I was looking at a recent post and it raises a recurring question for me. First off my years learning guitar have been a little spotty. All total probably about 6 to 7 years. I've been at guitar tricks a little over a year and practice probably on average 2 hrs daily. I've been through all the fundamental courses and i am currently working on songs only although that will surely change. GT has been huge boost to my restart. One of my goals is to join others and play or practice as a group or band. Should i be practicing songs or mainly lessons. Since my choice of songs will surely change always as my skill increases. To add to my confusion i seem to forget songs and actually lessons to, unless i'm following on with something. I can tell my playing has improved but sometimes wonder at Sixty am i just to full of ''stuff'' to retain anymore. Any thoughts on my predicament.....Love the rythym lesson on ''She Loves You'' fun stuff....Thanks Dave!
Memory Pain Again!
Thanks for writing Steve and great questions! First off, it's never too late in life to start playing guitar. In fact it's a great exercise for our brains with the coordination between left and right hands and all the memorization that is required. Practicing 2 hours every day is great, but you'll want to make sure you're practicing the right things and in the correct way. A good practice routine should include about 20 minutes of warm ups - finger exercises, scales, and scale exercises that should be played with a metronome and keep track of your tempos. The next 20 minutes should be working on techniques like tremolo picking, hammer-ons, pull-offs, trillIng and any other techniques specific to the songs you are working on (like sweep picking, tapping, string skipping, hybrid picking, etc.). Follow this up with about 20 minutes of jamming/improvising over backing tracks from the Guitar Tricks site (in the 'Toolbox' under 'Jam Station') to put together all that you've learned so far (scales, licks, and techniques). The final time should be about 30 minutes on a song of your choice (work on the tricky spots and memorizing the song).
If you need further assistance I'm available for private 1 on 1 lessons here on Guitar Tricks. Here's the link with my available days, times , and rates:
https://guitartricks.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?calendarID=1274409
Hope this helps!
-Dave Celentano
Thanks Dave, I'm tryin' hard to make up for lost time and i try to make the best most efficient use of my time, so usually 2hrs is the minimum by a long shot. My wife had to come out of due to health ressons, so i'm working lots to keep afloat. I don't know how to work any harder at this, and i will go the more individual lesson approach if we can get past our current hardships and see the real benefit of private lessons. I am desparate to reach my current goals though and will figure it out Lookin' for my next Beatles tune then i'll move to something else.......Thanks Again D
Even if you only take one lesson with me every couple months I can definitely help you and give plenty of pointers to help you advance in the shortest time.
-Dave
