Guitar Practice Tips and Advice

Before I begin, I would just like to say that I am no expert. I am only as good as the work effort I put in. I have simply learned how to practice out of trial and error because I have had no teacher. However, I do know what has and hasn't worked for me in the past. If you are going to learn about guitar, why not learn it from someone who can't stop thinking about it. If I can't stop thinking about it, I might as well write about it.

You must first realize why you are practicing. It's quite simple. The more intensely you practice, the more intensely you will play. There are 2 important principles in practice that all successful people master. First is the amount of hours they practice and second is the quality of their practice. The easiest way to get good at anything is by doing it a often as you possibly can. So sacrifice your hard earned time on practicing as often as you can. I would say I practice 3 times more than I actually play, but that is only because I want to be an expert by tomorrow. I did start off practicing for ten minutes a night and then I would use the rest of the time just to play. But wow how things have changed. Sometimes I feel bad about all the times I have turned down partying to play guitar, but then I realize that Eddie Van Halen did the exact same thing. You simply get out what you put in, so here we go with some Practice Principles.

1. Treat guitar like a sport. Your hands must be warmed up, trained, coordinated, strengthened, and synchronized in order to play the guitar with speed and accuracy. Some people don't understand that playing the guitar is physically demanding as well.

2. Be patient! If you want it bad enough, you will endure the long tedious hours necessary to excel.

3. Focus on your dream and realize that practicing is the only way to make that dream come true.

4. Warm up your hands before even touching the guitar. Clench both your hands into fists and open them back up again. Continue this motion for 30 seconds. Then press each finger tip against your thumb one at a time from index to pinky back and forth for 30 seconds. You need to do this with each hand at the exact same time just to synchronize your hands. (Pic)

5. The only way to strengthen your hands is to tire them out with constant motion. Your hand will only grow back stronger once you break down the muscle fibres of your finger flexors and extensors. (Sorry I work out to, so I will relate guitar to working out quite often)

6. Slow Down! Form is more important than speed. Once your form is perfect, your hands start moving faster naturally. So don't rush it.

7. Use a metronome constantly! I cannot stress this enough. Go to http://www.metronomeonline.com/ and use this from now on. A metronome not only teaches you good timing, but it forces you to keep a constant slow pace. The hardest thing I struggle with is trying to play faster than I can.
I want to shred the guitar just like you, but it takes time. (pic)

8. "Your practice session must sound horrible! If your practice session doesn't sound terrible and annoying to the people around you, then you are not learning anything! I simply mean practice what you suck at and fail a million times until you get it right. This is the only way to learn....Repetition.

9. Focus on your picking hand separately from your fretboard hand. You will soon realize that your picking hand needs to be completely relaxed and your fretboard hand must be as strong as possible. Speed comes from finger strength and relaxation.

10. The biggest mistake when practicing is trying to pick faster than your fretboard hand can go. A strong fretboard hand is really what makes picking fast easier; TRUST ME!!! It took me a year to realize that.

11. "There is no substitute for hard work" -Thomas Edison