This is the time that many people are enthusiastically launching into fulfilling their New Year’s resolutions. Although I don’t make specific resolutions with the New Year, I do feel the urge to clear out the old and make way for the new (as evidenced in the last post!). Regardless of how we name our goals or when we set them, we all welcome ways to achieve them as painlessly as possible.

Although others tend to view me as being very disciplined, I feel that most of what appears to be discipline in my life is merely habit that has been consciously chosen and placed. Of course, there is discipline involved in establishing the habits I choose, but once they are in place, they carry themselves. Think about it – it doesn’t take discipline to brush your teeth in the morning, because you have established that as a habit! There are countless things that you do in any given day without having to make yourself do them, because those things are habitual. So, when beginning a commitment, it seems that the trick is to move as quickly as possible from discipline to habit.

As I’ve observed many students struggling with discipline over the years, I’ve considered how the process works for me. In doing so, I realized that I employ a few tricks that set me up for success.

Timing

Sometimes in our zeal to accomplish a goal we try to force ourselves into starting something new before circumstances are supportive or we are emotionally or mentally prepared. It is possible (and preferable, to my mind) to set your intentions and then wait and watch for the starting time to show itself. This does not mean that you give in to resistance, but that you tune into your thoughts and feelings and “step into the river.” Trust yourself!

Practicality

Before beginning a new commitment, it’s wise to make sure that your goal is a reasonable one rather than a fantasy. You might want to play guitar several hours a day, but is that really going to work in your current life? You are far more likely to achieve success if you initiate a small change and then let it grow naturally. By starting with a realistic and manageable commitment, you will likely find that with time things shift to allow for expansion.

Consistency

I’ve found that it is much easier to do something every day than to do it only on specific days of the week. If, for instance, you decide to exercise on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, you may always have in the back of your head that if you “need to”, you can put off one of those sessions with the hope of using one of your unscheduled days to “catch up.” As we know, things have a way of unraveling from there. Also, it is likely to feel more like discipline and less like habit if there are constant choices to make. A habit should just be a habit, absent of excessive thinking and planning.

Scheduling

It helps to attach a new activity or task to something that is already in place. Guitar practice might attach to dinner (my favorite guitar time – it’s dessert!), first thing in the morning or immediately before or after school or work.

Do you have any tricks for keeping resolutions? If so, I hope you will share them!

Tuner – Your guitar player will certainly want a reliable tuner. There are plenty of good ones on the market, but my under $25 choices are the Fender Sparkle Tone ($19.99) and the Korg clip-on tuner ($24.99). If you can spend a few more dollars, you might want to check out some of the other clip-on tuners available.

Music Stand – As important as it is to use a music stand when playing, a lot of people try to get by without one, due to the price of a quality stand. We now have some options for reasonably priced stands that are also strong and stable. Check out this sturdy stand that sells for $24.99.

Metronome – Everybody who plays a guitar needs a metronome, but unfortunately, many guitar players don’t own one. We can change that!

Metronomes drive a lot of people crazy and one of the reasons is the sound itself. If I had to play with one that produced a tone (beep), I would never turn it on! Buy a metronome with a click or wood block sound rather than a tone and everyone (teacher included) will be much happier. My current favorite is the Matrix mr500 – it has a good sound, an easy to use dial and an earphone option, all for $24.99.

If you are giving to someone who has never used a metronome, include a link to this instructive article (free, of course) on the site. There is also a downloadable video on metronome use available for $7.95.

Guitar straps are fun to give, because there are so many cool ones to choose from and they can be personalized. Remember, though, that using a strap can create tension and pain for many players, so unless your recipient is a performing musician who stands when playing onstage, consider a safer gift.

T-Shirts – There is no shortage of guitar apparel to be found online. Check out my favorite T-shirt ($15.00).

In contemplating the fun/frustration cycle that I addressed in a previous post, I’m questioning what constitutes fun for most people and why people who shy away from work tend to do so. I’ve gathered observations over many years regarding the way different people define and respond to work, but that’s a subject for another day. Right now I’m thinking about fun!

Here is a list of some of the qualities that I consider to be characteristic of a fun experience:

We are in the moment; we are completely present
We possess an absence of self-awareness; we are uninhibited
We have a joyful and childlike sense of wonder
We are void of expectations
We feel unbound by rigid rules
We have a willingness to laugh and play; we allow our sense of humor to run free

If we are able to access these qualities during practice time, will we increasingly enjoy the challenges in our work? I think that habitually pursuing and engaging in playfulness, wonder and presence and disallowing inhibitions, expectations, rigidity and self-judgment makes our practice time not only more enjoyable, but also more productive. In addition, by cultivating these qualities we increase our creativity!

