Guitar Practice Tips from Banshee The Cat & Felicity
Set aside a specific time to practice each day. Practice can be as little as 10 minutes and still be beneficial. Consistency in your practice will give you the greatest results. Remember, your child practices sports, dancing or gymnastics on a regular basis. Practicing an instrument takes the same diligence.
Make a practice chart. Record each practice section and set goals for the students progress. Incentives for success should be for both quality and quantity of practice. Sitting in a room with a guitar and watching TV is not practice.
Listen to your child. Be active in his or her practicing. Make sure your child is working on the correct assignments and be enthusiastic when you see their progress. Just as you would cheer for your child at a sporting event, cheer for their progress in the arts.
Be sure to practice the weekly assignment rather than just fooling around with songs you already know or partially know. Progress takes discipline and patience.
Practice smart. Spend more time on music that you struggle with than that you play well. Break up difficult music into small sections, sometimes as small as just a few notes. Play at slower tempos and then build up speed.
Use a metronome as much as possible. This will keep you on track rhythmically and will help you find the spots in the music that need more work. Buy your child a guitar tuner since guitars need tuning every day.
Keep your guitar and music visible. Have an area that you can see the instrument and the music sitting on the music stand and you will be able to sit down and practice easily and more often.
Encourage your kids to perform as much as possible. They may want to enter the school talent show, take their guitar to school for “show and tell” and/or perform for the recitals given by Felicity. Performing helps to keep students progressing musically.
Benefits of a Music Education:
A music education helps students succeed in school, in life and in society. Music helps in developing intelligence. A music education helps with self esteem, problem solving skills and motivation.
All my students learn to read music notation and rhythms, along with chords, and they will have a working knowledge of theory. Students are exposed to musical styles from the Baroque period to modern day songs. My students learn both fingerpicking and stumming styles.