So a couple days ago we talked about how to approach practice. That is, finding the sweet spot between attempting something too challenging and working on something too easy. Ideally, you should be working in an area that is challenging enough to be interesting but not so challenging that it’s overly frustrating. We also discussed the importance of setting small, attainable goals that you can reach on a regular basis. With that in mind, let’s now get into the applicable techniques of practice itself.
Now when I used the word “techniques” in reference to practice, it most likely didn’t stand out to you in any special way. It’s not unusual to talk about practice in terms of the techniques that are used. But let’s take a moment to really look at that word in the context of practice. Something that is often missed by guitarists is the fact that practice is just as much a skill as playing guitar. Just like guitar, there are specific techniques that can be done correctly or incorrectly, that can be focused on or ignored. They take time to master and, the better you get at the techniques, the better you get at the overall skill. However, the cool thing about practice techniques is that you can simultaneously practice them while practicing the guitar. The key is knowing what they are and how they work. If you’re becoming more skillful at practice, your ability to increase your guitar skills will grow exponentially over time. This concept is the reason why it can seem so daunting to a beginner when trying to understand how a master can play the way they do. From the beginner’s perspective, it seems impossible to achieve that level of playing. This is because, if you were to continue at the pace a beginner learns on the guitar, it would take centuries to achieve master level. Thankfully, you don’t have to continue at that pace. When you know how to practice efficiently and increase your practice skill, your rate of progress increases consistently. Not to get too “Inception” with it, but even the rate of increasing your rate of progress can increase heh heh. Seriously though.
Okay, let’s break it down. There are two basic elements to practicing the guitar, the mental and the physical. To simplify things a bit, the mental is essentially your ability to memorize things on the guitar. The physical is simply your dexterity, speed, finger strength, etc. While there are definite crossovers between these two elements, it’s extremely useful to see them as being separate things. One requires study and repetition while the other requires focused and controlled repetition. With this in mind, I’ll point out a common mistake people make with practice. Before working on the physical side of something, you must have the technique or part memorized. For the memorization side of things, whatever you practice is what you are programming into your brain. If you don’t quite have something properly memorized and you repeat a part over and over again with mistakes, you will solidify those mistakes. To really be successful with it, you must memorize the part or technique first and then work on the physical side. This is critical. You must practice something perfectly in order to end up with a perfect result. Force of will just isn’t enough to achieve clean and fluid technique at high speeds. Let’s boil that down to a rule to remember – whatever and however you practice is what your end result will look like.
So how do you do that? If you’re new to something, how can you memorize it without playing it over and over again, risking solidifying your mistakes? At first glance, this might seem impossible. This is where optimized practice techniques come into the picture. Thinking of the two elements I mentioned above, basically the biggest mistakes that guitarists make are to rush memorization and to rush to playing something at full speed. The trick is to break something down into small, digestible sections and to repeat them extremely slowly. If you’re learning a full song or solo, don’t try to learn the whole thing at once. If you take out a small section to start with and you’re still struggling to memorize it, make it even smaller to start with. Don’t worry about how long this takes at first – I promise that, over time, you’ll be able to take on longer and longer sections. The more effective your memorization practice becomes, the faster you will become at memorizing things. That’s just how the brain works. So the next thing is to repeat the small section for the sake of memorization. The key here is to work extremely slowly. Don’t worry about using the metronome until you have the part completely memorized. If you can’t remember exactly what note comes next at an extremely slow speed, how can you possibly remember it while rushing through it? This mistake can feel like running straight into a wall. But this wall is not a limitation on your ability to play. You’re simply approaching it in a way that can’t work effectively. So take your time and truly memorize the part first – always.
For some of you, that might seem rather elementary. It should as it’s a real fundamental. But all of us, at times, get so used to fundamentals that we stop taking advantage of them. Impatience can put us in the complete opposite state of mind that we should be in while practicing. This is where the points I mentioned in the previous article really come into play. When you balance your practice routine properly, practice becomes satisfying and rewarding. It’s huge.
Okay so now I will get into the part that is the true game changer (when coupled with everything else I’ve mentioned). Once the part or section is memorized, it’s time to lock it in with a metronome and begin practicing the physical side of things. Keep in mind that, while practicing your dexterity and speed for one pattern or section, you are simultaneously practicing your general dexterity, speed and even timing. It can easily be compared to going to the gym. If you’re lifting weights, you aren’t simply practicing lifting weights. There is a larger benefit to every exercise you do. Just like lifting weights, this practice technique is all about repetition. Take the memorized part or section and play it with the metronome at a very slow setting. I always like to say that it should be “ridiculously slow” to start with. The point, again, is that you are able to play it perfectly without making a mistake. Once you find a speed that is extremely easy for you to start with, play the pattern 5 times in a row without making a mistake. At this point, increase the metronome by 2 bpm and repeat the process. I admit that this process will seem tedious at first, but it really does become fun and rewarding the more you do it. Work your way up the metronome this way until you hit a speed where you can’t get through 5 perfect repetitions in a row. Once this happens, take a break from practicing that part or section for the day. Strangely, when you wake up the next day you may find that your skill has increased beyond where it was when you left off the day before. Studies have been done on this phenomenon and the evidence points to the idea that your brain continues practicing while you are sleeping. It might sound ridiculous, but my own experience has made me a firm believer in it. I utilize this for preparing every song I do each month.
The cumulative effect of this is incredible. Because I believe any of you can do it, I will say that I can typically perfect an entire song in two days using this method (save for when there is new and extremely difficult technique involved). That isn’t because I have some special talent for it, it’s strictly from utilizing these steps and principles. The more I do it, the better I get at practice. The better I get at practice, the faster I can learn anything. Follow these steps and you will find yourself experiencing the same results.
I know this article is going on way too long now, but I feel I should add one more thing. Every process I have mentioned gets faster and easier the more you do it. Like anything, it can be tedious or seem endless at first. I promise that doesn’t last. Stick with it and you will find yourself addicted to the process of practicing.
Dan Mumm
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