So far I have discussed some ideas relating to how to warm up, what to practice on (if only as a start), and some general topics related to what playing the guitar really is all about. For today, I have some of the real core ideas…
Much of learning how to play the guitar is what is known in behaviorism circles as scaffolding, which is to practice and learn some sequential skills to ultimately master some much larger ones. For instance, there is real value in learning and practicing scales…to a degree. You need to understand that there are only a few reasons to learn scales. First off, this is as good away to develop some ‘poise’ in how you use your fingers. Mastering playing scales teaches your fingers where to go in a structured and orderly manner. As an example, if you watch a beginning guitarist and then watch an experienced guitarist, you will start to see that they use their hands in very different ways. The more experience you get as a guitarist, the less motion you use (and waste) to accomplish what you are playing (this is called minimum motion), and you will see that the advanced players hands and fingers are always ready for the next move. A beginner is usually a bit more chaotic in how they move their fingers, and (usually) with a lot of exaggerated motion and wasted energy.
Scales are also valuable ways to understand chords (and to give them a deeper context), and finally, playing scales helps teach your ears how to perceive such things as key centers, and helps you start to understand more of the mechanics of composition.
The work that you put into these pieces of what music is made of will in turn, lead to a better, and deeper understanding of what songs are (from a technical and mechanical standpoint).
The advantages in spending time developing the muscle memory and smoothness which comes from this sort of practice takes a lot of time… But there is no way around it.
So, as you progress in learning and moving past some of these technical parts of music theory and mechanics on the guitar you might see that this is the same thing as learning any language. Once you master a language, there is little need to spent time considering grammar; this is the same thing which practicing these building blocks of music will bring
There are things to consider working on beyond these sorts of exercises, namely to play music. One of the ways in which you can make a lot of progress (fast) is to:
1. Always play with some sort of backing (whether it is a metronome, backing tracks (MP3, CD, etc.), or even some friends playing along with you). Generally the more you play with as many different people as you can, the faster, and more progress you will make.
2. Try to record as much of what you are practicing as possible, you will, at first, be quite dismayed by your output, but with pain, comes gain. Getting used to recording yourself start to bring in the notion that playing music is something which takes place ‘in the moment’ and merely hitting the record button brings you to this world (once again, fast and hard…no pain, no gain).
As you might see, these two topics fit hand in hand. These methods may bring some stress with them, but they are the best way to progress beyond being a mere ‘bedroom player’.
