Now don’t get me wrong, talent is always a factor in a great musician, but we seem to forget that these guys (and gals) have spent years of their life sitting in their bedrooms practicing. Often the word practice is enough to make budding players cringe because practice isn’t fun right? I disagree. Practice can certainly be frustrating if you are working on something particularly difficult, but the reward is always worth the struggle. But I digress; let’s look at some ways to make practice more productive and more importantly, fun!

1. Get in the right headspace

Practice only seems like a chore if you treat it like one. Remember that first time you played “Smoke on the Water” and felt like a rock star? Keep those kinds of accomplishments in mind when you practice something new. I find the best way to keep track of your accomplishments and stay encouraged is by setting goals for yourself. Not in terms of time spent, but in knowledge gained.

For instance, instead of saying “I’m going to practice 1 hour every day this week”, say “I’m going to learn to play the rhythm part to this song this week.” As you check off goals on your list, keep up with the list of things you accomplish. Keep a notebook or a word document on your computer that reminds you what you have done. Keeping up with the list of songs you know is a great idea for the future, should you ever decide to join a group that does cover tunes. You can immediately say with confidence: “I know all the songs on this list.” It makes that first rehearsal a lot more manageable.

2. Use a metronome

Metronomes don’t seem hugely exciting, but it is absolutely THE most important tool for a guitar player who wants to play with other musicians. Rhythm is paramount to a great sounding band and it’s very easy to train! Go buy a metronome from your local music store for $20.00. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, just something that can keep a steady beat. When you practice a scale, pick a note group (let’s say quarter notes) and play that scale in quarter notes up and down 3 times. Then do the same thing with eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc. As you practice the scale, you are training your ears to recognize beats at the same time.

The metronome works like a strength trainer by letting you start slow and then gradually work your way up. It’s a good idea to keep track of your progress in tempos as well. Even if you only manage to go up one beat per minute a week, eventually you will be considerably more fluid than you were before. The real trick here is that as you are training your ears and your chops, you are becoming more in tune with the musicality of rhythm. Nothing can really teach you “feel”, but immersing yourself in rhythm will go a long way to helping you lose yourself in the song, which in my opinion is the ultimate achievement as a musician.

3. Keep the guitar in your hands and under your fingers

To be a great player, your guitar needs to be an extension of your body. Playing notes, chords and rhythms has to feel like second nature. The easiest way to do that, in my experience, is to simply keep the guitar in your hands. If you have a favorite T.V. show that you watch every week, just pick up your guitar and strum some chords while you watch. No amps, nothing fancy, just keep the neck in your hands. If you have free time, pick up the guitar for five minutes and play anything you want. If you walk by your guitar and think it looks cool on the stand, pick it up and play one scale up and down, then put it back.

Essentially, you want to familiarize yourself with the instrument. Picking it up and playing should feel just like putting on a pair of shoes: you just do it and don’t think twice about it.

4. Make your practice musical

Remember that metronome I had you buy? Turn it on to 4/4 time signature at 120 bpm and let it click for a minute. No guitar, just listen to the click. Then after you have let it sink it, pick up the guitar and try improvising something. I don’t necessarily mean a lead lick or anything in particular, so long as you keep it in tempo with the click. Noodle until you find something you think sounds cool, and then do that for a minute or two. Then try to make a slight variation on that, just change one note or add one rest somewhere. Then think to yourself “where does this want to go next?” Change keys, or play an entirely different part, so long as you stay on tempo. The idea is that you want to exercise the creative parts of your brain. The most memorable guitarists are always the ones who do something unique, so allow your mind to wander and discover something new. Half the fun of playing a musical instrument is that there is no wrong answer.

5. Don’t let it stress you

No matter what, do not let playing your instrument stress you out. Even if you have been working on learning something for a year and you haven’t figured it out, don’t let it bother you. If you are having trouble with something in your life, let guitar be a relaxing activity to take your mind off of it. If you are having difficulty learning something on the guitar, just leave it and come back to it later. In fact, if it ever feels like your instrument is unpleasant to play, then just put it down and don’t even look at it for a few days. Your brain needs time to process things you learn and commit them to long term memory, so it is ok to take a break!

