Motivation Archives - GUITARHABITS

The New Guitar Regimen: Feel Great, Superfit and Improve Your Playing Faster

To improve your guitar playing you have to practice regularly. That’s a no-brainer. To make sure you actually do that you must have time, motivation, energy and focus.

Time is one thing (if that is not enough), but motivation, energy and focus are equally important and really need to be in place to make your guitar regimen rock solid.

For some this may look unattainable, but it can be done.

Let’s take a look at the key ingredients to make this work:

Prepare
Yes, prepare, prepare, prepare!
1 – Write down in your calendar at what days, what times and for how long you’re going to practice (30 or 60 min).
2 – Schedule another 30 min extra time before practice (I’ll explain in a minute).
3 – Inform family and friends your practice time is sacred and they can’t disturb you while you’re at it.
4 – Find or create a quiet and private practice space, where nobody will find you :)
5 – Set up your equipment, your guitar(s), sheet music, and necessary tools (pick,capo,tuners,etc.) the day before practice, so you are ready to roll.
6 – Make sure nothing comes in between you and your practice regimen. Make it so.

Table of Contents
Next, write out the table of contents for your practice workout. How are you going to spend those valuable 30 to 60 minutes of full blown practice?

Make sure it contains everything you love to play and things that drive you to get better and better. Choose, print and write down the scales, licks, exercises, chords, progressions and solos you want to work on. Get your nice blues jamtracks ready for improvisation, find some ear training exercises, and music theory to study, and above all, select the songs you love to play.
Continue Reading

How to Play Guitar and Improve When You Feel Too Tired

By Klaus Crow 6 Comments

You are busy, you’re making late hours, you’re weekends are full, and you’re just too tired. The moment you finally can sit down to relax, it’s hard to pick up the guitar. You really love playing, but at the end of the day you’re worn out.

Feeling tired after a hard days work is a reality, no doubt about it, but somewhere in that tired feeling there is also a part of the story you are telling yourself. Often when we feel too tired to do something and we do it anyway the story and the feeling disappears.

Especially when you start doing something that will make you feel better when you do it like exercise or playing guitar.

So, along with this knowledge you also need a trigger that makes you want to pick up your guitar.

Again, it all has to do with the story you tell yourself.

The moment you come home from work and sit down, start to be aware of your thoughts and the inevitable excuses your mind is going to make up to escape practicing.

Stop those thoughts immediately! They are just lazy thoughts, banish ‘m.

It could also be that you aren’t thinking about practicing at all, because of everything else in your life that comes first, like making dinner, errands, kids, homework, temptations and distractions.
Continue Reading

20 Famous Practice Quotes That Will Rock Your Playing

By Klaus Crow 10 Comments

I love gathering quotes of wise, smart, successful, creative and musical human beings. They always inspire me to get more out of myself, to think differently, grow and expand my horizon, or sometimes remind myself of the obvious.

Today I will share with you 20 beautiful quotes that will take you back to the drawing table and motivate you to practice diligently to realize your true potential. After all, practice is the vehicle that will lead you to your desired outcome.

Tip: Read all the quotes carefully. Take two or three quotes, write them down and hang them up on your wall, set it as a background on your computer or iPhone. Make sure you see these quotes everyday to remind yourself of the importance, joy and rewards of practice.

Read, ponder and act!

1 – “The only thing that’s holding you back, is the way you’re thinking.” ~ Steve Vai

2 – “You’re not born with certain skills, you have to acquire them” ~ Ry Cooder

3 – Copying one person is stealing. Copying ten is research.” ~ Chet Atkins

4 – The best way for a student to get out of difficulty is to go through it ~ Aristotle

5 – “If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, the critics know it. And if I don’t practice for three days, the public knows it.” ~ Louis Armstrong

6 – “The most crucial ingredient by far for success in music is . . .what happens in the practice room.” ~ William Westney

7 – “There’ll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time, unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done.” ~ James TaylorContinue Reading

How To Enjoy Your Guitar Practice The Most

By Klaus Crow Leave a Comment

There are times when practicing is a joy and everything falls into place, but there are also times we need to discipline ourselves to practice or we need the right motivation to start practicing in the first place. This is normal, we are only human beings. Don’t beat yourself up about it.

Once you’ve gone through a couple of solid guitar practice sessions you’re back in the saddle and you’ll feel the love and desire again to practice and improve yourself.

Today we’re going to give you the tools to make practicing enjoyable again when the going gets tough.

Let’s dive in!

1 – Reward yourself, set a fixed time
You’re a guitar player now so you need a fixed time to practice. Plan 30 or 60 minutes on your calendar (and don’t let anything undermine that). You don’t always have to plan a full hour, but if you can manage to do that once or twice a week you will really get into the groove.

Having set a fixed time means you have prioritised your practice and given yourself a chance to really enjoy playing your guitar. You deserve it. Don’t let the trivialities of life stand in the way. Reward yourself, you only live once!

2 – Get excited again
Why did you want to learn to play guitar in the first place? What is it that intrigued you about guitar playing? When did or do you love practicing the most? What song, solo, riff, guitar hero or dream goal makes you want to pick up your guitar? What can you do to make guitar playing exciting again? Find your spark in practice and implement it!
Continue Reading