bottom a zillion times.
Using these three tips you'll be able to master your chosen songs much faster. How you practice is just as important as how much you practice. Put smart practice strategies to work and you'll be a blazing guitarist in no time!
