What is your goal as a guitarist?

Learning guitar is could be compared to taking a long difficult yet rewarding journey. Knowing exactly where you are going and then having a plan will help you to reduce time going around in circles or ending up lost and frustrated. As with any difficult journey there are constant challenges both physically and mentally. The drop out rate on guitar is extremely high because students become frustrated due to their perceived lack of progress. I prefer to see this problem as a lack of CLARITY. When you are clear about where you are heading and have a plan and a timetable of how long it will take you will naturally become more patient. Impatience for the most part is just a lack of knowledge. The 'Are we there yet?' scenario. Think about when you wait for a train. If it you know you have 20 minutes to wait you accept it and perhaps read a book or catch up on phone messages. On the other hand if the train is running late with no idea of when it will actually arrive every minute feels like an hour.

Your Ultimate Song List

Some guitar students will often procrastinate about what kind of guitarist they want to be while at the same time being frustrated because they feel they are going nowhere. If this is you my suggestion is to just pick something. Anything. Pick a goal and starting moving in that direction  Choose a style of guitar or a particular guitarist, band or even particular songs. Any goal is better than no goal at all. When students enroll we give them a blank sheet with 25 lines called the Ultimate Song List. (You can get a free copy from our Student Website) We then ask students to write out 25 songs they would ultimately like to play. The idea is to create a real sense of purpose to their practice. The list is not set in stone and can be updated at anytime. I know when a student has trouble filling in this list that we have a problem that must be addressed before we go any further. In some cases I will even suggest to students to take a break and come back to me when they have 25 songs on their list. In most cases they are back the next week with list in hand.

Getting help

The role of any good teacher or method is to help you firstly to set clear goals and then to map out a plan. The G4 GUITAR METHOD gives students a clear direction that takes into consideration that students will eventually find their own direction. For this reason we focus heavily on the essential skills because these skills will prepare you for almost any style. Rarely are you going to regret learning essential picking techniques, chords, arpeggios, scales, rhythm, reading and aural (ear training).

Inspiration

It was once said that 50% of learning music is listening as this provides the inspiration you need.  If you want some ideas search the internet for all time great guitar players or start by asking family and friends who they like. In no time at all you will discover something new and inspiring and your list will quickly grow. There has never been a better time in history to find inspiration because the Internet has more inspiration than anyone person could ever need.

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Is your biggest challenge TIME?

The number one challenge for many guitar students seems to be finding enough time to practice. Actually time today is perhaps everyone's biggest challenge. Where did all the time go? The typical  reply when asked about practice might be "I had a super busy week last week with a million things to do but hoping for a better week this week".  Interestingly though it seems to be the same people with the same story each week.  My guess is the real issue not so much a lack of time but a lack of time management. Time management like any skill requires practice which in itself requires more time. We are a peculiar species because we have the most advanced brain in the known universe yet we fail to use it to work on our biggest problems. Time is the biggest issue for most so let me get straight to the point and give you my top 3 pieces of time management advice which I am confident will solve your time problem.

Tracking your time

If you ever hear yourself saying you have no time than it's the same as saying you have no money. People who claim to have no time or no money most of the time are really saying they are not managing their time or money. Tracking how you spend your time will reveal where your time is actually going and you may even be surprised at how much time (like money) you waste. Our brains have the ability to automate repetitive daily tasks to the point where we may not even notice them after a while. For instance you might check your phone messages each morning followed by emails followed by a little net surfing and before you know your morning has disappeared. On closer scrutiny you can turn a 2 hour phone/Internet session into 30 minutes simply by setting a time limit. There are even programs now that will do it for you. When we answer every call and every email 5 times a day we end up with 5 times as many replies and therefore 5 times the time is required. If your situation (E.g. You run a business) requires you to answer so many calls and emails you need to hire an assistant. If you can't afford an assistant than you need a new business plan.

First things first

Do your most important tasks first. Write a list of all your tasks then prioritise your list. Next create a schedule and begin with your most important tasks. As mentioned above allocate a set amount of time for each general task. E.g. 60 mins for exercise, 30 mins emails twice a day, 60 mins for guitar and so on. Now write them on to a weekly planner. What most people find is there is not enough time to do everything. While initially it may be disheartening to realize you don't have enough time to master guitar, cooking, a foreign language, get a degree in medicine, become a triathlete, coach your nephew's football team and do a photography course all while trying to keep up a social life and be the most popular person you know on Facebook it is a reality check. Many people never do the above exercise and end up living life as a crisis. Interruptions come from every direction. Phone ringing, emails appearing etc. It is easy to just react to everything as if it were a crisis but the worst part is they never realise that they are simply trying to achieve too much and there is no order to their madness. They just do whatever seems most immediate.

