By Nicholas Anderson
There are many ways that you can practice guitar, and there are many times that you can carve out of your day for practicing. But sometimes, the material that you practice today might not stick with you when you pick up your guitar tomorrow. It can be extremely frustrating to spend hours working on four measures during practice one day, and then not be able to effectively play those four measures the next.
If you can’t retain what you learn during your practice sessions, you are short-changing yourself on stage. No feeling is worse than being able to play something with perfect precision in practice, and then screw up and play wrong notes during a performance, or even just in a lesson. It can lead to a lack of confidence in your playing ability, and sabotage future performances by “psyching you out.”
So, how can you retain the information you are learning during practice; how can you make sure that your practice counts?
Practice in short bursts
When you spend hours going over the same material, you tend to learn it rather well. It just makes sense: we learn through repetition. If you have ever crammed for a test, you know how this process works: the night before the test, or even just hours before, you go through your flash cards and “memorize” the answers to the questions. Then, when the test comes, you simply regurgitate what you just spent hours “learning.” However, if you decide to attempt to recall any of the answers a mere week later you most likely have difficulty.
This is proof that sustained repetition is not necessarily the best way to learn. Yes, you must repeat things in order to commit them to memory. However, you do not need to repeat them continuously. This applies to guitar playing as well: practicing the same four measures of music for an hour straight might seem like a good idea, because by the end of that hour you can play it flawlessly. But when you attempt to perform the next day, you will no doubt find that your have lost almost all of that work.
This is due to something called “neuron fatigue.” What this means is that the neurons in our brain, the parts that fire off electrical charges and make up brain function, get tired after a while.
With three to five minutes of sustained activity, neurons become “less responsive”; they need a rest (not unlike your muscles when you lift weights). They can recover within minutes too, but when they are stimulated in a sustained way, they just are not as efficient. Think about the piano and the organ; if you put your finger on the organ key and hold it down it will keep making noise, but the piano key makes one short note, and keeping your finger there produces no more sound. Neurons are like pianos, not organs. They respond to patterned and repetitive, rather than to sustained, continuous stimulation (Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph. D.). [Source: http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/brainlearns.htm]
What is the solution to this problem? Practice sections of music in short bursts of three to five minutes each, rather than hours at a time. For instance, if you have three sections of music you need to practice, call them A, B, and C, then very the order in which you practice them. Instead of playing A for fifteen minutes, followed by B for fifteen minutes, and C in the same manner, simply play A for five minutes, C for five minutes, B for five minutes, and so on. This will help your brain process the information better. While it won’t seem like you’re learning it well during the practice session, the next day you will find that you retained everything you practiced.
Practice every day
This shouldn’t have to be said, but practicing every day is a must. If you don’t play guitar every day, your brain and hands will forget what they are doing. It doesn’t take long, maybe a week without playing, before you see a decrease in performance ability. Even if it’s just thirty minutes a day, you need to be consistent with your practicing.
Be focused during practice time
When you sit down to practice, make sure you have everything you need for the session. This means that your guitar, music stand, music, pencil, metronome, capo, and anything else you might need during practice is within arm’s reach. This will help you to remain focused on playing the music, as opposed to wondering where all of your stuff is.
Keeping your materials close is only half the battle, however. Try and keep outside distractions at a minimum, if not non-existent altogether. Make sure your family or roommates know that you are not to be disturbed during practice, and of course turn off the television or radio. And above all, leave your computer and phone in another room. Nothing kills focus more than a Facebook notification or a friend’s text.
Feel the music.
Music notation is black on a white page, but music itself is something that transcends pen and paper. It’s one thing to work on technique or play a phrase flawlessly, but it’s another to actually be able to perform something musically, that is, with passion and feeling. The most important thing you can do to help you retain what you are learning in practice is to play it musically from the very start. Feel the phrasing of the notes, play with dynamics, and pour some feeling into it. When you do this, you will find that you are able “remember” things by feeling what comes next.
By doing all of these things, you will be able to retain a lot more of what you cover during your practice times. When you practice in short bursts, every day, and keep focused while feeling the music, you will find you have more confidence both on and off the stage. Soon, you will find that less worried about playing the correct notes, and better able to enjoy the music you create.
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