Have you ever wondered why some people seem to become better players than others over the long term?
I¿m not talking about people who progress faster in a few months, I¿m talking about those who make progress year after year, and who are able to make their guitar playing sound great.
People who progress year after year on guitar
There are many things these people do but I¿d like to focus on one of them. As guitar players, myself included, it can become very easy to focus on trying to solve all the little challenges we have in order to play something¿ trust me I get it¿
Let¿s think back for a second to the last time you focused on trying to perfect a chord change, or play a scale faster. Did working on only these things fill you will excitement for picking up the guitar each day 3-4 months from now? My guess is probably not.
There¿s nothing wrong with working on this area of your playing, in fact you need to but we must include another element, and it¿s the area of guitar playing that must be practiced in order to make your playing sound alive, musical, and pleasant to listen to, rather than dry, robotic, and stale.
What’s the answer?
You need to learn to apply what you learn.
All this means is to practice making music with what you¿re practicing.
How can you get started with this?
There are many ways, I¿m going to give you a sample of things to try:
- Playing chords along to a song, and match how loud or quiet the song is
- Play chords or rhythm to a drum backing track
- Practice playing a scale to a backing track
- Try to make a short solo to a backing track
- Make music with a story/emotion in mind ¿ can you strum through some chords you¿re learning and represent what it was like the last time your travelled home from work?
- Listening to songs and repeating little phrases back
As I said, these are only a handful of ways to apply what you learn. This is a skill that has to be practiced, in the beginning it may seem a little tricky but stick with it because on the other side is where guitar playing really becomes enjoyable and fulfilling. Once you are able to apply the things you¿ve learnt to creating real music.
The next part which is really fun is doing it with a friend. Trying to exchange soloing ideas to and from each other, and match each other¿s rhythm and ideas. You can really take this concept and expand it into a bunch of areas.
And that is what it¿s all about! Creating music and having fun and enjoying the process of creativity.
About The Author:
East Village Guitar Lessons provided by Guitar Tuition East London, which is a guitar academy based on the idea of student becoming musicians and guitarists rather than robotic guitarists who can only repeat what they learn on tab. They can able to be creative with their playing, jam with other people. Even kid guitar students are able to use the guitar to explore music and express themselves.
What are you waiting for? Find a guitar school like this near you.