Practice log - (Download from G4 GUITAR Student Site)

Its important to log your practice even if it is zero. This will give you a measurement to work with. Knowing how much practice you are doing will help you to be honest with yourself but will also inspire you. Students who use the practice log almost always do better. In fact my own student statistics showed that students who use the practice log daily are far more likely to still be learning guitar in 6 months. In fact I could predict with 95% accuracy which students would be still learning after a year based on their practice log. The more they filled in their log the more likely they were to be learning guitar a year later. The reason the practice log is so powerful predictor of future success is because students can see the investment of time they are making and get a real sense of how practice equates to progress. Even when your progress is slow you will feel good about your effort. Progress can at times appear to come in bursts. It's as though our brain requires you to play a particular song or practice a certain skill x number of times before it sinks in. Suddenly one day you realize you can play something effortlessly often after months or even years of practice. The practice log keeps you aware that this is not really the case. Your progress is a direct result of the time invested into practice.

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Is success on guitar random?

In recent years there have been quite a few books written on the subject of how random events control our destiny. Books like 'Outliers' and  'Blink' by Malcolm Gladwell can leave one feeling like a victim if taken too seriously. Gladwell describes how your birthday may have played a big role in whether you went on to succeed in life. The year, the place, your nationality, your parents etc all play a role in determining your possible outcomes in life. Add to this the pure randomness of life and becoming successful on guitar for example will look like a long shot. After all how many people ever really achieve their teenage dreams (and don't say your teenage dream was to own a house with a pool)?

The Drunkard's walk

The Drunkard's walk is a mathematical term that refers to a succession of  random events. An example might be the stock market or a weather pattern or a person's life. Basically anything where the next step cannot be 100% predicted in which every new step is random to some degree.This usually occurs where there is a number of variables that can determine the outcome. The term comes from that of a drunk person walking. You never know which way they will sway or if indeed they will be standing when they take their next step. If you drew a line after their walk it would appear random in comparison to the person walking in smooth consistent strides. The Drunkard's walk can also be applied to the life of every living person whether they be a sports champion, a politician, a billionaire, an artist or a homeless person. No one can avoid the random events that occur on their life journey due to the infinite number of variables.

Hendrix and the random events that led him to success

If you read the Jimi Hendrix biography you will quickly see how it was a combination of both planned and random events that took him to the top. When Hendrix was just a young child he would pretend to play guitar on a broom stick. He obviously had a passion for guitar at this early age and despite the fact that he had no guitar was already preparing for his future. Hendrix had many setbacks along the way but a series of random events took him to the UK where he found fame and then returned to the US and went on to become perhaps the most famous guitarist of all time. It would be easy to assume that Hendrix was extremely talented and was therefore destined to be a superstar but without many of the random events that occurred he may have just become another musician playing the clubs across the America or worse.

If randomness rules why bother trying?

Now if randomness plays such a big role in success is there any point in even trying? The answer is yes of course.  The point is Hendrix would likely still have played and practiced just as hard. Even if he didn't become famous he would have been doing what he loved. Random events do play a role in our lives and do influence our outcomes but only a conscious effort to practice will ever make you a great guitar player. Hendrix made a conscious decision to practice for hours everyday and to see as many guitarists as possible and learn at every opportunity. The random events did play a very important role and in this respect you can say Hendrix got lucky but his guitar skills were not the result of luck.

Snakes and ladders

Randomness to me is like the game 'Snakes and ladders'. The aim is to get to the top and reach your goal. The snakes are random events that set you back and the ladders are those fortunate events that push you closer to your goal. If you keep moving toward your goal the odds are you will get there. Some people will be lucky and avoid most of the snakes and stumble across lots of ladders where as others will keep landing on snakes but as anyone who has played the game will testify, with perseverance you will eventually get to the top. The great thing about real life is we are all at the mercy of random events. I believe its what we do when faced with a set back that makes the difference.

