Welcome to a new post with 3 random thoughts on all things guitar, music, and life, including exactly what to practise, a habit-forming tip, and more. Here we go…
#1 – Chicken pox
Last week I talked about how important it is to be adaptable.
Well, these past few days, Archie has had chicken pox.
It’s not nice at any age, but it’s been such a shame for him.
He got very self-conscious about it, and it really is a horrid little disease.
Of course, it’s still good he got it young rather than at a later age.
For me, it meant not getting that much work done these past few days (hence why this email is being sent on a Tuesday and not Monday)…
Still, we’ve had fun, invented some crazy games, and had a nice chill.
As for music, it took a back seat, but I guess the point of this is that…
The guitar is always there.
In fact, we had a little jam at bedtime last night and that was special. It cheered him up, which was nice after a hard few days for him.
Gotta love the gift of music and the guitar for that.
#2 – A habit-forming tip
If you ever feel like you need more motivation to practise, this may help…
It’s all about creating a new simple habit.
Basically, a useful way of creating habits is to “stack” your desired habit (of more guitar practice) along with a current existing habit.
For instance, if you walk your dog or make a hot drink at certain times of the day like clockwork…
You could try picking up your guitar for a quick tinkle (even just for a minute) just before or after.
Your brain will learn to quickly associate the two things and it’ll help you get the all-important quick blasts of practice in throughout the day.
I keep a guitar quite close to my kettle (yes, the infamous kettle).
So whenever I’m making a cup of tea, I’ll jam while the kettle is doing its thing.
Often this is only for a minute or two, but it helps me refresh and refine the parts of whatever it is I’m working on instead of just standing there twiddling my thumbs.
…And as they say, every little bit helps.
Anyway, that might be useful for some of you…
#3 – Knowing exactly what to practise
I put up a poll the other day in the Fingerstyle 101 group.
I asked members to let me know what they most want to work on and improve.
The choices were varied and included things such as improving memory, dexterity, motivation, and musicality, but the winner out in front is this…
Most people want to know exactly what to practise.
It’s a tough one for a lot of people as there is so much we can practise on the guitar.
The new course I’ve been working on will go into this in precise detail for sure.
Inside you will get an exact plan of what to practise so you can achieve faster results with zero doubts as to what to do.
It will be a little while before it’s out as I’m on holiday next week and then have to finalise the course, but this is going to be super exciting.
Anyway, one thing most guitarists should do more of is work on the biggest sticking point in their playing each day.
What is the one single technical issue that holds back your playing the most? That’s something you should ideally practise each day.
…It’s not easy, I know, so if you want more help, you may want to check out the Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy.
I can help with this, plus on the 1st of every month, I show you exactly what to practise to make big progress over the month.
Find out more here…
The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
Hoping you have a fun day’s practice…
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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