The Summer Time Blues...aka...Practicing when you would rather do anything else!

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Ahh, the dog days of summer...

Vacation time...

Swimming...

Road trips...

Staying up late and watching your favorite movies...

Running in circles and acting like a kid waiting on Christmas because you're fixing to move into the most awesome location and start a ton of super cool music programs and get to hang out with super cool people and play guitar all day...

So while some of us "still" think about guitar during the summer (wink wink - did I mention our new studio?) and others think about their next fun summer activity, we can still do some things to help us get some practice time in over the summer months.

Try some of these and see if they work for you!

  1. Trick yourself into practicing - instead of sabotaging yourself by thinking you have to practice 30 minutes to an hour, instead, tell yourself that you only have to work on one thing for 10 minutes. Say a scale or chord change, nothing more.  There is a good chance that you will end up not only practicing that, but other things as well. I believe that getting started is more than half the battle.
  2. Keep the guitar out of its case and by your bed - at night before you go to bed or in the morning when you wake up, grab the guitar and strum a few chords, play a blues, improvise a melody. This is especially good for kids out of school (who can go to bed when they want and wake up when they want). Play anything you want, BUT, make sure you play it with focus and to the best of your ability. These few minutes a day will make your guitar teacher happy - well, let's say less upset than he/she would have been had you not taken your guitar out of the case all week! LOL
  3. Go to your local music store - That's right, grab that $8000 Taylor and strum your best G chord. Play through that Marshall Stack. Ask the salesman to get every wah pedal out for a side by side comparison. You will not only have a blast playing new gear, you'll likely get the itch to play again when you go home. Just don't blame me if you spend too much money on new gear!
  4. Go see some live music - this is one that always works for me. If I see a great band play, the first thing I want to do when I get home is grab my guitar and play (actually, I try to steal some of the licks I saw the guy play - keep that on the hush hush between us). Seeing and hearing a good band will always inspire you to grab your axe and play.
There you go, a few tips to help you keep your hands on your instrument over these fun summer months.

Cheers!




Posted by Jason at 11 Jul 2008
Categories: Motivation, Practice Ideas
 

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  • 11 Jul 2008 Carol wrote:
    Great suggestions. Love your site! Thanks for the EC jumpstart.
    Reply to this
  • 14 Jul 2008 bleuken wrote:
    how i want to learn guitar, i really like listening and maybe by this end of my jobs this month I'll try learning it. any site recommended for learning guitarist you can recommend?
    Reply to this
  • 15 Jul 2008 Andrea wrote:
    This looks like a cool blog. I bought my kids an acoustic guitar not long ago to see if there was any interest and they both seemed to like plucking away. Any advice on helping foster an interest? One is 5 and the other is 7 with Asperger's & some difficulty with fine motor skills. Thanks!
    Reply to this
    1. 17 Jul 2008 Jason wrote:
      @Andrea
      Regarding fostering their interest in music, here are a few ideas...

      Listen to music all the time. Sing along with songs, clap the rhythms, dance. Anything that associates fun with music is a good thing.

      Take them to see live music, like a outdoor summer festival or a band at the fair. Let them see how music is made live so that they realize it's not just something that comes from the radio.

      Encourage them to bang on their guitars and to show you everything they think sounds cool or exciting.

      Best of luck to you!
      Reply to this
  • 21 Jul 2008 dan wrote:
    well, for other people, they might be complaining about how they are doing other stuff like painting the house when they could be playing the guitar.

    i guess that's why the term is 'playing' the guitar and not 'working on the guitar' because its supposed to be fun.

    just trying to make sense
    Reply to this

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