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Do you have the X Factor?

The X-Factor is sometimes misunderstood as inborn natural talent. You either have it or you don't. We have no doubt all heard someone at sometime say that such and such has the X-Factor as if they always had it. The X-factor in actual fact is usually the result of years of study and practice and even then often goes unrecognised for years. In the case of actors and musicians they will likely experience hundreds of failed auditions before finally becoming recognized. The classic scene from the show X-Factor where the undiscovered talent seems to just come out of nowhere is far from reality. The show portrays this idea to excite people sitting in their lounge rooms that they too might have the X- Factor.

The truth behind undiscovered talent

Undiscovered talent is likely just talent that took years to reach maturity and shows like X-Factor provide a quick and easy way to reach the public but even so there is usually still much work to be done in terms of a polished performance. Its unlikely that Susan Boyle will be strutting the stage like Madonna or Steven Tyler anytime soon. Pick any successful act today and I can almost guarantee they worked very hard and had more than a few set backs along the way. It's just par for the course.

So why do people fall for the X-factor myth?

When we pay closer attention to the media, Hollywood and Cinderella type stories we can better understand how we get seduced by the myth. In fact I would say we want to be seduced. We want to believe that suddenly with no effort we will possess some amazing talent that will solve all our problems. When I was a kid growing up in the 70's the most popular TV shows were 'Bewitched' and  'I dream of Jeannie'  which had characters who possessed magical powers. These shows while obviously complete fantasy were popular because we wanted to believe them. Who wouldn't want such powers or a relative who could zap the school bully or instantly turn you into a guitar hero? The fact is these shows were just the obvious examples. The more subtle shows were the ones where the character just happens to be a naturally talented singer or dancer or athlete etc. To answer the question, we fall for the X-factor myth because it gives us hope but I am sorry to say it's a false hope. The good news is the truth is in fact a much better deal because for most of us its achievable.

Forget the X-factor and focus on the Why-factor

When someone possesses extraordinary talent rather than assuming they were born with the X-factor simply ask the following question."Why is this person so talented or successful?" This question will lead you to the truth which is almost always about hard work and persistence. Sure some people get lucky breaks and some are born with certain advantages or into favorable conditions but there really is no evidence to support the idea that without such advantages you have no chance. In fact talent is nearly always learned and the result of practice and is often the result of hardships. Once you accept this fact the only thing between you and your talent goal is practice. Forget the X-Factor and focus on the Why and for guitar that means practicing.

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Your first and most important guitar lesson

When students attend their first guitar lesson most are eagerly expecting a bunch of exercises that will set them on the path to success. The truth is while exercises are definitely important your first lesson should include a large dose of understanding about what makes a successful guitarist. Anyone can do exercises yet only a small percentage of people ever achieve their goals on the guitar and understanding what the successful guitarists do differently will give you an advantage from the very first lesson.

Deliberate Practice

Becoming a proficient guitarist is firstly about establishing the habit of practicing like a proficient guitarist. The difference between the novice and proficient guitarist is deliberate practice. The term 'deliberate practice' refers to a style of practice that is all about being aware of your practice as you go through the motions. In other words don't just play a chord progression but closely analyze how you can improve it. Are your fingers sitting close to the frets? Can you improve the speed at which you move from one chord to any other chord?

Old habits die hard

I think it's important to point out that establishing a new habit  like deliberate practice is no easy task. Whenever we set out to establish a new habit we have to remember that we need to make time by dropping usually another already established habit. For example you may be exchanging your precious relaxation time for guitar practice. In the early stages when you are motivated it seems easy to give up 30 minutes of chill time for guitar practice. Can you hear yourself saying "I've had a tough day at work/school and I'm just not in the right mood for guitar practice today so I think I will skip it."  Almost without noticing 3 or 4 days have slipped by and somehow no guitar practice has been done yet on closer inspection the lounge and TV have received their usual daily attention.

What is going on?

Established habits require little if any conscious thought but if we think new habits will just form themselves we will likely be disappointed. You probably can't even remember the experience of taking a shower on any given day last week but you know you did because it's a habit. You see your brain automates much of what it can so as to leave you to worry about the events that are not habitual such as finishing a school or work assignment or getting tickets to a concert that are predicted to sell out within hours of going on sale. Because habits run on automatic programs in the background they are hard to erase. Erasing and replacing takes constant awareness and effort.