What are your thoughts? What does fun mean to you and how do you bring it into your life and musical practice?

Learning guitar can be painful. Most of us go through periods of deep frustration and some people even feel angry or depressed when they are trying to work through seemingly impossible challenges. Although these periods may be inevitable, there are ways to make them less painful!

Make the Initial Investment

The hardest time for most guitar players is the beginning stage, because it is all investment and no return. Until you can play at least one song or riff to your own satisfaction, you are at risk for anxiety or frustration. The best prevention or remedy is to get on it and stay on it! Practice until you can play that one thing well enough to enjoy it – then enjoy it! Add more to your plate as soon as possible and don’t allow self-judgment during the process. Once you can play three songs, things get a lot easier and a lot more fun. At some point, you will become hungry for the next level and when you reach for it, the cycle of frustration/fun will probably begin again. After the first stage, though, when the cycle lands on misery, you will be able to draw upon the wisdom and strength that you acquired from your previous experiences. That means it gets easier each time!

Balance High Standards with Realism and Self-Praise

It’s good to look ahead to your goals and to have high standards, but don’t let that keep you from appreciating your accomplishments. Think about how this approach works in other areas of your life. If you are on a diet, for example, you don’t fall into despair when you step on the scale and found that you lost a pound in a week – you feel elated! You see proof that you are making progress and you continue with your plan. Some weeks you may lose nothing, but you keep up your plan and one day you realize your clothes are too big.

It’s the same way with guitar playing – stick with it and keep a regular practice routine. Don’t beat yourself up if you get off schedule, just get back on and have faith that you are moving steadily toward your goal.

Follow Good Practice Habits

You can find advice and suggestions about correct and efficient practice in articles on the site, as well as in my comprehensive video. There is also a chapter on efficient learning in “the red book, ” Learning How to Play Lead Guitar. By taking a little time to learn how to practice correctly, you will set yourself up for heightened  productivity and satisfaction.

Find Ways to Become Unstuck and Seek Help When You Need It

Everybody feels stuck at times. Expect it – and check out this article for solutions.

Your Goal is a Moving Target!

Realize that your goal will probably keep moving upward as you progress. Be willing to laugh at this! The fact that you will never be completely satisfied is actually a good sign, as it keeps things interesting and challenging. Lucky you!

It’s All Fun!

Remember, it takes time to get a return, but once the returns start coming, each new investment is more fun, because you’re getting a return from all of  your previous investments, even as you’re making a new one! Take the time to enjoy these returns every practice session. Play something that you can play well. Get into the feel of your music, have some fun and revel in your accomplishments. With time, you will discover that the cycle of work/fun has changed to a cycle of fun work/fun!

When I started playing guitar (and later, when I started teaching guitar), there were no electronic tuners. If you wanted to be a guitar player, you had to learn to tune your guitar by using your ear.

That was many years ago and I have noticed that the technological changes that have come about over those years have initiated changes not only in our lifestyle and habits, but also in our perception and even in our physiology. The average student who comes to me for lessons today is completely dependent on the use of a tuner, regardless of how many months or years they may have played guitar. Although this dependency may initially seem innocuous, there are distinct disadvantages to completely abandoning the old-fashioned method of relative tuning in favor of the easy and efficient methods that are now available to us.

It’s true that by using a tuner, a guitar player will increase the chance of achieving accurate tuning and will be able to get to the business of playing more quickly than if he or she tuned by ear. Unfortunately, an alarming number of people end up with grossly out of tune guitars after using a tuner and they not only don’t realize it, they insist that their tuner “said it was right.” This can occur for a number of reasons, but the most common one is pilot error: the player neglects to look carefully enough at the tuner to ascertain that they are tuning to the correct note. When this happens they will typically tighten or loosen the string until they reach the closest note that the tuner reads and stop there, even if it is the wrong note!

Another less obvious but profound disadvantage of neglecting to habitually employ the relative tuning method is that the student misses an opportunity to passively and painlessly be introduced to the relationship of the notes across the strings when the guitar is in standard tuning. The mere act of observing the finger placement and hearing the pitches produced provides subtle insight into note recognition and interval shapes.

Perhaps the most disturbing drawback of using a tuner exclusively is that the ear is neglected. The daily ritual of tuning by ear is a simple way to exercise and hone pitch sense. Playing music, first and foremost, is about listening, so doesn’t it make sense to begin each practice session by listening?

If you haven’t yet learned how to tune using the relative tuning method, you can do so by following these instructions. Use this method daily to check the tuning of your guitar and while you’re doing it, think about the names of the notes you are playing. In time, you will notice an increase in both fretboard comprehension and acuteness of pitch sense.