Mental Aspects of the Guitar Practice Session
I wrote about physical tension in a previous post here, and now we need to consider mental tension and it’s role in the guitar practice session.
It’s a good idea to deliberately set up a positive expectation for a relaxing, rejuvenating, and meditative guitar practice session. You can do this by starting with an appreciation of silence (it’s lovely). Then greet your instrument. For some guitarists, the greeting process begins when they open the case and get a good whiff of that wood smell. Others use the tuning process to settle in and focus.
My approach is to run my hand up and down the neck, then strum an open E chord to break the silence gently. Exhale. Notice that you can feel the vibrations from your guitar in your chest. Your chest is hollow and functions as a resonator when you sing or talk. Your greeting, then, is that of one acoustic instrument to another. Connect. Breathe. I define my time, space, and purpose. The time is now, the space is an imaginary bubble that includes only me, my guitar, and my music; my purpose may change from day-to-day (relaxation, total check-out, or active work on a piece), but the process is constant.
Thoughts and Beliefs About Practice
“Practice makes perfect”. “It takes a lot of work”. “Only the gifted can play an instrument”. Not one of these statements is true. Practice does not make perfect, work is what you make it, and everyone can play some musical instrument.
Characteristics of Good Practice
First, set up for success. Do whatever you need to do in order to repeat the right moves. You need two things: 1) a clear idea of what you’re trying to do and 2) a constant awareness of what you’re actually doing.
That might mean crawling through a passage or progression, repeating the moves with the left hand only. Just do the motion ten times without strumming or plucking the strings. You might have to watch your hand. That’s fine. You can wean away from the visual dependence later. If trying to play by feel only means you are repeating wrong moves, it is definitely not worth it.
“Practice makes perfect” is not true; only effective practice makes perfect. My biggest fear as a teacher is that the enthusiastic student will take off on a non-vigilant journey and practice errors. Success is all in your head.
