The Muse's Muse  
Muses MailMuses Newsmuse chatsongwriting resource home
Regular Columnists


How To Dramatically Improve Your Guitar Playing And Reach Your Musical Goals Fast
By Tom Hess - 05/08/2015 - 11:08 PM EDT

Most guitarists have no idea which of their guitar practice exercises are improving their guitar playing and which ones aren’t. Consequently, they constantly struggle to get better at guitar and end up frustrated with their lack of progress. To finally break this viscous cycle, you need to take these 5 simple steps:

STEP 1: Determine Your Guitar Playing Goals

Before even picking up your guitar to practice, you need to clearly define your musical goals. This will motivate you to take action towards improving your guitar playing consistently. Do you think an airplane pilot would ever take off without clear coordinates? No. This same idea applies to your guitar playing progress. Not setting clear goals for yourself sets you up to fail before you even get started. Once you set your goals, you will be able to clearly see the areas of your guitar playing that need most of your attention and adjust your guitar practice accordingly. Get help setting your musical goals and improving your guitar playing.

STEP 2: Determine How Far You Are From Reaching Your Goals

After clearly defining your musical goals, assess your current skill level in as much detail as possible. This is so you can determine exactly how large of a gap exists between your current and ideal guitar playing ability.

Many guitar players think this means simply tracking their maximum speed on guitar with a metronome. Just as the airplane pilot would never accept “Go West” in place of precise coordinates, you should never track your maximum guitar speed ONLY if you hope to become a truly awesome guitarist.

Instead, begin focusing on tracking ALL elements of your guitar playing and musicianship such as:

• Lead guitar technique (Note: this includes a LOT more than just your maximum speed on guitar)

• Knowledge of music theory

• Ability to visualize scales, chords and arpeggios on the fretboard

• Aural skills (your “musical ear”)

• Rhythm guitar playing skills

• Musical creativity (yes, you should track and measure this)

•Ability to integrate multiple guitar techniques fluently

To make tracking all of these elements much easier for you, use the Guitar Playing Accelerator.

STEP 3: Close The Gap Between Your Ideal And Current Skill Levels

After you know the size of the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, start using the most effective guitar practice exercises so you can improve your playing faster. Most guitar teachers don’t know how to provide these kinds of exercises to their students and instead give all of their students the same exercises with zero customization.

If you are actually serious about reaching your musical goals, seek out a qualified guitar teacher who knows how to properly customize your exercises to help you reach your goals faster. Once you have these highly effective exercises in your practice routine, you will make progress towards becoming a great guitarist much faster.

STEP 4: Create A Customized “Road Map”

After you have the most effective and customized guitar exercises possible, organize them in a way that allows you to improve multiple aspects of your guitar playing simultaneously. The best way to do this is to implement an effective guitar practice schedule. If you imagine the process of reaching your musical goals as a road trip, your practice schedule is the road map that leads you straight to your goals. Learn how to create the perfect guitar schedule so you can improve your guitar playing faster.

STEP 5: Always Track The Progress You Make

Just as the airplane pilot must be in constant communication with air traffic controllers to make sure he stays on course, you need to be constantly tracking and assessing the progress you make in your guitar playing. Understanding exactly how much you know and exactly how much you are improving is the best way to reach your long-term musical goals. Use the most powerful tool for helping guitar players reach their goals since the invention of guitar lessons to experience huge improvements in your guitar playing.

Taking all 5 of these steps will make you a killer guitarist faster than you thought possible. Get started now and become the guitar player you want to be.




[ Current Articles | Archives ]

Help For Newcomers
Help for Newcomers
Interactivities
Interactivities
Helpful Resources
Helpful Resources
Regular Columnists
Columnists
Music Reviews
Spotlights
Spotlights
Services
Services Offered
About the  Muse's Muse
About Muse's Muse
Subscribe to The Muse's News, free monthly newsletter for songwriters
with exclusive articles, copyright & publishing advice, music, website & book reviews, contest & market information, a chance to win prizes & more!

Join today!



Created & Maintained
by Jodi Krangle


Design:


© 1995 - 2016, The Muse's Muse Songwriting Resource. All rights reserved.

Read The Muse's Muse Privacy Statement