From 9% to 100% compliance

The question of how to erase and replace is a difficult one but let's look at a positive example and see if we can then apply it to guitar. In one study using cameras around the wash basins in a hospital doctors were found to only washed their hands a mere 9% of the time. In an effort to change this habit the management at one hospital in California decided to try to improve their hand washing rate by implementing a new strategy. They ended up achieving a 100% compliance rate from staff. An incredible turn around. How did they do it?

A formula for establishing new habits

There were 4 key steps to their winning strategy;

1. Make it easy. They put hand sanitizers all around the hospital.
2. Be supportive. Doctors who were found washing their hands were rewarded with a gift voucher such as a Starbucks voucher.
3. Motivate. Images of live bacteria were displayed around the hospital motivating doctors to act.
4. Repetition and consistency. Habits form when we repeat the action for a period of time especially on a consistent basis.

Let's apply this to guitar.

1. Make it easy - Keep your guitar on a stand and if possible create a dedicated area for practicing. Have your music on a good quality music stand and everything you need on hand. Its even worth making copies of material you are practicing so it can stay permanently in your practice area while the other copy can go with you to lessons. When your practice material is staring you in the face it makes it very easy. I also suggest you allow sometime each day to make sure your practice area is clean, organized and ready.

2. Be supportive - If possible surround yourself with supportive people. This is where a guitar teacher can make a big difference. Many guitar students think of their guitar teachers simply as providers of knowledge but your teacher plays an important support role as well. In fact this is probably the number one reason you should have a teacher. Of course friends and family are also an important part of your support team.

3. Motivate - Surround yourself with inspiring sights and sounds. Find music that inspires you and try to continue explore new music because you never know what you will find. It only takes one great song to fire you up when you are going through an inspirational dry spell. Images are also very powerful such as posters and videos in your practice room.

4. Repetition and consistency - The first 3 steps will get you thinking about your guitar practice on a daily basis but it's only when repetition and consistency kick in that you will see the habit take shape. Try to avoid seeing yourself as a failure if you do not reach the 4th step straight away. Keep going back to step 1 until you get it. In most cases if step 4 is not happening it means the first 3 steps need more work.

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Priming yourself for guitar practice

In a university research study a class of students were instructed to look at the lecturer with interest when he was standing on the left side of the room and with disinterest when on the right side of the room. The lecturer was unaware of the experiment but gradually he spent more and more time on the left side of the room.  Follow link for more examples.

Understanding the unconscious mind

This experiment demonstrates the power of our environment and the role our unconscious mind plays in our own behaviour. It was the lecturers unconscious mind that directed him to favor the left side of the room.  Apparently our conscious brain can only process a very small amount of information opposed to our unconscious which takes in massive amounts of information. The understanding of the brain in recent years has come a long way and now brain researchers know that our unconscious mind controls much more of what we do then previously believed. So the question is how can we use this information to help us learn guitar?

Priming students to do more practice

Priming the unconscious brain is basically anything that sets the stage for an action. Priming doesn't guarantee an outcome but increases the chances of it occurring. Is it possible to prime ourselves for guitar practice? The above experiment gives us clues as to how it may be possible. Firstly I will apply it to teaching. Over the years I have noticed that teachers who focus positive attention on even the smallest of efforts from students in a particular area will usually see the student's confidence and therefore attention increase in that area. The best example is the 'Practice Log'. (Visit our G4 Downloads page for a free copy) G4 GUITAR teachers ask students to use the Practice Log to record their daily practice. Those teachers who diligently checks the Practice log each week and praise the efforts of their students find the majority of their students increase their practice times. The more positive attention from the teacher the more practice that gets done. Negative attention by the way usually works in reverse. "Why haven't you practiced?" results in less and less practice.

Give it time

Focus your attention on even the smallest of efforts and you will almost always see them grow.  Avoid being negative or berating yourself for not doing enough practice. Just keep filling in your times in your Practice log and acknowledging your effort. This doesn't mean you should delude yourself. Be honest of course. For example lets say you are doing 20 mins practice a week knowing that you should be doing at least a few hours to make any real progress. In this case just sit down and work out a schedule that will see you gradually increase your amount of practice. You don't have to suddenly do an hour of practice a day. Just add  a little each week until you reach your target. The key is to measure your practice time.

