The Significance of Practicing the Guitar

The best way to get better at doing something, to be able to do it effortlessly, nail it and perfect it, is to practice it daily.

Hard work always trumps natural talent in my book. With enough hard work, you can be the best at what you do. This is why athletes train regularly, every single day of the week. And this is precisely why every guitarist should practice playing the guitar on a regular (preferably daily) basis.

This is one of the first things a teacher tells his students: the importance of practicing the guitar daily. Even if you’re an experienced and seasoned guitar player, who’s been in the business since forever, you still need to practice playing the instrument on the daily basis.

How big and successful a musician/guitarist you go on to become depends on the amount of time you dedicate to practice – how often you practice, and the number of hours you put into it.

It is important to note that playing at your local bar, or performing on-stage on a daily basis is not ‘practice’. Practicing, per se, refers to learning to do something new, something that you haven’t done before. It requires you to step out of your comfort zone. Practicing means learning to play something complex and learn it from scratch. It refers to working on your technique and acquiring new skills while honing your existing ones. Practicing means challenging yourself to improve, do better and learn something on a constant and consistent basis!

Often times, you’ll come across guitarists who have achieved a certain level of competence, but cannot seem to go beyond it. They might be immensely experienced, with a decade or two of experience under their belts, however their guitar play remains mediocre or ordinary, to say the least. They play the same songs, same riffs, same chords, and the same solos. This sort of complacent attitude and shoddy guitar-play usually stems from a lack of practice.

As you grow older, you’re burdened with a growing list of personal and professional responsibilities. Life gets busy, and there’s less time to do the things that you need to do. You’ll discover that practicing on a daily basis becomes more of an issue.

One of the best ways to overcome this problem is by developing a practice regime.

Set aside at least 10 or 20 minutes in your day, which are exclusively devoted to practicing the instrument. Do it early in the day (as soon as you get up), late at night (right before you turn in), after you get back from work, or during the lunch break at the office, for instance. Use it as a way to relieve some stress, and be alone from the rest of the world, sort of like a bit of ‘me-time’. Not only will this help you relax and escape the worries and tensions of the world, it’ll also allow you to put in some solid practice time.

Keep a log of all your practice sessions including the amount of time you’re putting into it, regardless of how long you practice. Review you practice session at the end of the week in order to determine how you can improve, what you can do to get better, while strategizing ways of increasing your practice time.

Determine what you’ll practice during your time every day. As I said before, try stepping out of your comfort zone and pushing the envelope a bit. Yes, you’ve practiced the solo from Nothing Else Matters a hundred-and-one times now, there’s no point trying to play it again. Instead, why not give Master of Puppets a go today? It has a tricky solo which might be a bit difficult to master, but with enough practice, you’ll eventually be able to do it, learning a bunch of stuff in the process and taking your guitar play to the next level.

Use your practice time to build your muscle strength. Playing the guitar or learning to do so is easier said than done, and it is as much of a physical test as anything else. Playing the guitar requires a lot of wrist and finger strength, and impeccable hand-eye coordination. You are required to move your hand and your fingers around the fretboard quickly and accurately. You can learn how to master this during your practice sessions.

The time that you set aside for your practice sessions depends solely on you. 10-20 minutes a day is the bare minimum – more, if you possibly can. Remember that there’s no such thing has ‘skipping it today and making up for it tomorrow’. That beats the whole purpose of daily practicing.

Learning to play the guitar is a frustrating process, as I’m sure you already know (or will soon find out if you don’t). You knew what you were getting into. Getting frustrated is something that you’ll certainly experience – your frustration might stem from the fact that you might not be making the kind of progress you were hoping to, or you might not think you’re good enough or if you’ll ever be as good as someone you idolize. The truth is that (a) ‘progress’ is not something that happens overnight and I hate to break it to you but you’re pretty much in this for the long haul, and (b) your idols weren’t born with those sort of skills; I suggest you look up some interviews on Youtube where you’ll discover that it took them years and years of hard work and practice to get where they are today! Playing the guitar became a part of them, a part of their lives. But above all, they are where they are today because the loved playing more than anything.

Squidoo has a great article on how to practice the guitar effectively. I recommend all budding and old guitar player go through this. Just remember that greatness isn’t achieved instantaneously. Keep practicing in a daily basis, challenge yourself to do better, and pretty soon you’ll see a marked improvement in your guitar play, which will make you a kickass guitar player, build confidence and become more disciplined and committed.