Category: Practice
Why you should apply the 80/20 rule to learning guitar
The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle, states that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. In terms of learning guitar, this means that 80% of the progress you make in becoming a proficient player will come from 20% of the things you practice. One way to apply this principle to guitar…
What Is The One Thing You Want From A Teacher?
In my early years of teaching guitar I did not really push the issue of practice. I believed that students were either motivated or they were not. To be honest, as a guitarist making a living from teaching, I was afraid if I pushed students to practice too hard many would just quit. Unfortunately, being…
A Scientific Strategy For Success On Guitar
Learning to play guitar is really about developing the habit of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice by definition is when you practice with an awareness of what you are practicing and why. This might seem obvious but far too often we do what I call ‘mindless practice’. This is where you practice while thinking about what you…
2 Proven Ways To Dramatically Improve Your Guitar Practice
In this article I am going to talk about two of the most important elements to successful practice of a musical instrument. If you can embrace and incorporate these two elements into your daily practice you will progress faster and with less effort compared to most music students. The 10,000 Hour Rule is Untested K….
How To Easily Predict Your Success On Guitar
First, let’s define success on guitar. Success to me is practicing 5 to 7 days a week with a record of doing it for at least 254 days which I will explain below. The practice must be quality practice, not simply noodling or doing what you can already do. You should be working on challenging…
Learn Guitar In 1/2 The Time
When it comes to learning a new skill we are often told that repetition is the optimal choice. After all it seems to make sense. If I want to learn a new chord on guitar I keep doing that same chord again and again, until it becomes instinctive. This does work of course but, according…
3 Easy Ways To Mentally Prepare For Guitar Practice
Not all guitar practice is equal. On one end of the scale we have totally distracted and on the other we have flow. To be in a flow state means to be performing almost effortlessly and with near perfection. I think everyone has experienced flow at one time or another in some area of their…
Why Average Guitar Students Quit
I would guess that around 80% of guitar students have very modest goals. At least in the beginning. I know this from many years of teaching and working with hundreds of guitar teachers. The scenario usually goes like this. Me: “How much are you willing to practice each day to reach your goals?” Student: “I…
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