I hate the word “multi-tasking” as it usually means doing two things poorly rather than one thing well. In my youth – when I had no responsibilities – I would practise in a very focused manner; if I wanted to improve my alternate picking, I would practise something like this:
Likewise, if I wanted to practise legato, I would do this:
Nowadays I have limited practise time and I want to maximise my learning as much as possible. By combining different elements into a single exercise, I can train multiple skills at the same time. For instance, I am currently learning the blues scale all over the neck and I also want to improve my alternate picking, so I have combined them into the following exercise:
I could also combine the blues scale with things like legato…
…or tapping….
If you’ve read my book ‘Guitar Gymnasium’ you probably know that I find it beneficial to sing the notes that I am playing on the guitar. This trains my ear and improves the connection between my fingers and my brain. If I did this with any of the examples above, I would be practising three things at the same time.
There are definite benefits to focusing on a single element and getting into the Zen-state, but if you are struggling to find time to practise, this method may help maximise your learning time.
My latest book ‘Guitar Gymnasium: Habits, Hacks and Tricks to Accelerate Your Playing‘ is available on Amazon now.
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