Standford university pyschology researcher Michael Mischel began a study in the 1960’s known as ‘The Marshmallow Studies’. Mischel wanted to try and understand what effect our impulsive behaviours at a young age had on our future success. In one example the researcher sat a 4 year old boy in a room with one marshmallow on…
Category: Guitar Students
Posts aimed at guitar students
3 Steps to Success on Guitar
GOAL SETTING USING THE G4GUITAR METHOD TO HEAR AN MP3 version of this blog visit http://www.box.net/shared/abp5lesbkz I want to give you a very simple 3 step plan to success on the guitar which is the basis for the G4 GUITAR METHOD. 1. WRITE DOWN YOUR GOAL – The importance of writing down your goal cannot be overstated. Almost everyone and anyone…
How to improve your guitar lessons by repeating
A perfect memory Kim Peek born 1951 can read two pages of a book at the same time and remember all the content perfectly. Peek was portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rain Man. Peek was not actually autistic He had a remarkable ability to remember large amounts of information after only reading or…
“I didn’t have time to practice”
Through years of teaching guitar and of course from my own personal experiences I believe there are two basic types of excuses we all use to sabotage our success. Time and money. “I don’t have time” or “I can’t afford it”. I think we can safely say that for most of us our lives are ruled…
Long term thinkers make the best guitar players.
In the book ‘The Winner’s Brain‘ (A book written by two Harvard brain experts) the authors describe what the successful few do differently to the majority and have actually found their brains not only function differently but also eventually grow differently. In other words successful people shaped their brain for success in the same way…
The 2 common mistakes guitar students make..
Two of the most common mistakes when learning guitar are; 1. Intangible goals 2. Putting the cart before the horse (Putting the Song before the Skills) Intangible goal When I began teaching many years ago students would come to me to learn guitar. As an inexperienced guitar teacher my usual question was “What would you…
Success on guitar through effective decisions
The decisions we make ultimately lead us to success or failure. Brain researcher Jonah Lehrer explains in much detail how our brains actually work in the decision making process in his book ‘How we decide’. Applying his findings to guitar can be beneficial. My own interpretation goes like this. When people decide to learn guitar…
Got the blueberries?
Uncovered in several recent studies is the fact that eating blueberries is good for motor skill development. Fine motor skills are what you need for playing guitar so any advantage you can get is worth paying attention to. Some scientific evidence even suggests that blueberries can slow down and perhaps reverse age-related memory which is…
Immerse Yourself in Guitar
Surrounding yourself with guitar has a subtle yet powerful effect on your motivation. The best way to stay motivated about guitar is to immerse yourself in it so here are some tips; Stick guitar posters on your wall. Choose posters that inspire you. Make up playlists on your ipod of inspiring guitar songs. Go to your…
Classical sitting position for optimal guitar playing
Why do we recommend the classical position? We recommend the classical position for all students for several reasons. Many students will complain at first that this position is uncomfortable but this is because the classical position is optimal for playing guitar where as the right leg is optimal for initial comfort. But this is only…
The Zen of guitar practice.
I recently read an article based on the book ‘The Zen of Running’ and I can see how many of these principles would apply to guitar. Here are just a few: Concentration. You may have heard the term ‘Deliberate practice’ which refers to a style of practice that ensures you are not just going through the…
How does music theory help me learn guitar?
Many guitarists avoid music theory for various reasons. Maybe because its rare to see great guitarists thanking their knowledge of music theory as the reason they became successful but perhaps they should. Music theory can save you a lot of time in the long run. Operating without music theory while possible offers no real advantages….
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