I used to think that the key element in learning how to play guitar is practice. It seemed quite reasonable to make that assumption but later I found that practice is only one of several ingredients in learning how to play guitar. The parts of the guitar playing mix I want to focus on here are persistence, patience and planning. I usually try to stay clear of too much theory and philosophy so I am going to try to use the qualities of persistence and patience to help me find a direction in learning to play the guitar.
Persistence and patience are often described as qualities but too much of any quality is not a good thing. It is easy to visualize patience in excess leading to lack of motivation and putting off taking action. Persistence, if taken to extremes, leads to rigidity, useless repetition of exercises and the triumph of routine over creativity. So what I need is to not go too much overboard in gritting my teeth and relentlessly practicing plectrum strokes or arpeggios for exactly one hour a day, or going the other way and only practicing when my muse attacks me.
The secret ingredient in learning to balance the qualities of persistence and patience effectively is a plan. A plan can be like a person watching me and reminding me when I stray from my intention of learning the guitar. If I have a solid understanding of the practical, real-world things that I need to begin to play the guitar my little psychological shortcomings will not hinder my progress. For example, if I want to learn to play songs I need to listen to as many artists as I can in my favorite genre and I also need to learn chords. I need to decide as I go along how to balance learning by observing other guitarists with the discipline of opening a music book and learning three more chords, or familiar chords in new positions.
I have written down my plan and I keep it in a safe place so it is always there to return to. If my memory fails, the written plan is there to remind me. If I do not practice the guitar for six months, my plan is there to help me begin again without delay.
So I write down what I think I need to progress with my guitar playing. I need to keep the guitar tuned so I download a tuner from the internet or bookmark an online guitar tuner. I need to find some sheet music for songs I want to learn to play and some chord charts so that I know where to put my fingers when I am learning these songs. Having all these kinds of resources are an important part of my plan to learn the guitar because having my stuff at my fingertips stops me from wasting time. If I am not learning the guitar from a teacher, I need to set myself an aim to achieve each week. I write down that I will have learnt a song or three new chords by next week. Next, I write down how much time I need to spend on practicing chords, learning theory or listening to music.
So if I have a plan for each week, I look at how well I have succeeded so I can see what my aim for next week will be. Once the initial work is done on creating a plan I can get on with learning to play.
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