3 Tips to Improve Your Guitar Practice Daily

I like to make a playlist on my computer with a bunch of songs with awesome guitar solos. When it comes time for me to practice, I have a ton of options!

In March two years ago, I started teaching guitar lessons and thought the biggest challenge would with out a doubt be making the content challenging enough for each of my students. My top fear was that I would go through my whole lesson and my student would say "oh wow. That's all you had? I already learned all of this when I was five!” and then laugh hysterically like those hyenas in The Lion King (cause like this totally happens to people!). To my surprise that has not yet happened (YAY!) but the biggest challenge has been something different than I ever expected- convincing my students that their learning pace and mistakes are absolutely normal and expected! 

I think that there’s this expectation that if you are going to be good at guitar, you should be able to sound pretty good after three lessons and only practicing a few times a week. I think this expectation has to do with some of the social media #instasuccess we see happening along with people using phrases like “this person blew up overnight.” Shows like The Voice and American Idol and the people we see on social media paint the picture that mastering something can be instantaneous if you are truly talented. Meanwhile the hard work and practice is usually all completely cut out because it's not that entertaining to watch!

Here's the thing though: I deeply believe that if you have an ear for music, playing guitar is mostly about hard work. You can definitely become an awesome guitarist by staying positive about your process and finding a way to make your practicing fun! I have put so much time into practicing since Jr. High and it's never felt like a chore for me. I think the more pressure you put on yourself seeing immediate results, the less fun it will be and more of a chance to be discouraging. If you want to get better at guitar, then you absolutely can and you are never too old, naturally untalented, or behind. You really can do this!

So you can stay on track with your practicing, here are just a few of my tips for embracing where you are and enjoying practicing:

For a deep dive on how to get the most out of your guitar practice time, download my free practice planner!

1) Practice with other people

Here’s me an John (aka my favorite guitar practice buddy) with our Fenders!

This forces you to stay on time, have fun, and move on quickly from your mistakes. If you just invite someone over who plays and have a few songs on hand, I promise this will help you learn! Quick note- if you know players who you consider a lot better that you, take the opportunity to jam with them anyway! I spent way too much of my life avoiding guitar players who intimidated me. The thing is you are going to learn so much from someone who is better at guitar than you and you don’t have to be on their playing level to be able to jam. If you are at the point that you know your chords and can solo just ok, you are ready. Maybe you’ll be a little nervous at first, but these opportunities will grow you more than anything else!

2) Get over the expectation that your playing “should” look a certain way by now

There are so many things I am still working on that I think I should have mastered by now. But I have still improved from where I was. Remember there is no rulebook for how long it should take you to master something! I can be a quick learner but can sometimes be too quick and miss important details that give my playing finesse and a clean sound. My husband (he plays bass!) on the other hand is SUCH a thorough learner but takes a very lots time soaking in each detail before moving on. Both are great and have their perks. Accept your pace and know you are doing a great job if you are practicing at all!

3) Focus

Practicing even 10 minutes a day can be huge if you are staying on track. Try to learn just one have new thing each day and avoid playing the same licks and songs you already know. It’s easy and familiar to your muscles to do something they already know, so try to be conscious of what order you play certain notes in and mix it up! Just like you need muscle confusion during a workout to keep getting in shape, your fingers need muscle confusion to start playing new phrases!

I hope this is helpful to you! Please share any tips you have for maintaining a positive attitude for your playing below!

Resources:

The Metronome App

My fav headphones to practice with (if needed!)

Guitartuna app (for quick tune ups!)

Like I said, I have a ton more in my free guitar practice guide here, so make sure you download it!

Five Fun Guitar Lessons on YouTube

My fav practice buddies recently! 

To be totally honest, YouTube can give me anxiety sometimes! Looking through all the videos, knowing what to pick and evaluating what specifically I need to get better at can be kinda confusing. There's so many video titles like " 10 Licks Every Guitarist Should Know" that sometimes I can't prioritize what is truly important to learn. Being overwhelmed can make it easy to get discouraged and not practice at all because everything you need to do seems so vague.  People say that everything seems important and you have no idea what you will actually use the most in your everyday playing! 

