Guitar Lesson of the Day -Making Practice Less Boring and More Effective

This lesson is about how to get the most out of the time you put in practicing your instrument. I will focus on guitar mostly, but these simple rules, or ideas can be applied to any instrument. I know theres some of you out there that have been playing for awhile, and you run into someone playing alot less time than yourself, and wonder why they are so much more developed, or just better than you are. It has happened to me PLENTY of time, believe me.

First, remember one simple rule that will ALWAYS help you, You only get better practicing things you DONT know, as oppose to playing the same thing daily, monthly, or for some of us, we get stuck in the rut of playing the same thing for YEARS. For example, my downfall in the earlier days of playing was jamming to the SAME OL CDs, day after day. Sure you might master those tunes, but you arent gaining any new skills either. There are players who play HOURS a day, and others who play 30 minutes a day, with the latter being better because they applyed themselves in ways that utilized their time the best.

If your serious about developing your skills, and becoming a well rounded player, rythem, lead, and maybe a variety of styles, you need a practice routine. Alot of guitarists find this to be boring, but as Ive said in the past, once you see improvement, it can become quite addictive.

First off.... I'll start by saying, for anyone, to break up the manogomy, or boringness of excersizes, make sure you still take time to just Jam, to albums, by yourself, for ideas, whatever.
Secondly, I suggest setting aside a designated amount of time daily. Now for the fun stuff.

If your aspiring to be a well rounded player, what I suggest is getting a few files. In these files you will keep excersizes, and practice routines. You want to divide your practice time up. Make a file for rythem, a file for lead, a file for theory, or whatever else it is you want to learn, or get better at. Then divide your practice time, if your gonna give yourself an hour a day, maybe devote 15 minutes for rythem workouts, 15 minutes for lead excersizes, 15 minutes to theory, and the rest of the time to jam and enjoy your instrument.

You can use this basic guide, and fine tune it to what your trying to accomplish, believe me, it is a very effective way to get the most out of your practice time. Hope this article helps, keep shooting for your dreams, and KEEP ROCKIN!