Practice

Nobody improves without practice, regular practice, lots, and lots, and lots of practice.

The student asks, “How do I …”

Teacher: “Practice.”

Student: “But why can’t I …”

Teacher: “You just need more practice.”

Despite the absolute, inarguable truth of that answer, every student grows frustrated with the response. We know we need more practice, but how? What should we practice? What are we doing wrong?! Why can’t we get this when freaking seven year olds that can barely barely hold a guitar make it seem effortless?

Those are popular questions: I just searched Google for “how to practice guitar” and got 211 million results!

We all secretly want “spoon feeding” from a magic instructor genie. We want someone watching over our shoulder as we practice to tell us exactly what our problems are, where we should focus, and how to go about fixing it.

Sadly, genies don’t exist and guitar teachers charge too much by the hour for this service. We’re on our own to devise a strategy that works for us.

This extremely long section documents many things I’ve learned about practice.

I’ve organized it into the four sub-sections listed below.

I won’t be offended if you want to skip the rationale and just learn how to practice. If so, just jump directly to the last sub-section: Rex’s System.

Just be forewarned: As much as I believe in the system, I still can’t even begin to play like that seven-year-old!