related:
the Secret to Gaining Guitar Practice Momentum
Guitar Practice and Peak Efficiency
What does it take for guitarists to learn new skills? Some are naturals when it comes to technique, some have a great ear, or long experience playing, or music theory knowledge. But these assets alone don’t guarantee success. Without two essential qualities, many talented and experienced musicians stop growing, and even sabotage their own efforts to learn.
The Problem: Getting Stuck
It goes something like this: a musician becomes acutely aware of her limits, and feels stuck in a rut. She wants to learn something new, so she connects with a teacher and explains what she wants to learn. The teacher begins her on a course to achieve her goals.
When she begins to work on her lessons it’s challenging. She’s face to face with many of the same obstacles that defeated her in the past. She’s not “getting it” right away. If she avoids new challenges sticks with what she already knows she’s comfortable and she at least sounds good, but trying to use new and unfamiliar ideas she feels completely inadequate, unable to express herself.
At the next lesson she talks to her teacher and wants to reconsider – maybe this is the wrong path for her? She’s not relating to it – is there another way? The teacher tries to accommodate her, by switching to a new plan or curriculum.
At home, she finds herself avoiding practice again. “Maybe”, she thinks, “I don’t want to learn this new stuff after all.” A pattern of ongoing doubt and re-evalutation sets in. She wanted to escape her limits, which means leaving her comfort zone. But each time she steps out of it the challenges overwhelm her, until she caves again and flees from practice. Over time, doubt becomes a self-fulfilled prophecy. She wasn’t able to connect to this approach and learn from it after all, just as she suspected.
Solutions: Faith and Constancy
In fact the challenges weren’t beyond her ability to overcome them . There were clear paths to learning but she didn’t take them. She began with enthusiasm and hope, but she lacked faith and constancy.
Faith is having belief and trust. When a student believes that she can learn, that obstacles can be overcome, that she can succeed where she has failed previously; and when she trusts that her teacher understands her goals and how to achieve them, then she can remain constant in putting forth the effort to practice. Constancy is having a resolute mind and purpose. Faith imbues the student with the strength to be constant.
In order to learn we must choose teachers who have travelled a path and arrived at the place where we want to be, and who are able to support and guide with skill and compassion along that path. When we doubt ourselves, we may find the strength to stay constantly on the path if we trust our teacher, at least long enough to gain a measure of success and so regain our belief in ourselves. Without trust in either ourselves or our teacher, we may lose our way, regardless of our other assets.
Learning from a Teacher
The keys to learning are formulating goals, determining which tasks will lead you to accomplish them, and carrying out these tasks. Good teachers will help you clarify your goals, provide you with the right tasks to achieve them, and guide you in performing these tasks skillfully and effectively.
When you feel discouraged or uncertain, let your teacher know and talk with her about your challenges. She may be able to pinpoint a weakness in your practice, adjust a hand position, alter your practice to meet your needs, explain it in a new way that connects the dots for you, or simply help you to shift your perspective.
No matter how challenging or uncomfortable practice may be at times, show up and do your practice constantly. The one sure way to fail is to abandon practice. If you stay in the game, you never know when your breakthroughs will occur, but they will come, one after another.
related:
the Secret to Gaining Guitar Practice Momentum
Guitar Practice and Peak Efficiency
© 2013 Brenna Method