Part 10: Practice Schedule

 Realistically, to start improving on guitar, you're going to need to set aside a bit of time to practice. Developing a daily routine is a good idea... planning to spend at least 15 minutes daily practicing all you've learned will really help. At first, your fingers will be sore, but by playing daily, they'll toughen up, and in a short amount of time, they'll stop hurting. The following list should give you an idea of how to spend your practice time:

·         Get your guitar in tune.

·         Make sure you're sitting, holding the guitar, and using your pick properly. You'll have to correct your natural bad habits at first, until it becomes second nature.

·         Play the chromatic scale several times. Try playing it backwards.

·         Play each of the three chords you've learned. Check to be sure each note is ringing. If not, find out why, and correct the problem.

·         Try moving from one chord to another. Before switching chords, mentally picture exactly where each finger is going to move in order to play the next chord. Only then should you switch chords. This is the key to switching chords quickly.

·         If you're having trouble getting your chords to ring clearly, read this feature on getting your chords to ring clearly.

·         Try playing some, or all of the songs listed above. At first, try only to think of the songs as a way in which to practice playing chords.

·         Don't get discouraged. This is hard stuff at first, and you'll probably feel like you can't do it. You certainly can. Everyone struggles, so just put in your 15 minutes, and then don't worry about it until the next time you play. This is supposed to be fun!

That's it for now! Once you're comfortable with this lesson, move on to lesson two, which includes information on the names of the guitar strings, plus more chords, more songs, and even several basic strumming patterns. Good luck, and have fun!