Tag: guitar practise

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Not enough practise time? Try this…

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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Should I Buy a New Guitar or Play The One I’ve Already Got?

I have a dilemma: I am really, really tempted to buy a new guitar. Admittedly it is not a life-shattering problem. I have managed to save some money over the last few months by making packed-lunches for work and not spending money on coffee.

But I also see my dilemma as a deeper issue: can I justify buying another guitar when I really don’t play my current guitar as much as I should?

Part of me knows that I am being pulled in by the marketing that a new guitar will make me a better, more inspired guitarist; the other part of me realises the harsh truth that buying a new guitar will not create more time to practice, and that my improvement as a musician is purely reliant on me focusing on developing my skills and putting in the hours of practice.

I am trying to reconcile what will make me happy and what will give me meaning, and these are very different things. Buying a new guitar will make me happy – even though it may be transitory – and there is also the anticipation of ordering a guitar, waiting for it to be delivered and then finally unpacking the box and looking at my shiny new guitar with all the case-candy (even just writing these words makes me want to reach for my credit card!).

But the rational part of me thinks that what I really need to do is play more and practice more: finish those songs I’ve half-written; go through some jazz chord books and expand my harmonic knowledge; re-learn some of the songs I used to be able to play flawlessly, but which are now a little rusty; go through the tutorials from my old guitar magazines; jam along with a backing track. Perhaps if I did this consistently and aggressively, then I could emerge like a Ibanez-swirled-butterfly from the lock-down chrysalis.

As I’m writing these words, a thought just occurred to me: maybe I should do both: rather than choosing one or the other, I could buy a new guitar and change my mind-set to practice more consistently. Maybe a new guitar will be the catalyst to kick-start my motivation?

If you have any suggestions, put them in the comments!

Latest book available on Amazon now!

My latest book ‘Guitar Gymnasium: Habits, Hacks and Tricks to Accelerate Your Playing‘ is available on Amazon now.