With that being said, I think YouTube is absolutely amazing especially if you do know what you are looking for. There are some teachers that are consistently awesome at creating videos that build on each other and fit my level of playing. When I find the right one, the feeling of finding a missing piece in my playing or getting over a hurdle I've had is amazing! 

Something I found really helpful was storing up video recommendations from other people or a list of specific issues I have had when I'm practicing.

Then when I sit down to practice, I can jump right into playing. It's amazing how much you can improve by just learning something new everyday or really drilling down to a specific issue you have (like I want to not hit other strings when bending etc.). 

Because I think learning online is so helpful when you know what to practice, I wanted to share with you a few electric guitar videos I've really loved for learning new licks! 

Also, If you need help with knowing what to practice, you can check out my 30 Day Challenge for acoustic. I've taken all the work out of having to guess what to practice and made 30 days of planned practices and lessons for you! 

These videos are picked for the guitar player who knows their basic scales and way around a guitar and  wants to keep learning, improving, and making their playing interesting! 

1. Slash Licks in G

Just keep these in your back pocket because you will need them all one day! These licks are all pure fun and the teacher is really clear. I also like that he points out little ways to play them more efficiently and goes at a good pace. Also I think we can all agree that Slash's cool style prolly makes these licks sounds even cooler, so make sure you get a little top hat of your own if you really want to kill it. 

2. Mateus Asato Pentatonic Shred

Ross Campbell is amazing! He broke down all this cool stuff that Mateus commonly does in his playing and shows different licks in that style. It's nice too because he's not just like here's this random lick, but really takes time to show you why it works. Ross FTW! 

3. Doug Seven's  "Steal This Lick" videos 

Doug Seven is my fav country guitar teacher online! He's so down to earth and has such great tips for getting that country Brent Mason style sound. If you like this one, he has a ton more "Steal This Lick" videos on YouTube and his site. The lesson in this video starts at about the two minute mark just fyi! 

4. Paul David's Tasty Licks 

Paul David has a TON of amazing videos and is such an awesome teacher (I saw he's stopping teaching and just playing now too so he's an awesome example of someone really going for exactly what makes them happiest!). I chose this video to share with you because I like Youtube videos that teach little licks and stretch your mind to try a little something new each day! Check out his others for more awesome thoughts and licks! 

5. Jim Lil's 3 Show- Off Country Licks

Jim Lil is a super fun YouTuber who focuses a lot on country (especially Brad Paisley)! He always shares a ton of fun techniques and licks which are especially good for building up unique licks for your lick library!

Other thoughts on YouTube guitar lessons:

I love YouTube for learning, but sometimes it helps to know the overall context of the videos. There are so many opinions about right and wrong ways to learn guitar I think it's really helpful to have an open mind going into learning while also knowing how you like to learn guitar and what makes it enjoyable for you! 

I would love to know your thoughts on these licks below! Thank you SO much as always for reading!

Bring Your Guitar Skills Back from Vacay

Photo by Ethan Robertson

I don't know about you, but this summer has been crazy! You may be the type of person who practices on vacation (if you are, go you!), but when I was in Mexico, I was sharing a hotel room with friends, constantly at the beach/pool, and wasn't able to pack my guitar. While spending time at the beach drinking pina coladas and soaking up sunshine is essential to mental health, it's not always conducive to making me a better guitar player...

It also makes it really easy to keep missing the practice train because I 1) am scared maybe not thinking about guitar for a week has somehow made me terrible 2) I can't completely remember what I had been listening to and practicing before I left and 3) My fingers always become weirdly slower. Because all these things are the literal worst, I thought I would make you a little guide to you can skip the vacation hangover and get back to your passion for playing guitar! 

