Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
During the summer I teach at a few music camps where I get to work with young guitar students in a classroom setting. This year, after finishing a two week session at the University of New Hampshire and a one week session at Berklee college in Boston, I really rediscovered my appreciation for the value of repetition when it comes to becoming a better guitarist. In one of my guitar ensemble classes at Berklee, I had the students working on a Steely Dan song that was filled with some pretty complicated chord changes. During one of our rehearsals, a student asked ‘What's the best way for me to really get these chord changes down?' to which I answered ‘Constant repetition'. As obvious as it might seem, there are many guitarists who are always looking for shortcuts to improving their playing, and one thing I've found over the past 24 years of playing is that there really are no shortcuts. It's all just a matter of being willing to put in the work to get better, simply because the amount of effort that you put into practicing is directly proportional to what you will get out of it. In one of my other ensemble classes, we were rehearsing a Red Hot Chili Peppers song that had some fast moving chords played with a complex rhythm, and we spent a good half hour of class time just drilling that one part of the song. The following day I had a student comment ‘I was working on that part all day after class but now I've really got it down.' By the end of the week when it came time for the final performances, everyone in the class had put in the time and effort to really nail the different parts, and the concert that the students put on was really amazing.
I've found in my experience as a teacher as well as a player that there really is no better method than just constant repetition. I told my classes that ‘You'll be sick of these songs after a few days but you'll also be at the point where you know them inside and out', which is really what repetition is all about. By training your body physically, you develop muscle memory so that the chords or scales that used to seem really difficult become second nature. Beyond that, repetition helps to build your confidence, because once you've done something enough times that it begins to feel natural, then the anxiety of whether or not you‘ll be able to perform a challenging part totally goes away. Jazz guitar legend Joe Pass talked about this many times when he would tell his students to ‘Spend a lot of time learning your chords and scales and notes and just keep repeating those things over and over. Then after a while, you will be able to forget about all of that stuff and just PLAY.' Joe's point was that if you have the guitar in your hands often enough, and you really drill those same ideas over and over, you'll begin to develop a level of proficiency on the instrument where you don't have to think about what you're playing, it just comes naturally, like the guitar is almost playing itself. Granted it takes a lot of work to get to that point, but the true secret lies in one important thing: Repetition, repetition, repetition.
Good Luck!
Nate
I've found in my experience as a teacher as well as a player that there really is no better method than just constant repetition. I told my classes that ‘You'll be sick of these songs after a few days but you'll also be at the point where you know them inside and out', which is really what repetition is all about. By training your body physically, you develop muscle memory so that the chords or scales that used to seem really difficult become second nature. Beyond that, repetition helps to build your confidence, because once you've done something enough times that it begins to feel natural, then the anxiety of whether or not you‘ll be able to perform a challenging part totally goes away. Jazz guitar legend Joe Pass talked about this many times when he would tell his students to ‘Spend a lot of time learning your chords and scales and notes and just keep repeating those things over and over. Then after a while, you will be able to forget about all of that stuff and just PLAY.' Joe's point was that if you have the guitar in your hands often enough, and you really drill those same ideas over and over, you'll begin to develop a level of proficiency on the instrument where you don't have to think about what you're playing, it just comes naturally, like the guitar is almost playing itself. Granted it takes a lot of work to get to that point, but the true secret lies in one important thing: Repetition, repetition, repetition.
Good Luck!
Nate
You are 100% right, there is no fast way to learn to play the guitar. Practice and repetition are the only way to get proficient at it.
I will admit that learning to play by guitar tabs is a fast way to feel like you are actually playing something but you must stick to practicing, the more you do it, the better you get!
Great blog!
KJ
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Couldn't agree more. Repetition is a key factor in mastering the instrument. Great post!
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I have been really practicing scales recently as many people have told me of the importance of this... and from what you have said here that seems like good advice.
I have a question though as I read in one guitar book that constant repetition of a scale pattern is, whilst important, not what I am supposed to be doing, but instead applying that pattern to the instrument as a whole to gain a better understanding of the way the scale moves across the whole guitar neck. I wonder how to learn a pattern back to front, but then change it to move it to a different set of frets that the pattern originally taught.
Am I missing something?
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Hey Rich,
Practicing scales up and down the fretboard is something that all guitar players must do. Beyond that, you're real goal is to be able to visualize the notes of any scale using the entire range of the instrument. Most guitarists can play scales in a single position, but that's only a very small part of it. You should learn the notes of each scale that you practice across the fretboard as well as up and down each individual string. So if you can play let's say a G Major scale at the 3rd position, you should also be able to play the notes of that scale up and down each individual string. From there you can practice moving around to many different areas of the fretboard using a combination of position methods and linear methods along with 'hybrid' patterns that use more of a diagonal approach. I would suggest checking out the Chord and Scale Library that comes with the Fretlight Lesson Player. Here you can light up scales using individual positions or the entire neck all at once. Keep in mind too that once you can play the notes of a scale IN ORDER you should then focus on building some melodic sequences with these notes. Remember that the notes in a scale are like words in a language, and even though practicing a scale in order is important, it's about as musical as reading the dictionary. You should be able to take the 'words' in your scale and 'tell a story' with them musically. This means playing the notes of the scale out of order, and also incorporating different rhythms and techniques. It's a big jump to go from scales to real music, but practicing your patterns across the neck as well as up and down will help you to build your vocabulary so that eventually you'll be able to 'say' anything musically that you want.
Good Luck!
Nate
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Been playing for 2 years now. Got myself a couple of blogs as well still I have to practice those old songs every now or then. All it takes to lose a song is a lost line of frets or a short chord sequence. Repetition is key to any training.
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