The brain tends to learn best through a deliberate step by step process. Remember when you were a child learning to tie your shoe laces? It was a challenging task that required serious concentration and practice. This is referred to as ‘deliberate practice’. Playing guitar is about learning and developing a range of skills such as picking,…
Tag: guitar
How to trick yourself (and others) into practicing guitar.
Taronga Zoo‘s (Sydney, Australia) magazine ‘Wild Life’ (WL) featured an article about training seals to do tricks. Throughout history animal training was largely based around cruelty but most of today’s animal trainers have learned to use positive reinforcement techniques. In WL the author says “Today’s training is based on operant conditioning where seals change their…
What does Sport have to do with Learning Guitar?
We often underestimate the value of a coach. In the NRL St George have now won 2 straight premierships under the coach Wayne Bennett. Whether you like the sport or not one can’t help but admire a great coach. Wayne Bennett has miraculously taken a team that has not won a premiership in over 30…
Why children do not want to practice guitar and what to do about it
One big determining factor between children who succeed on guitar and those who give up is parent involvement. It is the emotional support from parents that makes this critical difference. This is especially true in the early phase. Statistically children of musical parents have a higher chance of success. A great example is Mozart whose father Leopold was…
Learning Guitar and preparing for the journey
The well known saying ‘An hour of planning is worth 3 hours of execution’ most definitely applies to learning guitar. Think of it like climbing Mt Everest (assuming you have never climbed Mt Everest of course) its hard to know what to expect and how to prepare for it. Having prior knowledge of the climb…
You can’t always get what you want…
Many teachers fall into the trap of just pleasing students at the cost of sticking to a proven program. I am all about keeping things positive but if a teachers only goal is making someone happy in the moment this can be a problem. Think of children. If your child wants to eat sweets every…
The Shadow Effect. Why some students give up guitar.
Students (especially children) often become victims of the shadow effect. When two people compete for the same space the one who seems to have no chance of winning will usually bow out. In guitar this means they will give up. Imagine two siblings learning guitar. As one gets ahead usually by doing more practice the…
Students who continue lessons in holidays have a big advantage
School holidays are a well deserved break for children who have been at school all year 5 days a week 6 hours a day not to mention homework and extra activities. The summer holidays are 6 weeks and as a child I remember looking forward to this time as it meant I could spend all…
Why measuring progess is critical for your child’s success on guitar
Children (like most adults) want to succeed at what they do. They do not want to appear to fail but sometimes success can seem elusive or just not worth the effort. Basically they lose their confidence to succeed. Success on guitar can only be achieved if the student perceives some kind of progress. This perception…
“How do I get my child to practice?”
While some children will practice everyday without any prompting many parents know that getting their child to practice is at times a challenge. Chances are if you leave it up your child to decide to practice when they feel like it you are going to be disappointed when they guitar becomes largely neglected. Forcing your child to practice…
Expectations
The majority of students who take up guitar will give up in the first 6 months. In fact I was go as far as to say that 80% of people who take up guitar will give up lessons in the first 6 months with most of them putting their guitar in some hidden cupboard. Sorry…
Right handers should mimic while lefthanders should mirror
I received an email from a left handed guitarist wanting lesson materials specifically for left hand players. While this is great the reality is 99.9999% all books and learning material are written for the right handed guitarist. I then suggested to the following; I understand how you feel as I have taught quite a few…
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