Is Your Practice Getting Stale?
Some things we do every day, such as warm-up exercises, scales, or arpeggios, are the cornerstones of productive practice. But those daily exercises will cease to provide benefits if you stop giving them your full attention or you neglect to adapt them to your current level.
It’s important to establish a habit of getting to the practice room and devoting time to your goals, but that habit shouldn’t extend to the details of your practice. Once your guitar is in your hands, give your full attention to it. Commit to musicality in all you do, rather than drilling your songs and exercises in a habitual way. (If you’re working with You & Your Guitar, you will find the DAILY is a big help with this!)
Freshen Up!
It’s important to establish a habit of getting to the practice room and devoting time to your goals, but that habit shouldn’t extend to the details of your practice. Once your guitar is in your hands, give your full attention to it. Commit to musicality in all you do, rather than drilling your songs and exercises in a habitual way. (If you’re working with You & Your Guitar, you will find the DAILY is a big help with productive practice!)
There are plenty of ways to create fresh and productive practice. Here are a few ideas to start with and you can invent more. Be sure to use a metronome on all of them!
- Set your metronome to half the tempo you are accustomed to playing. As you perform your chosen exercise, focus deeply on one or more of the following: sound (including clarity, tone, and dynamics), finger placement, hand position, posture, body tension, or your breath.
- Play the scale or exercise backwards or try starting and ending on different notes than you usually do.
- Combine exercises. You might, for example, begin with a major scale pattern and after the first octave, switch to a chromatic scale. Then, in the descending scale, switch again a time or two, incorporating any scales you are working on.
- Change the note values as you play. Start by playing a scale in eighth notes and after four beats switch to half notes, quarter notes, sixteenth notes, or triplets. Continue changing note values every four beats.
- Double the number of strokes per beat by playing each note in the scale or exercise twice (down, up alternating with the pick) before moving to the next note. To challenge your alternate pick technique, play each note three times.
- Be on the lookout for new scales and exercises. Incorporate them into your daily routine and let go of the ones that you have mastered.
The most important thing to remember for limitless learning and optimal satisfaction is to be fully present and mentally engaged each time you pick up your guitar!
