Guitar by Daniel St. Pierre
“I don’t have time for practicing.” “Practicing is boring. I just want to play.” “I hate practicing!” You may have heard (or used) these excuses yourself whenever the subject of practicing your guitar has ever come up, especially if you’re an experienced player. I know I have. But if you’re ever going to develop your skills as a masterful musician, you need to practice.
If you’ve purchased my course, Texas Blues Guitar by Eric Beaty, then you’ve seen the bonus article I wrote entitled “The Three P’s of Playing Guitar.” One of those “P’s” is Practice. It’s the third “P” listed in the article. Why? Because as I said in the article, it’s the most important tool you have in your musical arsenal. Do you think your favorite guitar heroes ever got where they are today by not practicing? Do you think Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai, Slash, etc. became the legendary guitarists they are without the discipline it takes to practice? I think not.
Sure it’s fun to “just play,” but to go from playing okay to playing extraordinary requires discipline. So let’s talk about that for just a sec. Discipline doesn’t have to be this chore that you are forced to do every day. It’s a process of training yourself to be consistent. It’s developing new routines that eventually become habits after only a few weeks. And when habits are formed via repetition, it becomes like second nature; it’s no longer a chore.
Repetition is the key to good practice. If you are to learn anything on guitar, whether it be new or something you’ve known for a while and need to polish your skills, you need to utilize this invaluable tool called repetition. It’s the bread and butter of good practice. And being able to play something more than a few times requires discipline.
Believe it or not, all your favorite guitar heroes play their solos, licks, riffs, etc. over and over and over and over and over … you get the picture. And not just on stage, either. The reason their playing sounds flawless isn’t just because they’re “just that good.” It’s because they’ve taking the time – the discipline – to play the same things constantly until they feel they’ve mastered them. Sitting on their tour buses, on their sofas at home, in the studio, during rehearsals; good guitarists play, but great guitarists practice what they play beforehand.
So the next time you find yourself saying those same things we talked about at the beginning of this article, ask yourself this instead, “Am I really serious about getting not just better but great on my instrument?” If the answer is a hearty “Yes!” then you’re well on your way to achieving that very goal. If your answer is a dismal “Not really,” well then, you may be better off just sticking with the mediocre player you already are. I hope, for your sake, you said “YES!!!”
Best Wishes and Keep Practicing,
Eric Beaty