Senior Instructor at Halifax Guitar Lessons
Learning to play the guitar. It’s on most people’s bucket list. Unfortunately, many don’t get to check it off.
You likely do not have a lot of time and this keeps slipping below the radar. When you are younger you have school to deal with. Then you typically get a job or start a business, then maybe start a family, have kids, buy a house, etc.
Things get busy pretty quickly in life and learning to play the guitar is not usually very high on the priority list so it waits and waits and waits.
The problem is some people wait too long. You do not want to be this person. A lot of research is showing that learning to play the guitar provides so many positive benefits that is should be made a higher priority right now.
But you still have a limited amount of time if you have not reached retirement age. So what do you do?
Here are 3 things you can do to help you learn to play the guitar even when you do not have a lot of time.
1. Find A Highly Trained And Skilled Guitar Teacher In Your Area
This is the single best thing you can do to help you get better when you have can very limited amount of time.
When I say highly trained I mean someone who has learned how to teach the guitar specifically and has also learned how to teach it to people. Many teachers have degrees but that does not mean they know how to teach or how to teach the guitar as most were never taught this.
A highly trained guitar teacher will have learned many techniques and strategies to help you learn how to play the guitar with less effort in in much less time than with other guitar teachers.
When you are low on time you do not want to waste it.
2. Take As Many Lessons As You Can
Once you find the right teacher you will want to accelerate your progress as much as possible and the best way to do this is to take as many lessons per week with them as you can.
But wait! You don’t have a lot of time so now I am contradicting myself, aren’t I? It depends how you look at it.
The ideal way to learn how to play the guitar would be to have a trained teacher watch you every time you pick up the guitar. That would ensure you are doing everything right and focusing on all the best things.
In that scenario you would progress at the maximum rate possible for you. So, if you are limited on time it would be better for you to take the little time you do have and spend it with your teacher.
That way you can progress and quite quickly even without practicing at home. Do not underestimate the value of taking more lessons with a good teacher.
3. Practice Every Day Even If It Is Only For A Short Time
Most people I talk to seem to think they have to practice 1 hour a day or more or they won’t get better.
That is not accurate. Of course, you can get better in less time if you practice more often. Assuming you practice correctly. But you do not have to practice for 1 hour every day to improve.
If you learn to practice the right things for short amounts of time on a daily basis you can make some consistent progress in your playing. But this requires specific techniques and a solid plan of action.
That’s where the professionally trained guitar teacher I mentioned in point 1 comes in and is really the key to making the most progress in the shortest amount of time.
You Can Learn To Play The Guitar With Limited Time If You Do It Right
If you do not have a lot of extra time to learn to play the guitar then you need to find the best teacher that is available to you in your area.
Finding a good teacher who is highly trained and skilled in teaching the guitar will cut down on the amount of time it will take you to learn.
The more times you see this teacher on a regular basis, the faster your progress will be, even if you can’t practice at home. And sometimes this is even better!
However, if you do practice daily, even if it is only for as little as 15 minutes, and using the strategies from your teacher, you will accelerate your progress even more.
The key is to make a commitment and sticking to it.