Most
Guitar players pick up their guitar for
a practice session, and straight away
start playing, then they just start
playing songs they already know, put
their guitar down and that’s it. If this
sounds like you, I can help you, so read
the rest of this article.
What is an
‘Effective Practice Session’? It is when
you actually gain something from it,
whether it be a new skill, technique,
lick, song etc. How do you go about
creating an ‘Effective Practice
Session’? Follow these steps…
-
Clear Your
Practice Area
You do not want any distractions while
you are trying to practice, so get rid
of anything that could distract you such
as the radio, TV, phone, people (please
do it nicely though) etc.
-
Warm Up
No matter what you are playing, you need
to be fully warmed up to have an
‘Effective Practice Session’. To do
this, just start by shaking your hands
around trying to create blood flow to
the tips of your fingers, then do some
left and right hand exercises on the
guitar such as hammer on and pull off
scale, alternating picking to a
metronome or chromatic scales.
-
Make a
Decision
Decide what you actually want to get out
of the practice session, make it
realistic to the time you have e.g.
don’t say you want to write a full song
if you only have 10 minutes. You may
choose you want to learn a new song,
write a new song, get better at a
certain technique, learn a new
technique, the possibilities are
endless.
-
Make a Mental
Plan
In your head, quickly decide how you are
going to reach the goal you set above.
If you are writing a song this may be to
find a riff, then a vocal melody, then
some lyrics. If you are trying to learn
a new song this may be to listen to the
song, find a tab/sheet music, and learn
the song. Don’t skip this as it is an
important part of having an effective
Guitar practice session.
-
Take Action
Start working your way through the
mental plan you created above, all the
way to the last step.
-
End on a
Success
Whatever you do, make sure that you end
on a success. What I mean by that is if
you were trying to learn a part of a
song, make sure you play it perfectly
before packing up, even if you play it
at one fourth of the speed! This will
make you more motivated for future
practice sessions and will help you
greatly.
If you follow the steps above, and use
them each and every time you pick up
your guitar for practice, you will see a
huge increase in what you are achieving
during your practice sessions.
Good Luck!