Focus on something. Anything!

Studies show that people who weight themselves daily are less likely to gain weight. By focusing on their desired weight they tend to stick to it. As a teen I began jogging in an effort to get fit. Initially I decided to go out one day and just do it but the result was always the same. I would last a few weeks and then get bored or distracted and stop. I would repeat this pattern every 6 months or so whenever I realized it was time to lose those extra kilos. It got to the point where whenever I began my jogging program I knew it was only a matter of time before I would quit. In my early 20's I began reading books on coaching and teaching to become a better guitar teacher. The message was almost always the same. 'You need to measure something. Anything.' It didn't matter what as long as it can be used to measurement growth. In the case of jogging I could measure time actually spent jogging, distance, speed or days jogged in a particular month. Once I began measuring I felt challenged to keep improving. It was the fact that I was keeping some kind of score that motivated me to go out and see if I could improve on my score. Without any system of measurement it just feels like another boring old pointless jog.


Pay attention to your unconscious mind

Our unconscious mind works much harder then our conscious so understanding this fact will give you an advantage to learning guitar. Everything from the music you hear to the images you see to the environment in which you practice will affect your long term success on guitar. Being aware of what your unconscious mind takes in may just make all the difference.

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The first 6 months of guitar is make or break

 "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." Vincent T. Lombardi


Sadly the majority of people who decide to take up guitar will not get past the first 6 months. I came to realize this fact in my first few years of teaching after becoming increasingly frustrated with the number students who would give up in the early months. I remember going to my own teacher at the time and asking where I was going wrong only to be told "That's just how it is". Not long after I began teaching along side a piano teacher and noticed that very few of her students were dropping out. Was piano different to guitar or did this teacher know something I did not?

The piano teacher's secret

The piano teacher indeed did have a secret which I soon adopted into my own teaching and quickly found my student dropout rate plummeted. It was pretty simple really although initially counterintuitive to my beliefs at the time. The piano teacher was upfront with her students from the very first lesson. She would explain that learning piano was challenging and almost without a doubt you will want to give up within the first 6 months. The teacher than shocked me by saying that if they didn't feel they had what it takes to stick it at for at least one year it's best they don't even begin because they would only be wasting everyone's time and money.  At the time it seemed to me that such a speech would leave many students feeling despondent but as I began to apply a similar strategy there was a noticeable difference not just in dropout rates of my students but an increased commitment to practice.

The beginner fantasy

The reason such a strategy works is firstly because it is addresses the big problem. The fantasy about learning music. Almost every student who takes up guitar will want to give up in the first 6 months mostly because their fantasy of learning didn't match the reality.  In the words of Paco Pena guitar is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. Its mostly hard word for a little pleasure especially in the first year. When the hours and hours of practice don't result in you being the next Jimi Hendrix giving up guitar will look like a good option. Understanding this fact before you even start will make all the difference. When you are under no illusions the journey will match your expectations much more accurately.

Prepare for the worst and hope for the best

The above quote is one of my favourites. The  reason such a strategy works is because it prepares students for the future. When a student takes up guitar it is highly unlikely they are thinking about giving up. They are unprepared for giving up. It's only when the reality of daily practice and a lack of instant results sets in that the motivation begins to wear off that they are faced with the idea of giving up. When students understand what is coming they can prepare for it. I will even go as far as asking them what they will do when this day comes. Most are actually unsure and my advice is simply this. "Talk to me (your teacher) before doing anything. What I don't want you to do is to quit without giving me the chance to talk you out it."

Commit for 12 months and then decide

Another reason the strategy works so well is because students make a 12 month commitment. The first year is tough and students who go the distance are very unlikely to quit guitar at that point. 12 months is long enough to understand the process of learning guitar. The cause (daily practice) results in the effect (skill). It's also a long enough time to develop the long term habit of practice.

Commitment

Finally I believe the strategy works because it gets to the heart of what learning guitar is all about from day one. Commitment. Success on guitar has nothing to do with natural ability and everything to do with your commitment to learning guitar. If you walk into your first lesson with the idea of finding out whether you have musical talent you will probably be disappointed because talent comes from practice and lots of it. Talent comes from hard work and there is so far very little evidence that great musicians are born. Find me a great musician who never practices and you will probably find a liar.

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