Hey, how are you doing? Justin back with you to talk
about your practice routine for lesson 1.
So, I've prescribed you a pretty specific 20 minutes a day,
which as I mentioned before, I would recommend you do it
4 times a week, but if you're really going for it, and your
fingers aren't hurting too much, there wouldn't be any real bad harm
in trying to do it every day if you so desire.
I would prescribe 3 minutes at D Chord - Chord Perfect Practice, ok?
So, for 3 minutes use a timer, you can use the practice assistant
on my web site; you can use the app... There are lots of different ways
to time your practice, but I would recommend that you keep a note of it.
At this point, as I'm filming this video, the best way of doing that, is to use
the practice assistant on my web site, but the app would also be very helpful
for that as well.
The idea with the Chord Perfect thing, you're just going to keep the chord.
You hit start on your timer, place the fingers, one..., two..., three.
Strum... Make any corrections...
Then strum it again, tell yourself: "that's the right way to play the chord".
Take your hand off, same thing again: finger one, finger two, finger three...
Attempt the chord...
Make corrections, etc.
That's the Chord Perfect Practice, and you're going to be doing that
for 3 minutes on the D Chord, and then 3 minutes exactly the same exercise,
but on the A Chord.
Ok? So 3 minutes on D, 3 minutes on A. Then we're going to go to 2 minutes of
Anchor Finger Work.
Ok? Now, you're not pressing hard for the Anchor Finger Work.
That's really important. You're just literally going to be playing the A Chord,
then the D Chord, then the A Chord, but we're not actually playing anything.
We're not even pressing full strength with the fingers. We're just trying to get
fingers into the right spot, and concentrating on that motion of the
first finger where it's moving just a little bit within the same fret,
and working as an anchor. Ok? Two minutes on that.
Then you've got two times One Minute Changes on A to D. Ok?
If you want you can do one session of One Minute Changes, then do the Anchor
Fingers, and then do another session of One Minute Changes. That way you get a
little break in between. That's probably not a bad plan.
For the One Minute Changes, of course: hit start; one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, etc., for a minute.
And then writing down, -really important that you write down, or type in if you're
using the practice assistant,- you type in how many changes you did on that day.
Ok? It's a very good motivational tool. Really helps you with the Chord Changes
which will, in turn, help you play songs.
After that, you've got 10 minutes song practice.
Whole 10 minutes.
I would really strongly recommend you spend half of your practice time playing
songs. That's the point of all this.
At the end of the course you want to have songs that you can play.
Songs that you can play for other people, that you can play for yourself. That you
might play at a gig one day.
Songs is what it's all about. Nobody goes to a concert to watch people play scales
or play chord changes. They want to hear a song.
So I want to recommend that, right from this first lesson,
you get into the idea of playing songs.
Now, I've given you some suggested songs. You can either use my Beginner Song Course app,
you can use the play alongs on the web site. You could play along with the
original recordings! In some cases when it's not too difficult and it's in the
right key. Again, there will be further notes on that on the songs for this
stage page, if you look that in the last lesson, or the lesson before...
Whatever it is that you're doing, practice playing songs.
If you really want to sing, there's not a harm in practicing by yourself,
and I should note that, at least once before the next lesson, you should
a go at playing songs on your own without an app, or without a backing
track, just so that you can clearly hear your guitar and you're not getting an
unrealistic view of your progress.
Because it's quite a lot harder playing on your own as well, ok? Keeping the
chord changes going, specially if you're gonna sing. Singing and playing is a whole
another level of difficulty as well. Not something that I'd recommend that you get into in
the first session, I can assure you.
Probably the most important factor in making fast progress on the guitar,
is regular practice. I'd really recommend that you try and get 4 practice sessions
in the week, rather than just one big session, say on the weekend.
Now, that' isn't possible for everyone, I know. You might have a very
busy work life, lot of family commitments, or whatever. It might not be possible to
make that practice time. But the best way to do it is to find a slot every day
that you've got to spend some time with the guitar. Either really early in the
morning, before the kids get up, or before you go to work. Or lunch time
at work, if there's a room where you can do some practicing. Or in the evening
after the kids have gone to bed, or you've got a bit of time where you can
just settle and take some time for yourself. If not practicing guitar,
maybe you want to spend a little bit of time learning some music theory,
or just listening to music and enjoying it, getting yourself
inspired to play more... But just try to carve out that little bit of time for
yourself, to practice the guitar, everyday if you can, for music,
not necessarily guitar practice, like I said that everyday practice
can be a bit sketchy in the early stages. But spending a half an
hour slot where you've got to think about music every day
would be a fantastic start to your guitar journey.