School exams for many students can add extra demands to their already hectic schedule. A common complaint from students is they simply don’t have the time to focus on exam preparation and guitar practice. In this case it can seem like putting guitar on hold is an obvious choice but in my experience this is…
Why around 90% of guitar students quit and what you can do to avoid it
Why is success on guitar so illusive? Are some people just more talented? It seems that research has revealed what most teachers and coaches have known for years. Talent comes from practice and persistence. Natural ability may exist in certain situations but in most cases any advantage soon fades in comparison to the dedicated practitioner. …
How To Master The Guitar
The question of how to master guitar is often thought of as purely a technical one when in fact the technical aspect makes up 20% or less of your eventual success. We instinctively think that all that is required is knowing the steps involved as if we were piecing together a puzzle. … The 80%…
Does Your Child Dislike Guitar Practice? Are You Ready To QUIT ?
Like you I also have a child learning guitar and like your child she doesn’t always want to practice. In fact most days she doesn’t want to practice but before I go on I should point out that I have been teaching guitar and training guitar teachers for over 30 years. This of course allows…
How To Help Your Child To Want To Practice Guitar
Parents with children learning guitar are generally hopeful that their child will stick with guitar. Unfortunately all too often parents make the decision to stop their child’s lessons due to a lack of enthusiasm for practice. The truth is this generally occurs due to a lack of understanding. Parents who have children learning guitar or…
Practice Guitar Out On The Edge
In the book ‘Bounce’ the author (Matthew Syed) talks about how high level success comes from thousands of hours of practice. Top chess players for example would have studied the game for 10,000 hours or more. By study I don’t mean just play but actually study possible moves and consequences. Are you willing to fall?…
The 5 Stages Of Guitar Success
Success on guitar takes time and you need to move through 5 distinct stages before you reach success. The 5 stages of change refers to a research paper by Don Kelley and Daryl Connor (University of Toronto) called the ‘Emotional cycle of change’. The 5 stages are as follows. Uninformed optimism. Informed pessimism. Hopeful realism…
Daily Practice With Young Beginners On Guitar
I received the following question from a guitar teacher and parent regarding teaching their young child guitar. Question regarding VERY young beginners… I’ve been doing some stuff with my oldest son since a little before he was 3 on a ukulele. He loves it – in very small bits. We’ve done naming the strings tinker…
Parents, give your children choices with guitar
Most parents understand the challenge of getting their child to clean their room, brush their teeth, do their homework and so on. Guitar practice is no different. Children will often resist such requests because it feels like work or seems boring. They just want to play games or watch TV which is understandable. We were…
Blitz your aural skills with these 3 tricks
Good aural skills are a powerful tool for a musician. It was aural skills (and a freakishly good memory) that allowed Mozart to write out a 13 minute song for two choirs after hearing it once. And he was 14. If you develop your aural skills, you’ll be able to recognise the notes you hear…
Follow your dream to play guitar.
Apple legend Steve Jobs was inspired by The Beatles. He was himself a huge music fan. The reason Apple computers have a strong music focus (think Garageband, iTunes and Logic) is because of Jobs’s passion for music. The reason I mention Steve Jobs is because you would be hard pressed to find a better example of…
Why Parents Are The Key To A Child’s Success On Guitar
A large percentage of parents are not aware of how influential they can be when it comes to their child learning guitar. They unfortunately believe that if their child doesn’t just love practicing guitar then it’s not meant to be. That is like saying your child doesn’t like healthy food and will only eat cake…
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