No Time To Practice?
No Problem!
The 10 Minute Guitar Workout Will Get You Out Of A Rut, Keep Your Passion Alive And Make You A Better Guitarist.
Seriously!
The Status Quo – No Guitar Workout
We All Know What It’s Like To Have A Full Schedule.
You Spend So Much Time On Work Or School And Then You Wanna Enjoy Your Children, Your Spouse And Your Friends.
And Of Course, There Are Many Other Obligations Waiting For You As Well… Daily Business As Usual.
But You Wanna Play Guitar. You Wanna Get Better At Playing Guitar.
So How You Gonna Do That?
It’s Late & You’re Tired. No Way That You Gonna Show Up For A Full Practice Session.
So You Don’t Even Try. You Wait.
You Wait For A Better Time.
But Time Goes By And You Haven’t Practiced Or Even Played For A While.
You’re Grouchy.
But Don’t Worry! There Is A Solution To This Problem.
It’s Called Minimal Commitment.
Deconstruct The Problem
Let’s Be Honest.
Having No Time Is Not The Main Problem. It Sucks, But It’s Not Keeping You Away From Playing Guitar.
The Real Issue Lies Deep Within Us.
I Know That Many Of Us, Me Included, Have An Idea In Our Head On How A Perfect Guitar Playing/ Practicing Session Should Be.
Let’s Put The Details About The What And How To Play Aside, But It’s Never 5min, 10min Or 15min Short.
It’s More Like One Or Two Hours Or Even More Hours Long.
And That Is The Real Obstacle.
Cause We Then Think In Black Or White!
“If I Don’t Find 2 Hours For My Guitar Today, Then I Can’t Play Guitar At All”
I’m Guilty Of This.
I Did This Black & White Thing Many Times.
It Didn’t Served Me Well…
The Other Problem With This Is That You Train Your Mind To Think That You Wanna Do This BIG THING Here.
And A BIG THING Is A BIG THING.
Our Brain Has The Tendency To Avoid BIG THINGS.
It Prefers To Follow The Path Of Least Resistance Instead.
I Hope You See Why It’s Not A Good Idea To Associate Your Guitar Playing With Something Big And Time Consuming.
Your Subconscious Mind Will Then Navigate You Towards The Path Of Least Resistance. Which Is Often A Passive Thing.
Unless You Consider Watching Netflix And Sitting On A Couch And Eating Burritos As An Active Act…But It’s Definitive The Cushy Choice.
Everyone Does This. It’s Human Nature.
So Please, No Shame Here. Don’t Feel Bad.
There Is A Solution To This Problem.
You Can Trick Your Mind And Make It Easy.
Minimal Commitment
If You Can Agree With Me That Playing A Little Guitar Is Better Than Not Playing At All, Then You Will Gain A Lot From This Concept Here.
The Trick Is Actually Very Easy.
Make a Minimal Commitment
Say To Your Self That You Gonna Play Guitar For 10 Min Today And Then You Allow Your Self To Do The Easy & Cushy Stuff Or What Ever You Then Like To Do.
But You Show Up And You Stay With Your Guitar For 10 Min.
Right Know We Do Not Care About What We Will Do With Our 10 Minutes. The Main Thing Is That You Simply Show Up For Playing.
That’s All.
So In The Morning, When You Face Your Daily Schedule, You Don’t Think Any More “I Need/ I Wanna Play For 2h” Or “How Can I Only Play Guitar Today…I’m Too Busy”
These Thought’s Should Be Gone By Now.
If You Catch Yourself Thinking Them Any Way, Then Make A Quick Reality Check: IT’S ONLY A 10 MINUTES Guitar Workout!
What & How Should I Practice In My 10 Minute Guitar Workout?
The Real Question Is This:
How Can I Achieve Maximum Results With Minimum Efforts?
Quick Answer: Through Reduction & Repetition
Let’s Ask A Further Question.
How Can I Make My Repetitions More Effective?
