Home › Forums › Guitar Techniques and General Discussions › Practice til perfect or move on
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November 14, 2019 at 3:38 pm #150423
Hi there. New to the forum. My problem is that I start a lesson of yours and then the next one sounds better so I start that one leaving the other behind. Should I stay focused one the first until I get it or drop and move on?
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November 14, 2019 at 3:47 pm #150424
Welcome Jeffrey!
I’d stick with one until you’re satisfied. The temptation to move on is great, there are so many great lessons, but it’s likely you’ll frustrate yourself chasing everything that looks good.
Don D.
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November 14, 2019 at 4:21 pm #150428
Hey I would follow your instincts and do what you think is best. Personally, there is no such thing as perfection. I would get it good then move on but come back and revisit the arrangement. I think that is when you experience real growth your muscle memory takes over.
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November 14, 2019 at 4:57 pm #150433
Jeffrey,
I take a little different approach. I don’t know where you are in your guitar skills, but when we first start out, we all need to spend a lot of time on technique. Most of us probably do this by learning songs. May not be the most efficient way, but at least it keeps things interesting. If I am trying to learn a new technique, I don’t want to be memorizing at the same time.I have been playing a while, so I have most basics down. Now most of my time is spent on memorization of songs. I have no interest in doing this unless I really enjoy the tune, and want to add it to my repertoire. So I would say if a song or lesson falls into that category for you, then spend enough time to get it down reasonably well. If it is taking too long and you are starting to tire of it, it is probably too hard for your skill level. Move to something else. Also I don’t think there is anything wrong with working on more than one thing at time. Keeps things interesting.
If a particular lesson does not appeal to you, there still may be some things you can take away without memorizing the whole thing. I watch a lot of Brian’s videos just to pick up a couple of things even though I have no interest in memorizing it.
Bob
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November 14, 2019 at 7:43 pm #150444
I like Bob’s comment. Guitar has got to be FUN, above all else. If you start grinding away at a tune to the point where it’s tedious, for whatever reason, then that ceases to be enjoyable. Work something else for a while. Then maybe come back to it. Watch how it’s easier the 2nd time because you soaked up more abilities in the meantime. The downside is it take a while until you have any tunes play-ready (and that’s where I’m at), but I’m hoping that in due time a lot of abilities will come together, and memorization of tunes will get easier because the technique and knowledge will become unconscious.
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November 14, 2019 at 5:34 pm #150435
Lots of good advice. I work on the weekly lessons as they come out. If I get it down quickly then I’ll go back to some of my favorites and revisit them. The problem there is they are all winding up on my favorite list! If I don’t finish a lesson (usually finger style) I just have some takeaways from the effort put in and the let things progress from there.
Mike
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November 15, 2019 at 11:03 am #150484
I think the idea here is to take away something from each lesson,as they are all good! The lessons contain so many different things that sound good!
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November 15, 2019 at 2:24 pm #150498
I work on about 3 lessons at a time, and one of those is whatever I have chosen to play for the next monthly challenge. The hard drive in my brain is getting full, so I have to actually decide what lessons I want to keep in my permanent memory, and that seems to be around 20 lessons. I actually keep a written list. When I first reached a repertoire of 20 lessons, before long a new lesson came out that I liked better than some in my list, so I would add it to my repertoire and drop one that I didn’t like as much. What I try to do is spend at least one day a month and go through and play every lesson on my repertoire list. Now days I’m trying not to add more lessons to my repertoire. Instead, I play the lesson through a few times, then maybe pick out some licks to add to my lick library, or a technique that I want to learn.
Sunjamr Steve
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November 18, 2019 at 2:27 pm #150702
Thanks guys! All good points. I like Sal’s message to not think of each lesson as a complete song to learn but as a series of bits to develop better skills.
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November 19, 2019 at 1:08 am #150737
Completing a lesson is not important. What matters is that you set specific, achievable goals for yourself, and that you then achieve those goals. The goals should be just beyond your current ability, but something that you can accomplish in a session, or a week, or a couple of weeks – depending. As long as you are constantly doing that, and as long as you focus a decent amount of time on actually achieving a goal, you will improve.
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November 20, 2019 at 12:02 pm #150856Anonymous
Welcome Jeffrey!
I’d stick with one until you’re satisfied. The temptation to move on is great, there are so many great lessons, but it’s likely you’ll frustrate yourself chasing everything that looks good.
This.
When I first started I got so waylaid by all the different wonderful things to learn that I didn’t learn anything. Finally I told myself, learn one damn thing. Get one thing down and then see where you go. After that self talk, I’ve done better.
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