A frequently asked question that comes up in my guitar lessons is “How much should I practice?” My answer is “it depends,” because there is a different question that needs to be answered first: what are you trying to accomplish?
Every song you learn on the guitar is made up of sections. Often, those sections can be broken up into yet smaller sections, phrases, and what I like to call “chunks” (see my previous post on “chunking”). If your ultimate goal is to effortlessly play the song from beginning to end, the first thing you need to do is make sure you can “recall” each section in isolation without mistakes or hesitation.
My process for doing this involves first clarifying the different sections I want to learn and assembling them in a list. If the song is not particularly complex, it may be possible to do this in your head. But if there is more to it you probably ought to come up with a simple way of naming or labeling the different parts you’re working on and have them on a list you can refer to. I prefer pencil and paper for this, but you may find a digital option that works for you.
Once you’ve chopped the song up into manageable chunks, you should work on each chunk using the following tactics:
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- Imagine.
The first step to being able to play something is to hear it in your head and/or visualize it on the fingerboard. This is especially important in the early stages of learning something new. Before you try to play it, sit there and think through it first. Only attempt to play it when you’ve successfully imagined it. If you can’t imagine it, you definitely can’t do it. - Test and refine.
Attempt to play the section from memory (no looking at guitar tab). How did it come off? Were there notes missed or added? Did you hesitate at any point? If yes, then you don’t have this learned yet. Better play it a couple more times. - Distract and repeat.
Once you’ve practiced the section a bit, it’s best to move on. Continuing to practice the same thing for 10 minutes or more does not help you with recall. You need to forget it so you can practice recalling it again later. The most efficient practice routines involve distracting with a number of different sections and then coming back around to the original one, ultimately running each section multiple times. Less effective, but still worth doing, is distracting with something completely unrelated to music before you get back to it: homework, housework, reading, even television. Just make sure what was supposed to be a leisurely practice session doesn’t become a solo Netflix binge!
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Wes Freeman is private guitar lesson teacher in the Atlanta metro area of Georgia. He teaches lessons primarily in the cities of Lilburn, Snellville, Marietta, Decatur, and Brookhaven. Learn more about taking lessons with Wes on his Lessons page. - Imagine.
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