1) Play a song you already know and love

It never hurts to build the old guitar confidence back up! Starting by playing a song you like rather than trying to play something really hard right of the bat is going to help revive your muscle memory and start getting those creative juices flowin' again. If you have someone to jam with, even better. Whenever I sit down and start jamming with my husband (he's a bass player), it always helps me remember why I love playing so much and it's nice to have someone to bounce creative ideas off of! 

2) Start your real practice with some finger exercises

Love this beachy tank from Walrus! 

S-L-O-W

If you try to start your finger exercises off too fast, you are going to feel sloppy and discouraged (yay...). So just start slow and don't worry about proving to yourself that your fingers are still speedy! 

3) Choose a solo

Once you are all warmed up and feeling great (I'm convinced sometimes playing guitar is half confidence!), choose a new solo or lick and dive into copying it note for note. This is the main way I practice all the time. Reviewing your scales can only take you so far and then it becomes all about the finesse and the feeling you can put into your sound!

4) Find another human with an instrument

Lastly, schedule a jam, gig, or ask a friend to come play with you! Nothing gets you back into playing like another person-it's the main factor that forces you to play whole songs through and try to sound as professional as possible. :)

I hope this helps you if you are coming back from a full month of vacation like I am! Obviously none of this is rocket science, but sometimes a little outline can just help give you the little push you need to start! 

I would love to know if there is anything that's been helpful for you getting back into playing when you've felt a little rusty- please comment below with your thoughts! 

Navigating the Music Industry with NSAI

For those of you who don't know, NSAI stands for Nashville Songwriters Association International. It's an amazing organization whose mission is to "committed to protecting the rights and future of the profession of songwriting and to educate, elevate and celebrate the songwriter and to act as a unifying force within the music community and the community at large."

 I met Morgan through a group through my church that was focused on the workplace. We all bonded through it and Morgan was just getting her new job then! I got to catch up with her recently to talk about her advice for all you who may be interested in working in the music industry or becoming professional songwriters!

Something I love about Morgan is her ability to put one foot in front of the other and try something new! There have been so many times that all my thoughts will well up and create a barrier that keeps me from trying something new - the things I want to do seem impossible! If this is true for you too, keep reading!

Recently I heard the phrase “Just because one door closes doesn’t mean they all are closed.” This is so true, but sometimes discouragement can stop us from trying to go through other doors. I wanted to do this interview with Morgan 1) because NSAI is such an awesome non-profit company I wanted you all to be able to learn and benefit from it, and 2) I wanted to share the encouragement from Morgan who is winning in both her career right out of college and her positivity toward life!

1) How did you land such an awesome job in the music industry right out of college?

Internships! Morgan believes getting internships is entirely possible without getting a degree in something music related, or being in school at all. Turns out, offering to work for free isn’t as hard as we all thought! Nashville is filled with buzz-phrases like “it’s all about who you know,” which can make getting your foot in the door more intimidating if you don’t know a lot of people yet. Morgan, a college student at the time, wasn’t surrounded by a huge network of people working in the industry (yet) and started simply, by going to the websites of companies she admired and emailing them. The majority didn’t even require her to be a student! Slowly companies began saying yes to her requests for internships which eventually lead to the job she has today! 

2) What made NSAI stand out to you?

NSAI is unique in that it’s the only business on Music Row that has an open door policy to songwriters (most have some kind of security set up to keep people from dropping by to pitch their music unannounced). The company only has about 12 employees (the majority female) and they help everyone form the just- moved-to- Nashville-a- week-ago writers to the long time pros looking for new co-writes. It’s only a small price for the mentoring and connections its members receive, and it helps them with one-on- one career coaching, setting up co-writes, pitch-to- publish practice, and meeting other people in the exact same spot they are.

3) How much of a role does confidence play in becoming a songwriter/singer songwriter?

