Deliberate Practice In Learning To Play The Guitar

Deliberate practice is the secret to learning guitar. Whereas aimless strumming on your guitar or playing without focus won’t amplify the skill accretion, you have to know what you want to get out of every session when it comes to focused practice. It turns instrument practice from a passive one into a more active, productive endeavor. Using goals, such as increasing finger dexterity, nailing chord changes or sharpening rhythm, students can focus their session to make a huge difference. Now, the routine is reduced to a controlled exploration instead of just random flailing.

The devil’s in the detail when it comes to deliberate practice. All notes, chords and rhythms are performed with precision and technique. Errors are not neglected, but examined and provide the opportunity for learners to tune their movements. That encourages one to be self-reflective, and teaches the art of critical listening which is essential for growing. By emphasizing the quality over quantity, even short practice sessions will lead to big gains when done with intention.

Deconstructing complex training techniques to more manageable parts is also an important part of purposeful practice. Instead of trying to play a difficult passage repeatedly at tempo, each element (finger placement, pick direction) is practiced independently until perfected. By fusing together these components gradually, the learner can become comfortable with progressively more complex materials. Through this piecemeal method of building up new skills, the progress is more substantial and there’s less of a risk that bad habits can form that will prove especially hard to break later.

Consistency amplifies the effects of deliberate practice. Regular, concentrated study allows for retention of knowledge and increased depth over time. Even if it’s one of those days, just a little, focused practice time will keep the instrument in your mind and save you from going stagnant. Through developing a schedule and being intentional in their work, students learn discipline while still staying curious and engaging as they create.

Ultimately, “deliberate” practice develops both a facility of technique and skill toward musicianship. By coming to comprehend the purpose of their exercises and the impact of each movement, learners develop skills to experiment dynamically. Music is no longer performance: it’s expression. With this narrow scope, guitar players form a sustainable course to success: one session after another.