Have you
been experiencing a lack of motivation in your guitar practice? Are you unsure
about what and how to practice? Do you wish you could practice guitar
effectively and get better results? If so, you are not alone. It take most
guitar players many years before they learn how to practice guitar in a way
that is both productive and enjoyable.
As a guitar
teacher, I come across all kinds of guitar playing issues through my guitar
students. Over the years, I have noticed that most of my guitar students have
very specific reasons for why they lose motivation for guitar practice. In order to help
you increase your motivation, I have created a list of the 5 most common
reasons why guitar players are unable to get great results when they practice
guitar:
Reason Number 1: Not having fun with guitar practice
Many guitar
players have conditioned themselves to believe that guitar practice is nothing
more than a boring set of repetitive tasks. If you have this mindset, you are
truly misunderstanding the basic idea behind guitar practice. In order to gain
motivation to practice your instrument, you must learn how to create an
effective practice schedule that helps you enjoy the learning process as you
work toward your guitar playing goals. Once you obtain the right tools to
create a such a highly productive and inspirational practice schedule, you will
find it much easier to have fun with the time you spend practicing guitar. When
you learn how to practice guitar so effectively that you see yourself getting
better on a regular basis, it becomes much easier to look forward to your next
guitar practice session.
To gain more
insight on how you can have more fun while practicing guitar with greater
motivation, check out this guitar
practice methods article.
Reason Number 2: Not sure what needs to be practiced
on guitar.
The majority
of guitar players do not know exactly what they should be practicing and why
they should be practicing it. This causes them to attempt learning as many new
ideas on guitar as possible. Then, by practicing so many different ideas for
guitar at once, the guitarist becomes overwhelmed. This happens because they simply
do not give themselves enough time to fully process all the new information
they are learning.
The key to practicing guitar effectively
is to fully understand ‘what’ you must practice and ‘why’ you must practice it.
Understand what you should be practicing on guitar by checking out this unique
article about manifesting
musical goals.
Reason Number 3: Not focusing enough on long term
goals.
It takes
many years to become a great guitar player. If you want to become a great
guitarist, you must clearly determine the best paths to take in order to
achieve your long term goals. Once you have clearly identified your long term
music goals, you will need to focus on using your guitar practice time effectively
to reach them. To illustrate a point, think of each of your guitar practice
sessions as separate pieces of a puzzle that make up the big picture of your
guitar playing goals. The more clearly you can see the big picture that you are
trying to create, the easier it will be to think of ways to effectively practice guitar.
Reason Number 4: Losing motivation due to lack of quick
progress.
Even if you
understand the best way to effectively
practice guitar, you will not achieve big results overnight. Many guitar
players expect instant results when using a new practice method. Unfortunately,
when they do not get the quick results they are looking for, they end up
abandoning (what might be) a truly effective guitar practice method. This
results in inconsistent guitar playing progress since you do not give yourself
the time to get the benefits from the guitar practice methods you use. This
practicing method is like listening to 15 different songs, but stopping the
music after one or two seconds in each song before you can hear what the music
is about. When practicing guitar, give your practice methods time to develop so
that you can determine whether or not the methods are effective.
Reason Number 5: Unorganized and ineffective
practicing habits
Most
guitarists practice in a totally unorganized and ineffective manner.
Unfortunately, they are usually unaware of this and go for weeks, months, or
even years at a time using the same ineffective guitar practice methods! One
example of a commonly used, yet ineffective method is the idea of using an
equal amount of time on every task in your guitar practice. This is just like
trying to prepare a dish by using an equal amount of ingredients without
thinking about how each of the ingredients will affect the taste of the food.
This guitar practice method will cause you to spend too much time on things
that are not important to your overall guitar playing progress.
Another
mistake that guitarists make during their guitar practice is that they spend a
lot of time focusing on the guitar skills they WANT to practice rather than the
guitar skills that they NEED to practice in order to achieve their musical
goals. This causes their guitar playing skills to become imbalanced. As a
result, their weak areas tend to hold back their ability to apply their well
developed skills in musical situations.
In order to
make progress in your guitar playing, it is essential to analyze your own
practice methods so that you can develop an effective guitar practice schedule. To build a
highly effective guitar practice routine, fill out the questions in this effective guitar
practice assessment.
What should you do next?
After
reading this article, you should have a better understanding of why you have a
hard time staying motivated
in your guitar practice. Think about how the guitar practice solutions
mentioned above can apply to your current practice routine. Even though this
article has only touched on a few of the problems that you might face as you
develop your guitar skills, your guitar playing will benefit greatly by
applying them in your everyday practice.
Learn more
about the things you should be practicing during your guitar practice time by
studying the information in this unique manifesting musical goals
article. If you have yet to take the assessment on effective guitar
practice, do this now and get personalized advice to help you improve your
guitar practice methods.