Believing in your music will go a long way in getting you to try new opportunities like walking into NSAI or setting up a co-write. It takes a lot of time and dedication to become a professional songwriter. Since there are fewer jobs in general in songwriting and music publishing, publishing companies have to be a lot more selective and almost all music industry professionals“date” songwriters before officially agreeing to have them sign a deal. My personal advice to sticking out your music industry dreams? Really figure out your why and the people who need your songs- it will help sustain you through the tough times, especially knowing that you have a bigger purpose than just getting a publishing deal. Morgan also says you have to feel out when it’s appropriate to have your confidence shine though, as some Nashville musicians can toot their own horn a little too much and turn people off from wanting to write with them!

4) What is your personal advice for someone wanting to pursue a career in songwriting?

Write with EVERYONE and ANYONE! It takes practice to be a good songwriter and to get a publishing deal; you have to have a strong relationship with the publisher because the industry is so much more about writing great co-writes and consistently coming out with great new material than it is writing one good song that will get famous. Also write with people on the same professional level as you. Morgan says

" In high tide, all boats float," 

meaning you will all help each other be successful! Often, people think if only they could write with a hit songwriter, then they too would be seen as a hit writer. In reality, a lot of publisher and labels will instead assign the credit for why the song is great to the hit writer, rather than you as well. So try to get out there, write with everyone you can, have A LOT of endurance (the kind that lasts for like 10 years), and enjoy the process and writing rather than just trying to write hits!

I hope this was helpful for you! If there's anything you want to know more about, contact NSAI here! Taking you as always for taking the time to stop by and read!

What To Do With That Old Guitar

This is my sister who has been the lead singer of my family band since we were little!

Recently, I've talked to a lot of people who have a guitar but don't play or have never played it! The idea of starting the huge task of learning to play guitar stops a lot of people from taking just 10 min to enjoy making music and potentially finding a new passion. I wanted to give you a quick breakdown of things you can do TODAY to pick up and learn to play that guitar that's been by itself for way too long! 

When you are in the beginning stages of learning acoustic, you may know a few different guitar chords or maybe something random a friend taught you, but other than that, it can be a little tricky to figure out where to go next.

1. Learn to Tune Your Guitar

This is one of those things for beginners that seems difficult (or not as exciting) as learning to play, but it's actually THE MOST important! It's also easy to learn. 

2. Learn How to Hold a Pick and Strum. 

A lot of people will start using a pick and realize it's kinda awkward in the beginning. That can make it tempting to learn to strum with your fingers and never learn to use a pick. But trust me, learn this first because it will open up so many options, and allow you to convey more emotion through playing! Try to practice strumming lightly so it sounds pretty.

3. Practice the Most Basic Chords

This is going to be so important! By the most basic chords, I mean A, AM, B, BM (B/BM may be a little trickier in the beginning) C, D, E, Em, F, G. This are all very straightforward chords to play and set you up to play most songs! After you learn just a few chords, practice playing along to a metronome / a song you like in time. This will help you play rhythmically right off the bat.

4. Find Songs You Like and Learn to Play Them

Here's a list of basic songs you can play with very few chords. Practice playing along to a song and pay attention to the exact (or close as you can) strum pattern so you will learn to play as if you were playing for someone else. I have attached links to the chords for each song here- all my song choices are purely based on songs I think are fun to play!

Tenerife Sea- Ed Sheeran

Better Man- Little Big Town

Divine Romance- Phil Wickham

Love on the Weekend- John Mayer

Perfect (listen to the acoustic version!)- One Direction

White Liar- Miranda Lambert

Bright- Echosmith

Always- Jon Foreman

5. Connect with people

Playing guitar will quickly get boring if you are playing by yourself too much! Ask people to come over and play songs with you, ask to play at church or in a band, and take lessons (especially from me)! Just focus on making it fun and interesting, and you will naturally get better! If this step scares you a little, just remember there is no shame in being a beginner! You will learn best on the job, AKA playing somewhere / with people that challenge you! Insecurity kept me from "getting out there" for a long time and it was only when I decided to walk into some of my fears that I was able to get better and have a lot more fun playing! 

I hope this is the tiny push you needed to pick up your 6 string and start learning to play!