Quick Answer: Through Focused & Undistracted Practice.
Let Me Be Clear 10 Minutes Is Really Not Much. Therefore We Need To Reduce The Thing That We Wanna Play Or Practice In Order To Do Many Repetitions.
If Your Goal Is To Practice A Guitar Solo, Then Practice Only One Or Two Licks From This Guitar Solo For The Entire 10 Minutes.
It Doesn’t Make Any Sense To Go Through The Entire Solo In 10 Minutes, Unless You Already Are Able To Play It More Or Less Without Stopping, If You Need To Stop In Every Bar To Check The Tabs For What To Play.
How Many Repetitions Can You Play This Way In 10 Minutes? Not That Many I Bet…
So Pick One Or Two Licks From The Solo And Play Them Over & Over For The Entire 10 Minutes.
This Way You Have Reduced A Bigger Piece Of Music And You Really Can Practice It Relatively Deeply In 10 Minutes. I Consider This A Succesfull Practice Session
If You Need The Entire 10 Minutes Just To Learn To Where The Notes Of The Licks Are Located, Then It’s Still A Very Successful Practice Session. Tomorrow You Can Do The Repetitions.
And After Some Days Or Weeks Doing This You’ve Learned The Entire Solo…Lick By Lick And One Day At A Time.
Trust Me,
YOU WILL GET BETTER THIS WAY!
Focus & Undistracted Practice.
It’s Absolutely Necessary To Make This 10 Minute Workout Completely Distraction Free.
Keep In Mind That 30s Are 5% Of Your Practice Time!!!
Don’t Allow Any Device To Distract Your Session. It’s Best To Turn Off Your Phone, Put It In Flight Mode Or Even Better: Leave It Outside Of Your Practice Room. If You Learn By Video Then Resist The Urge To Click On Any Videos That Are Suggested To You By The Algorithm. Stay Focused!
Conclusion
Make Good Use Of This Concept!
Give It A Try! It’s Really Worth It. You Will Experience That 10 Minutes Can Be Quite Intense. It’s Possible To Make Good Progress This Way – But In Tiny Little Steps Of Course.
Remember, You Need To Prepare Your Session In Order To Make It Effective. Know Exactly Which Tiny Part Of A Bigger Piece Of Music You Wanna Practice.
Again, It Could Be A Lick, A Melody A Chord, A Rhythm Or A Technique. But Just Know What To Repeat In That Time Span.
If You Wanna Learn More About Habits And The Concept Of Minimal Commitment, Then Go Here. This Blog Post Has Inspired Me To Write About This Concept. It’s Great!
Please, Don’t Underestimate This Concept. Just Because You Shift Your Focus On A Tiny Little Passage For 10 Minutes Doesn’t Mean That You Will Make Only Minor Progress. It’s Quite The Opposite:
You Focus 100% Of Your Practice Time On One Thing And One Thing Only.
Think Of Your Practice Session Like A Magnifying Glass And The Sun.
If You Wanna Light A Fire Then You Need To Focus The Beam On A Single Spot.
It’s The Same For Your Guitar Practice. If You Wanna Make Good Progress Then You Need To Make Focused Repetitions In An Undistracted Manner.
Please Let Me Know What You Think In The Comments.
I’m Really Interested To Read About You & Also Your Struggles With Organizing & Scheduling The Guitar In Your Daily Life.
And Just Case That You Don’t Know What You Should Practice Your 10 Minutes Guitar Workout With, Here Are Some Recommendations For Some Highly Effective Exercises:
Wanna Improve Your Coordination? Great, Go Here.
Wanna Learn Barre Chords Faster? Please, Go Here.
Or Maybe You Wanna Get A Better Overall Connection With Your Fretboard? Feel Free To Learn These Exercises.
Or You Wanna Learn How To Do String Bending? Perfect, Go Here.
In This Sense, Have Fun, Make Music And Be Your Own Teacher.
