Guitar is a Homework Instrument

Guitar Noises #37: November 28, 2024

To get good at guitar, you need to know what you’re doing, and then you need to practice the living daylights out of it. You can’t keep messing around, waiting for things to click. Music won’t just click on its own if you still don’t know what you’re doing.

In the last newsletter, I shared some ideas about why it’s important to learn the how and why of playing guitar instead of relying on what and where to play. You can’t memorize your way to becoming a good player. Memorizing isn’t practicing. Practicing involves learning an idea and repeatedly applying what you understand.

Whenever you’re stuck on some aspect of guitar, the answer will nearly always be to practice more. Everything you want to get better at can be improved through consistent practice. Guitar is a homework instrument. Your results are a direct reflection of the work you put in.

Watching people exercise at the gym doesn’t change your fitness level. The same is true for the guitar. Watching videos won’t help you improve as much as spending more time playing the guitar. Try taking the idea from one video at a time and woodshedding it for an entire week. Dull as it may seem, this is what it means to put in the work.

Music instructors know immediately when a student hasn’t practiced all week. Why not hold yourself to this high standard: you either do the work or you don’t.

Pro players don’t fill their days playing and learning songs they love; they practice drills and exercises designed to improve their playing. You can make steady improvements through consistent and regular practice. Learning guitar is harder than most people think. There are more repetitions for every little thing than you might expect.

Even more important than repetition is consistency. Musicians don’t experience overnight success. Consistent practice is the type of work that pays off. If there is one secret to anyone’s success, it is being consistent in their habits.

You get good at something by doing it, not by collecting more information about it. Every facet of playing guitar can be improved by doing it more consistently. A short list includes basic techniques like bending, learning songs, figuring things out by ear, and improvising solos. Even music theory can be more easily understood if you practice using it. Rather than beginning with a concept or idea, start with exercises you play, then explore the how and why behind them. Do this regularly, and you’ll gradually understand more of the theory.

You don’t have to be smart to play guitar well. You don’t need natural talent. Playing guitar requires skill. While we all build skills at different paces, anyone can learn and improve their guitar skills by doing the work.

Everyone struggles to make time for practice. You don’t need motivation; you need momentum.

Ultimately, guitar practice will boil down to what works for you. Don’t do spider-crawl exercises every day just because an instructor you like convinced you they are essential warm-ups. Your practice material is ever-evolving and should reflect what you can and cannot do. Decide what you’d like to achieve with the time available, and set goals to keep you on track.

If you are doing many things right and making progress, you’ll eventually reach a point where your understanding of things exceeds your ability to play them. That’s why you need to stay on top of your practice and ensure you catch up so that your ability matches your knowledge. You probably know this: work on one thing at a time.

For musicians, knowledge that you can’t use is pointless.

When building and revising your practice routine, remember that the two most important things to getting good at guitar are: 1) knowing your stuff and 2) practicing the living daylights out of it.

Check out Anyone Can Practice Guitar for more ideas on starting a practice routine.