Mastering Guitar: Strategies to Make Your Learning Stick

As a guitarist, you’re always looking to improve your skills and retain what you learn. To make your practice more effective and ensure that your hard-earned skills stick, consider incorporating these key strategies: Retrieval, Spacing, and Interleaving (RSI). Here’s how you can apply these techniques, along with some additional tips, to your guitar practice.

Retrieval Practice: Test Yourself Regularly

One of the most powerful ways to improve your guitar playing is through retrieval practice. Instead of passively reviewing scales or songs, actively test yourself. After practicing a new technique or piece, create a quiz for yourself. For example, after learning a new scale, try to play it from memory or improvise using that scale. This active recall helps strengthen your ability to remember and apply what you’ve learned.

Spacing: Spread Out Your Practice Sessions

Avoid cramming all your guitar practice into one long session. Instead, spread out your practice over several days. For instance, if you’re working on a new piece or technique, practice it for a short time each day rather than for several hours in one go. This spaced repetition allows the material to sink in more deeply and improves your long-term retention.

Interleaving: Mix Up Your Practice

Interleaving is all about mixing different skills or topics within a single practice session. Instead of focusing solely on one technique, like scales, try mixing in other areas such as chords, rhythm exercises, and fingerpicking. For example, during one practice session, alternate between working on scales, practicing chord progressions, and playing rhythm exercises. This approach keeps your practice sessions dynamic and enhances your ability to apply different skills in various contexts.

Varied Practice: Create Variations

Practicing variations of a technique or scale is more effective than doing the same thing repeatedly. Instead of always playing a C major scale from C to C and back, try different variations. Play it in different positions on the guitar neck, incorporate different rhythmic patterns, or use it in various musical contexts. These variations challenge you to adapt and apply your knowledge in new ways, leading to better mastery.

Daily Reflection: Review and Reflect

Set aside time each day to reflect on what you’ve practiced. After your practice session, spend a few minutes thinking about what you’ve learned and write down your reflections. This process helps consolidate your learning and makes it easier to recall and apply the material in the future. Writing about your practice also helps clarify your understanding and track your progress.

Write to Learn: Engage Actively

The effort you put into learning directly affects how well you remember it. Listening to guitar lessons or reading about techniques is useful, but writing down what you’ve learned or working through exercises in a practice journal engages your mind more deeply. After practicing a new technique, write about it or summarize what you’ve learned. This active engagement helps solidify the information in your memory.

Use Visual Aids: Enhance Memory with Images

Visual aids can help you remember guitar concepts more effectively. For example, when learning new chord shapes or scales, use diagrams or images to visualize their patterns on the guitar neck. Associating images with concepts can create strong mental connections, making it easier to recall them during practice.

Understand Cognitive Biases: Be Aware of Your Learning Gaps

Be mindful of cognitive biases that can affect your learning. The curse of knowledge means you might forget what it’s like to be a beginner. This can make it challenging to break down complex techniques for others or even for yourself. Additionally, the false consensus effect might lead you to believe that others understand guitar concepts as well as you do. Recognizing these biases can help you become a better learner and teacher.

Elaboration: Deepen Your Understanding

Elaboration involves expanding on what you’ve learned by thinking of different ways to use it. For instance, after learning a new chord, explore different progressions or songs that use that chord. Think about how you can apply the new technique in various musical contexts. This deep processing helps create more connections in your brain, making it easier to recall and use the information.

By incorporating these strategies into your guitar practice, you’ll enhance your ability to learn and retain new skills. Remember, the key to making your guitar practice stick is to engage actively, reflect regularly, and use varied and spaced practice methods. Happy playing!

BONUS – Here are some case studies to better understand how the concepts above work.

Retrieval Practice: Test Yourself Regularly

Example: John’s Jazz Guitar Journey

John, a jazz guitarist, noticed that his improvisation skills improved significantly when he started using retrieval practice. Instead of just running through jazz scales, he began setting up regular “quiz” sessions. For example, after learning a new scale, John would record himself playing improvisations without looking at his notes. This active recall not only helped him remember the scales better but also improved his ability to use them creatively in different musical contexts.

Spacing: Spread Out Your Practice Sessions

Case Study: Emily’s Classical Guitar Technique

Emily, found that her technique and endurance improved when she started applying spaced repetition. Initially, she would practice her pieces in long, exhausting sessions. After learning about spaced practice, she adjusted her schedule to practice her pieces for shorter periods each day. For instance, instead of practicing for two hours in one sitting, she would practice for 30 minutes a day over several days. This approach allowed her to retain the nuances of each piece more effectively and avoid burnout.

Interleaving: Mix Up Your Practice

Example: Carlos’s Versatile Guitar Skills

Carlos, a session guitarist, began incorporating interleaving into his practice routine to handle diverse musical styles. In one session, he would alternate between practicing scales, working on chord progressions, and mastering fingerpicking patterns. For example, he might start by practicing a major scale, switch to working on a jazz chord progression, and then move on to a blues fingerpicking exercise. This varied approach helped Carlos develop a more adaptable playing style and improved his ability to switch between different genres seamlessly.

Varied Practice: Create Variations

Case Study: Sarah’s Songwriting Success

Sarah, an aspiring songwriter, used varied practice to enhance her creativity. Rather than playing the same chord progressions over and over, she began experimenting with different variations. For example, instead of just playing a basic C major chord, she explored different voicings and inversions, and incorporated these variations into her songwriting. This approach not only helped Sarah come up with more unique and interesting chord progressions but also improved her overall understanding of harmony.

Daily Reflection: Review and Reflect

Example: Tom’s Progress Tracking

Tom, an advanced guitarist, implemented daily reflection into his practice routine to track his progress. After each practice session, Tom would write down what he worked on, what went well, and what needed improvement. This daily journal helped him identify patterns in his practice, adjust his focus areas, and celebrate small victories. By reflecting on his practice regularly, Tom was able to stay motivated and make consistent progress toward his goals.

Write to Learn: Engage Actively

Case Study: Lisa’s Teaching Experience

Lisa, a guitar teacher, found that writing about guitar techniques and teaching methods deepened her understanding. She started a blog where she wrote detailed posts about different guitar techniques, instructional strategies, and common student challenges. This writing process required her to thoroughly research and organize her thoughts, which in turn helped her retain the information better and improve her teaching skills.

Use Visual Aids: Enhance Memory with Images

Example: Mike’s Visual Learning

Mike, a beginner guitarist, used visual aids to learn chord shapes more effectively. He created flashcards with images of chord diagrams and labeled finger positions. For instance, he used diagrams to visualize different major and minor chord shapes. By associating these images with the chords, Mike was able to remember and play them more quickly during practice.

Understand Cognitive Biases: Be Aware of Your Learning Gaps

Case Study: Rachel’s Teaching Challenge

Rachel, a guitar instructor, recognized the challenge of the curse of knowledge when teaching beginners. She made a conscious effort to break down complex concepts into simpler steps and frequently asked for feedback from her students. By being aware of her own advanced knowledge and how it might impact her teaching, Rachel became more effective in helping her students grasp foundational skills.

Elaboration: Deepen Your Understanding

Example: James’s Creative Practice

James, an improvisational guitarist, used elaboration to enhance his solos. After learning a new scale, he explored various ways to use it in his playing. He experimented with different rhythmic patterns, incorporated the scale into different musical contexts, and thought about its application in various genres. This deep exploration helped James not only understand the scale better but also use it more creatively in his solos.

This post was inspired by the book ‘Make It Stick‘ which I highly recommend reading.