Practice Archives - Page 30 of 30

Writing a Song When the Pressure Is On!

photo from Istockphoto
A while ago the bass player of my band called me on the phone. He told me he wasn’t quite satisfied with the repertoire for the upcoming festival. He thought it still needed one ass-kicking rock song. I totally agreed. It was not a surprise, since it was part of the discussion for the last two weeks.

The only problem was that we didn’t have enough time to write and rehearse a new song. But I also couldn’t live with it, not having that extra rock song. It just didn’t feel good to leave it at this.

So I said to our bass player “I’m gonna write us a song today, record the demo with drums, guitars and vocals and send it to each of you by tomorrow morning”. By that way we could rehearsal it the same evening and play it at the gig in the same week.

O gosh, did i regret my promise after a few hours. I wrote like my life depended on it. It certainly felt that way. My stress level was enormous, but I learned a great deal out of it. The thing is….because you are limited in your time, you need to make decisions quickly. You are not going to sit around thinking a hundred times over a melody or that one word, “Is it deep enough?”, “Can’t I put it some other way?”, “Doesn’t this riff sound to familiar?”, “Don’t I have to make it more complicated, sophisticated?”. Nope: you don’t have the time!

Instead what you get is a great honest rock song to the bone.
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Where do I Find the Time to Practice?

By Klaus Crow 15 Comments

photo from Istockphoto
One of the most common problems of today is our lack of time. We all live these busy lives. We are running around doing all the things that have to be done every single day.

It almost feels impossible to find time to do the things we love most, things we are so passionate about, things that really matter.

I few years ago I changed my lifestyle and the way I handled my time. I started setting priorities, keeping things simple, to a minimal and only doing things that were essential.

This not only improved my guitar playing but it changed everything else in my life too. I now have all the time to spend time with my family and friends, write and record songs, write a blog, work out and enjoy life a lot more.

So lets give you the tools to create more time to play and practice:

Here we go:

1 – Wake up earlier.
Wake up 15 minutes earlier than usual and enjoy that precious extra time first thing in the morning.

It’s great because it’s still quiet in the house and there is no one to interrupt or distract you. Enjoy the beautiful morning sunrise while you practice your chords and scales. Waking up earlier gives you a head start and it feels great that you already have accomplished something.

Make sure you have a reason to wake up earlier. Write down the things that make you want to jump out of bed. A delicious breakfast, sunrise, private time, going to work without feeling stressed (a zen-feeling), feeling of accomplishment, etc.

You can play guitar very quietly if you need to. You don’t want to wake up the neighbors or maybe you do :) Just strum or pick your strings really soft with your thumb or play an electric guitar (unamplified). I recommend 15 or 30 minutes guitar practice in the morning. If you’ll make it a morning routine you’ll get hooked on it. I’ll promise you. Try it for a week. If it’s not your thing, you’ve at least gave it a shot. It’s worth the try.

Need some tips on how to wake up early, check out: 8 Tips How to Wake up Early That Do Work

2 – Take your guitar with you.
Take your guitar to work, school, friends, holiday, wherever you go. I know this doesn’t apply to everyone, but there are a lot of jobs out there where you have the freedom to play guitar during lunch or coffee breaks.

Maybe there are times when you have to wait for someone at work or school. There you go! Guitar time! Continue Reading

How Much do I Have to Practice?

By Klaus Crow 5 Comments

photo from flickr
Well, that really depends on whether you wanna become the next Eddie van Halen or if you just wanna play some nice songs with easy chord-changes. Either way practice makes perfect.

When you begin playing the guitar a half an hour a day is good to start with. But practice a half an hour with no interruptions, lock the door of your room, shut of your internet connection and put a “do not disturb” sign on the door. This is your private time to work towards something beautiful.

Concentrate fully on those yet difficult but eventually great sounding chords, that magnificent solo or that incredible song you always dreamt on playing. With a half an hour a day pure practice you can achieve a whole lot. Make sure your practice constructively. Work on your obstacles instead of just rambling away.

How do I get Motivated to Practice?

By Klaus Crow 5 Comments

photo from Istockphoto
So, you’re not always in for a good half an hour of sweat and tears?
Well today I have some key-motivators for you in this post.

But first this…
You are now playing’ guitar for a while and sometimes you feel like you’re in a rut.
You’re stuck with the same obstacles and you’re wondering if you’ll ever get better.

You already get tired when you think about those hard chord changes or that terrifying lick.

Now ask yourself why you wanted to play guitar in the first place. What were you thinking at that point? What was your goal?
Or were you just thinking…Well I’ll pick up this guitar, take some lessons, maybe practice the first 3 weeks while I’m still enthusiastic about that
“not that big of an issue” part of guitar playing and then after a year or so everything will work out for itself.

Well I have to admit that is a nice thought, but you know better than that. You still have to keep practicing to get going.
And of course we all have our ups and downs, but once in a while we have to give ourselves a nice kick in the but.
It’s all about prioritizing, reserving that half an hour, and not feeling guilty about spending that short amount of time for yourself to grow.
Seek the pleasure and satisfaction in the wonderful world of practicing.

Here are some key-motivators :

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