Forward!
If you’ve played guitar for very long at all, you’ve probably acquired some unconscious practice or performance habits, and some of those habits may be holding you back. Of all the limiting practice patterns that I help people overcome, the most common and insidious is the habit of interrupting forward motion. You may recognize this in your playing as pausing, stopping, backing up, or starting over.
You probably know that stopping during a song is not acceptable in a performance and you may have been coached to keep going when you stumble. But it’s not just in performance that it’s important to keep going. Forward motion may be a lot more important during your practice, because that’s where you both learn new material and practice performing.
Start Here
The practice room is where you ingrain specific ways of thinking, listening, and responding when you play. It’s where you become the guitarist that may go on to perform, whether its for one other person or a crowd. And, perhaps most importantly, the habits you develop in your practice will determine the level of satisfaction you feel when you’re alone with your guitar.
As you may have guessed, there’s something about committing to forward motion in your practice that goes beyond creating an uninterrupted performance. Every time you reject the impulse to stop and judge, reset, or restart, you’re making a commitment, however small, to go deeper into your experience. This is significant, because going deeper is the key to productive practice, artistic performance, creativity, and personal satisfaction.
The Reward
There’s really no substitute for making this commitment and consistently seeing it through. When you do, you’ll probably discover that you know less about a song, scale, or exercise than you thought you did, and you’ll be able to pinpoint the weak parts for targeted practice. You’ll recognize when you need to slow down the whole piece or exercise to play it with accuracy, and you’ll easily when a tempo needs enlivening. You’ll surely recognize more benefits, but the best one is that you will find yourself more deeply immersed in your music each time you pick up your guitar.
If you’ve ever wondered what may be holding you back from fulfilling your potential,
consider a coaching session with me. The brilliant guitarist inside you will thank you!
