You got to pay to play…!!! To play guitar like a pro, you need to practice like a pro.
Being out of the guitar game for so many years, it felt nearly impossible to make time to practice my guitar lessons. I tried to practice guitar at least 15 minutes a day – but was told to be proficient, I should be practicing 45 minutes a day, 7 days a week. With an insanely busy TriValley life, that seems a little impractical for me. However, making time for 30 minutes a day – breaking it up in two 15 minute sessions, hasn’t been too difficult. I’m trying to work up to three 15 minute sessions per day. After telling Rex about this issue at my last in-home guitar lesson in Livermore, he assured me most people encounter this issue since they are integrating guitar into their life – it’s new, so as with any new thing in your life, it takes time to adjust.
For my first assignment, I most definitely did not make enough time to practice the chords. It was a very reasonable exercise, but simply needed time. Apparently, one of Rex’s 8 year old students had given him an excellent strategy – to cover up the chords as you’re learning; sort of use the chart as flash cards. This is a strategy I am yet to test out, but seems to be time effective. I’ve had 3 lessons so far with two feeling like I was falling behind and thinking I should reschedule. However, it’s better to still show up and learn each lesson rather than cancel it. The guitar lessons are self-paced learning and you will still learn things, even if you don’t want to play for a lesson. This is good to know, as it reduces pressure and self-judgment and gives you time to catch up while adding to your learning portfolio.
It still has been a challenge to find time to practice every day with work and school and back and forth from Livermore to Pleasanton, but slowly, it’s coming together as I make it part of my daily routine to pick up guitar and practice. Frankly, cutting out TV at the end of the day and replacing it with guitar is much more rewarding; it’s a great way to wind down and use your mind rather than lose it to all the screens we’re already looking at all day long! Try it out—it just might be good for you.
How much guitar practice do you think Unlocking the Truth put in?
The NY Post reports that group, featuring guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse (13), bassist Alec Atkins (13), and drummer Jarad Dawkins (12), have signed a deal with Sony for upwards of $1.7 million, after some legit guerrilla marketing. We first wrote about them when live footage surfaced of the band, then a duo rocking a local club. One day, they decided to take their instruments to Times Square pand video of the jam session went viralcracking 1.5 million views. The band were profiled endlessly, leading to gigs opening for Living Color, and performing at Coachella and a few dates of Warped Tour, so there is quite the buzz about them. The band were discovered in Washington Square Park by Eric Clapton’s drummer, Steve Jordan and eventually referred the kids to their now-manager, Alan Sacks, who oddly enough is the co-creator of the 70s sitcom Welcome Back Cotter. read article »
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