I hope these five tips help you on your journey of musical discovery. Remember to be patient with yourself and above all, have fun!

The post Practice Makes Perfect: 5 Tips for Improving your Practice appeared first on Infinite Guitar.

After I had been playing guitar for about 7 years, I developed a severe case of finger tendonitis (also known as flexor tendonitis) in my left hand. The scary thing was, it came to me much more suddenly than gradually. It came out of nowhere. The same fingers that use to be fast and nimble, were all of the sudden cursed with sharp pains every time I pressed on the fretboard.

Needless to say, it was a depressing phase of life. My passion for music was soon replaced with frustration. When I finally had to acknowledge that the pain wasn’t going away, I began researching what I could do to fix it. I even saw multiple doctors. However, every single source was telling me that there was only one way to cure it…

I had to stop playing, completely.

Stop playing for how long? Well, at the time, that was undetermined. Tendons are one of the slowest healing parts of the body, and each doctor recommended I take at least a year off from playing. The only way to cure tendonitis is to stop doing whatever is causing it. So as hard as it was, if I ever wanted to play the guitar again, I knew I had to quit playing for at least a year.

After that, save for the select few times I couldn’t resist, I didn’t touch the guitar for a whole year. Since then, I have healed for the most part and gradually gotten my “chops” back, but it has not been easy. I definitely learned the hard way, but I’m writing this because I want to make sure you don’t go through the same thing.

First, let’s analyze the things I did wrong:

1. I had bad posture. Having bad posture once in a while is bad enough, but playing for hours and hours everyday with bad posture is infinitely worse. I would slouch in my chair, lean my left arm on my left thigh, all while being oblivious to the fact that I’m setting myself up for a downfall.

2. I never warmed up. When I practiced, I would pick up the guitar and immediately start playing difficult and strenuous passages, without giving my fingers a chance to warm up properly. Bloodflow matters.

3. I never stretched my arms or fingers. Talk about setting myself up to get hurt!

What characteristic do all 3 of these faults have?

Ultimately, it’s laziness.

Yup, I was a lazy bum. I was foolish when it came to these mandatory aspects of guitar playing. I never had formal teaching, so maybe that’s why I didn’t pay too much attention to this stuff, but my ignorance made me pay a big price.

So how can you be pro-active in making sure you don’t get tendonitis?

Keep Good Posture

Don’t slouch your back at all. Why do most elderly people hunch their backs as they get older? Because their backs are literally breaking down. You don’t want to speed up that process on your own back by slouching. Sit up straight when you play.

Don’t lean your left elbow (assuming you are play the fretboard with your left hand) on your left thigh. Unfortunately, so many people do this. Doing so puts an excessive amount of pressure on your elbow and it can lead to different problems in the elbow, forearm, wrist, or even fingers. Angle the guitar neck upwards to where you aren’t tempted to lean on your thigh.

Warm Up

Don’t play fast or hard until your hands are warmed up. Proper blood circulation is key to preventing injury. Imagine a sprinter that fails to jog or get the blood flowing before a race. That sprinter is bound to injure himself. The same can happen to a guitar player. So whether it be with scales, chords, arpeggios, etc., play something slowly and gently until your hands are warmed.

Stretch

Stretch before you play. There are plenty of stretches to help loosen and relax your arms.

These two tutorials will help give you stretching ideas:
Health and Safety for Guitarists
Stretching & Warm-Up

Keep a Healthy Diet and Exercise

At the risk of sounding like your mom, eat your fruits and veggies. I’m no health expert, but I know that supplying your body with proper vitamins and nutrients will help keep your joints and tendons strong while helping prevent nutrition deficiencies. Also do your best to exercise and get some decent cardio in your routine.

Be sure to start these good habits if you haven’t already. I hope this scared you a little, because tendonitis is, well…scary. No one is immune to it, but you can definitely take solid steps to avoiding it if you implement healthy, sound habits. The bottomline is this: if you aren’t pro-active in protecting yourself, then you are pro-active in damaging yourself. Be wise, learn from my mistakes, and have a long and healthy guitar-playing life!

The post Guitarist Tendonitis – How to Avoid It appeared first on Infinite Guitar.