Practice Tips For The Guitarist

It's a good idea to practice at least a little every day. You should set aside some time each day to practice undisturbed, even if it's only 10 or 15 minutes a day. You will still see marked improvement from day to day or week to week if you practice a little every day.

Balance your practice sessions out. Don't just practice your chops, work on your brain power too. 9 out of 10 guitarists spend 6 months learning new things on the guitar and the next 10 years recycling the things they learned in the first 6 months that they began to play.

Spend part of your practice sessions working on your chops and part of your practice session learning new things and concepts that can apply to your playing.

Don't get frustrated! You may not see improvement overnight, but you will see improvement eventually. If you're having problems learning to play something, don't beat yourself up about it. You'll get it if you keep at it from day to day.

Set both short and long term goals. You may want to keep a journal to list your goals and keep track of your progress towards those goals. An example of a short term goal may be to learn 5 basic chord patterns and their barred versions. An example of a long term goal may be to learn all the notes on the fretboard.

Try recording a practice session then go back a month or two later and listen to it. You'll be amazed at the progress you've made if you've stuck with regular practice.

If you start to feel too much discomfort in your hands and/or fingers from practicing you may want to take a break or wait until the next day to continue. Over time the muscles in your hands will develop to the point where they won't cramp as much, and your fingertips will develop hard calluses.

Concentrate on your weaknesses. Don't spend most of your practice time on the areas that you would consider your strengths. Take the time to make your weaknesses
strong, too.

Keep fresh material. At http://guitaralliance.com we can provide you with tons of material to keep your practice sessions fresh (if you're not a member yet then now is a great time to join).

Remember: When working through the material don't get ahead of yourself. If you come across something that you do not understand don't skip it and go on
to something else. Stop and click the support button or visit the forums so that you get the help you need to understand. Skipping material is like skippingchapters in a novel: you'll be scratching your head in confusion.

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