Bad Practice Habit While Learning Guitar / Wrong Focus
Bad Practice Habit While Learning Guitar / Wrong Focus While Practicing Guitar
Have you ever asked yourself the question, “why am I so bad at guitar after so much practice?” Sadly, this is not an abnormal question. Isn’t that disappointing? You put in so much hard work and effort, yet you do not see any improvement. Most likely, this is happening because of a bad practice habit that you have developed. Don’t fret, once you figure out the problem, you should start seeing improvement.
One of the most common problems I see is that people believe they are practicing, except they are actually playing the guitar. Another common issue is that you are getting better, but you do not see it. In this case, learning how to measure your growth in a valuable skill to learn. There is a third problem that many people face while learning guitar. The problem is focusing on learning the wrong things.
Focus Vs Looking Into
I recently read in a book, a quote that I love. I read this quote in the book The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. It went something along the lines of, “the Greeks had a saying that the beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.” I agree 100%! So let me emphasize the meaning behind focus.
When you decide to focus on something, you are dedicated to that thing. What you focus on will take a considerable amount of effort, and time. Focusing on something is prioritizing it above other things. When you focus on something, you tend to forget that other things exist.
On the other hand, if you simply look into something, you are putting in less effort and time. It does not mean as much to you. You are not prioritizing it over anything else, nor will you forget that other things exist. When you look into something, you know it is not the most important thing to care about.
Knowing the difference is extremely important because if you focus on the wrong things, you will not see growth. It is very easy to get stuck on an idea that has no value.
What Should You Focus on Learning?
The most essential things that you should focus on are the techniques that enable you to play the guitar. To help you find the most important techniques, you will need a curiculum. A curriculum is a guide, a map, that tells you what to learn in what order. A curriculum is your GPS on your journey to learn guitar. So, it is very important that you have a good curriculum that guides you to learn the most important guitar skills.
There are many ways to find a curriculum. I even have some articles describing a curriculum to get guitarists started. A good place to start is this article which explains what the 3 most important skills for a guitarist to learn are. There are also plenty of other resources to help you find a great curriculum. Books are a resource to guide you through the learning process. Instructors can be a great resource to help guide you through the learning process. Also, there is a plethora of information on the internet offering insight into how you should learn guitar.
My main point here is the following: Find a great curriculum to teach you guitar and focus on learning what is inside that curriculum. If you do not see results after a reasonable time frame, try a new curriculum. Warning: 1 week is not a reasonable time frame.
Wrong Focus!
When learning something new, there are literally thousands of little pieces of knowledge that you will encounter. You will have questions and see things that you do not understand. This is where people can lose focus on what is important.
It is important that you answer these questions, but you should never focus on them. In fact, many of these little unknowns do not have real answers, but they depend on personal preference. For example, someone learning how to drive a car may wonder how close they should move their seat to the steering wheel, yet there is no real answer to this question. There are thousands of little unknowns that pop up while learning guitar, and focusing on them is a bad practice habit.
I have had students come to me for lessons and their biggest concern is what type of guitar pick they should use. After a few minutes of research, and trying out some different types of picks, it comes down to personal preference and anything more is a waste of precious brainpower. Many guitarists fall into the trap of equipment. Many guitarists spend hours reading about the specs of different amps, or the best pickups, or which brands are best. Guitar equipment is a black hole that can often suck up guitar potential. Simply put, be aware of things that take your attention without giving you noticeable rewards.
Have You had A Bad Practice Habit?
Have you made some of these common beginner mistakes on guitar while practicing? Do you have bad practice habits? Don’t worry and don’t feel bad. It is extremely common, and it is easy to fix once you know what the problem is. This is not a sign that you should give up on guitar, it just means that you will need to shift your focus. Having the wrong focus in a practice routine is enough to prevent anyone from seeing improvement.
I hope this article answers your question, “why am I so bad at guitar after so much practice”. Now that you have some new insight, apply what you have learned so you can begin to see results.
Resources
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