Practice is the way to get better, nobody doubts this and everyone pushes it in one form or another. I was thinking about this as I sat through a series of mediocre players at a local open mike night. I wrote about this in my last post, Going Live: How to Make Open Mike Memories. In case you are thinking, “Well, you may not have been any better” here’s my performance: Open Mike Won’t Get Fooled Again. You decide for yourself. By the way, that’s my wife playing guitar on the far side of the singer, Jordan Evans. I taught her and you can see how easy and relaxed she is on the stage, no music stand, smiling. Again, you decide.
I take my own advice – no music stand, my own cables, practiced. My wife also. She is not going to take the guitar world by storm but she is competent enough to have handled herself capably on a stage. Yeah, we made mistakes and you can hear them if you listen and watch carefully but it didn’t fluster us. Again, I take my own advice and play through the mistakes. How did we get to this point? Let me tell you and it’s more than “just practice”…
The Keys to Practice
As I have written about before, Guitar Practice Makes Perfect, you must get the fundamentals down but there is much more to it. What makes a solid player into one that is entertaining and engaging? There are plenty who can play well but seem uncomfortable and even awkward when they perform. Many do not seem to be able to “get off the page”, that is, play without written music in front of them. I’ve seen this with even people playing their own originals. Here are the keys:
- Play songs repeatedly
- Play often
- Learn to play through mistakes and distractions
- Learn to get off the page
- Get a routine going
Practice Songs Repeatedly
Preparing for a performance such as an open mike requires you to be so familiar with your music it can’t help but pop out of you when you strap on your guitar. I mentioned being able to play a song in your sleep in a previous post. That’s bears repeating! We went through the songs for the open mike performance three or more times in a practice session before moving on to the next one. In my band days, I would go over and over the music until I needed a break. I loved it and found it hard to stop many times! Two hours later I’m wondering where the time went!
Once you get comfortable with a song and don’t need to put in so much time on the one, add your next song and use the previous one for warm-up. As you build a repertoire, begin to select songs that help you build up to more difficult ones gradually. Starting out with a tough song will not give your muscles time to limber up and can lead to injuries and muscle pain. Let’s keep it enjoyable!
Practice Often
This can be a challenge for those of us with families and full time occupations. Just like getting exercise, you need to make time everyday if you can. Try at least 20 minutes with longer sessions when it is more convenient. Getting your hands working often pays great dividends in increased strength and dexterity. Adam Neely mentions musicians as athletes of the fine motor muscles in one of his videos (unfortunately, I cannot remember which video).
I found that committing to playing for church forces me to play a few times a week at the very least. You may not be a church-goer and balk at this idea but you may need something to prepare for to get you playing often enough. My wife has this issue. She needs something to prepare for in order to put the pressure on her to practice. Hence, the open mike was instrumental in her recent practice regimen.
You may have heard that it take 10,000 hours to master a skill (more or less, but it takes time). How do you get that many hours? Commit to something and prepare for it! The hours will actually fly by before you know it and you will steadily improve. A year from now you will be saying, “Why did I think that was so hard?”
Mistakes and Distractions
In my opinion, mistakes are distractions. They get me off my train of thought and down the rabbit trail of how I could have avoided that or made it better. It is a skill to be able to recover gracefully and not wreck the train. I suggest you let the kids wander in, the dog to jump on you, the leaf to fall without missing a beat in your song. Arlo Guthrie played Alice’s Restaurant all the while telling a story about how the lyrics came to be, sort of. Get that familiar.
I was at a friend’s house one time when his children were small and still running around the house. I picked up his guitar and played a couple songs all the while interacting with the kids at key points as if I was singing the song to them specifically. They were amazed at how I was able to keep the song moving and say things directly to them without stopping. That takes practice and learning to play through anything.
Getting Off the Page
If you are willing to put the time in, work to play without sheet music. A couple of pointers here, though:
- You will get to a point where you expect certain chords or notes to follow each other and that will make it easier.
- A little music theory goes a long way.
Your ear will improve and soon the obvious next note or chord will come out seemingly effortlessly. Play something very familiar and the expectation of the next thing to play will take over. Memorization is helpful and is part of this but getting to a point where the music just comes out is where you need to get. Read ahead and look away from your music playing from memory. Let the feel of the movements guide you. Like a dancer, remember sequences of movements rather than trying to see and read the music in your head. It should “feel like this should come next” and match what you expect to hear giving you auditory confirmation. Try it and allow yourself to make the mistake (see previous point above).
Having a bit of theory under your belt can be extremely helpful. Most beginners play music that is “diatonic”. That means the chords and notes come from the same key and there is little deviation. If you know the key of a song, then you know what chords are most likely going to be used. It takes some of the guess work out of the process and narrows the choices down considerably. Many times, a complex chord can be substituted with a simpler form and sound fine until you get more advanced in your playing. Take advantage of the structure to boost your skill.
Practice Routine
This sounds like a pain and you may be thinking, “I will do scales, then chords, then…” but that is not what I am referring to. This is more about habits like exercising I mentioned earlier. I mentioned volunteering for church. You could also volunteer for some other group such as a local addiction recovery group or get together with another musician and prepare music you will play together. Maybe a monthly session you must work towards. Check out your local open mike nights and see who might be willing to work with you.
I have thought about this a lot lately and am working to set up an online session for those who are learning. Keep your eyes on this spot and sign up to my courses for FREE to get the update: Just 2 Play Guitar
The plan at the moment is to use iReal Pro or a Real Book to get started. It can be a big effort to produce lead sheets and we don’t want to run into copyright issues. Coming soon!
Put these things into **practice** and you will find you are progressing at a rapid pace. You may find yourself saying what others say, “Why did I think this was so hard?”