The Top 10 Mistakes Guitarists Make In Their Practice Session (and how to avoid them...) by Greg O’Rourke fretdojo.com ©Greg O’Rourke 2015. All rights reserved. 1 About The Author Award winning Australian guitarist Greg O’Rourke received his Bachelor Of Music Honours degree in 2006, and was a scholarship holder at the Australian National University School Of Music. Greg’s main speciality is in fingerstyle jazz guitar, which he teaches about on his website www.FretDojo.com. Greg’s versatile ability on the guitar is credit to several teachers he has studied with over the years, including Tim Kain, one of Australia’s leading classical guitar performers and teachers, as well as Mike Price and the late Don Andrews, well known performers and teachers in the Australian jazz guitar scene. Greg is currently studying advanced jazz improvisation and arranging with Canadian jazz guitarist Matt Warnock. Greg has given prizewinning performances at the Australian National University Chamber Music Competition, and was awarded 1st prize in the Chamber Music division of the 2004 Australian International Guitar Competition. Greg currently enjoys a busy career, comprising of teaching online and ​ ​ offline, performing and collaborating with other Australian artists. Learn With Greg: Exclusive Reader Bonus! 2 Table of Contents Preface 3 Mistake #1: An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away 4 Mistake #2: Not Making Progress? This could be why …​ 12 Mistake #3: The Best Feedback Any Musician Can Get 17 Mistake #4: A Jack­of­All­Trades is Master of None 21 Mistake #5: Have You Got It, or Not? 26 Mistake #6: You Require This Key Skill 30 Mistake #7: Excellence Demands This Ancient Technique 34 Mistake #8: This could be hurting your technique and your health… 38 Mistake #9: The Myth Most Musicians Live By 42 Mistake #10: Last but not the least… 45 Next Steps 48 3 Preface Time and time again, in my own teaching and from discussions with other guitarists, I’ve seen guitar players making the same mistakes over and over. What can make or break your guitar playing is your guitar practice. How you structure your practice session, what you do (and don’t do) is critically ​ ​ important for getting better results on the instrument in less time. I sincerely hope you get a lot out of this guide and have some key takeaways for you to remove the roadblocks in your playing! With best wishes, Greg O’Rourke www.fretdojo.com 4 #1: An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away We all know that feeling. You know, that itchy feeling you get in your fingers. That restless corner of your mind knowing that something isn’t quite right. You know what I’m talking about. It’s something all guitarists are familiar with. What am I alluding to? Not practicing guitar for days of days of course! Guitar withdrawal is the medical term – or to use the formal term ​Fretingus Devoidilicus. How serious can this terrible affliction be? Well, I knew someone that used to go crazy if they hadn’t played their guitar for at least 24 hours. Yes, Literally. Clinically Insane. Futile attempts at humour aside, I now introduce to you Number 1 of ​The Top 10 Mistakes Guitarists Make In Their Practice Session: 5 Mistake #1: Not Having A Regular Routine Having a routine is the core skill of any musician. It is from a routine that our effort we put into something has the highest leverage. It makes difficult things easy by turning something impossible into manageable chunks. So why do so many guitarists ignore this point? Life gets in the way of course. Life will conspire against you to thwart any attempts to create a worthwhile routine at anything. However as an aspiring musician this is the thing that you need to ensure is firmly put in place. ​first​ No time spent on scales, coordination exercises, improvising, speed development, or anything else will bear any result any time soon in your playing without having a regular routine, by which you make time for your guitar practice and then have a well thought out structure in the session itself. In the first installment of this ten­part Guide, you will learn the benefits of creating a daily routine to your guitar practice, and how to create and stick to a routine. The Benefit of a Regular Routine There is no way that one can improve a skill without a routine of some sort, especially for a complex skill like guitar playing. Why? 6 To answer this question I want to introduce to you one of the best helping hands you will ever have on your musical journey. His name is… Your very own subconscious mind. ​ The subconscious mind is your friend. It is your humble assistant, working on your guitar skills for you all those times throughout the day you ​aren’t practicing. Just like mixing up some dough and then leaving it to rise on the bench while you have a cup of tea, the subconscious mind works while ​you don’t. In your practice session you basically have a handover meeting with your subconscious mind and outline its work for the day while afterwards you metaphorically go and play golf. Have you ever noticed when you have practiced regularly, and pick up your guitar after a good night’s sleep to try that tricky chord melody solo of Green Dolphin Street that you were struggling with the day before – all of a sudden it becomes easier? That’s because all through the day and night, Mr. Subconscious has been working his booty off. And you (well the conscious you) didn’t have to do ​ ​ anything! It’s not actually the practice session you get better at that riff. ​in​ It’s in between your practice sessions! ​ ​ 7 That is the main reason for why routines are so powerful (and getting enough sleep as well for that matter :­). In fact, there are many other benefits to a strong routine: ● Routines in a way are an arbitrary way to ensure that you actually do make time to play your instrument. Especially if you have family members – it gives an expectation that you will be unavailable for those 20­30 minutes daily so that you can work on your craft without being interrupted. ● Routines give you a framework by which to organise your life and to measure your progress. Professional musicians and other creative types are often terrible at self­organising. I think this could be due to the fact they spend considerable time working from home and don’t have any routines or expectations imposed on them externally, e.g. by a 9 to 5 job. ● Routines encourage self­discipline, which can positively impact all sorts of areas in your life, not just your guitar playing. Are you convinced? Good! So let’s now talk about how to get a routine happening for your practice. 8 How to Develop a Routine ● Talk to your family (if you have one) or your housemates and collectively decide on a time that would be workable for everyone. A routine will only be successful if you garner support from those it affects. Decide clearly on the duration for your daily effort, and be realistic ● ​ ​ initially. Start small if you are a beginner and just do say 10 to 15 minutes. For a pro guitarist you will need around an hour at least, however if you are very well organised in your session you may need only 30 minutes. ● A lot of time can be wasted if you are not organised in advance to practice. Make sure you have a dedicated corner of a room (or a whole room if you house is so endowed) and that all your gadgets and doodads are out ready to go. Your precious 20 minutes may be 90% wasted if you are running around looking for your guitar tuner, a pencil and so on – you would be surprised how fast time moves when you are in your practice session time. Finding a Regular Time To Practice This is one of the hallmarks of a sustainable routine. Here are some tips to help find a workable time: 9 ● Make it ideally at the same time each day, this will essentially meet the expectations of those your routine effects. ● If you need to, get up early to practice (preferable) or stay up a bit later. ● Use headphones and an electric guitar if you practice at time that disturbs other family members. For those times my practice needs to be quiet I use the Steinberg UR44 audio interface plugged into my ​ ​ computer with headphones. What is great about this setup is that all you need to do is turn your computer on, plug your guitar in and everything is ready to go – perfect for a late night practice session and no complaints from the neighbors! Added bonus: you can easily record yourself through this setup to assess your progress. ● If you want the feel of an acoustic guitar with this method, a silent guitar might be the best option, click here for a model I recommend. ​ Decide on the duration to practice – at least 20 minutes daily is still ● ​ ​ sufficient to make some progress (30 minutes at least is ideal to aim for though). How To Structure a Practice Session Well done my apprentice! You have created a regular routine. But that leads us to another routine to implement: the sequence of things you ​ actually do in a practice session. 10 This doesn’t need to be very complicated.