Bookending Your Guitar Practice with Wins

May 17, 2023

First of all, what’s a “win?”  Well, in layman’s terms, it’s a small victory that gives us the courage to continue forward.    

When we feel the “wins” of guitar and music, we get a sense of momentum and traction.  It doesn’t take much, but when we experience a “win,” we feel invigorated, filled with hope, and it instills tremendous confidence.

By contrast, if we feel like we aren’t winning, well, we can easily get discouraged. 

And what is the battlefield where wins and losses play out most of the time on our guitar journeys?  Our practice time. 

How to practice is a discussion for another time, but what we do leading into or out of practice can set the tone going in, and wrapping up a practice session.  This is what I’d call “bookending” our practice.

I have several tips I’m going to offer you, but guess what?  Not all of them are my ideas.  In a recent Zoom call inside GuitarSuccess4U, I was joined by several of my members, whom I affectionately call my “Guitar Successors.”  And they had some great ideas.  Ready to get some practical encouragement?

Bookends for Leading Into Your Practice Time

1. I say, “Pray before you play.”  This phrase may sound familiar to you, because it’s actually the focus of Episode 47 of Guitar Serious Fun.  I encourage you to grab 6 minutes (or less) to spin through that episode. 

Praying at the beginning of our practice time sets the tone, but more importantly, puts the focus on the Lord as the One who will provide any sort of guidance towards the progress He desires us to make.

2. Cole says, “Play favorite songs you enjoy (that are difficult enough) for some good warm-up.”  It would be good for you to know that Cole is a pretty seasoned rhythm guitar player of almost 50 years, with a solid grasp of chords and rhythm. 

So, when he sits down to play something, he wants to be able to reach just beyond his comfort zone towards something that will give him a bit of a challenge. 

This will keep his mind and hands engaged and focused as he warms up for a solid practice session, and the advantage here is that he’s playing songs he enjoys playing, which is very much a “win.”  Thanks, Cole!

3. Jim, one of our newer members, says “Go back and review concepts from a recent GuitarSuccess4U lesson mentally and physically.”  Whatever your practice regimen, it can be easy to forget what you worked on last time. 

On a side note – if you jot down what you worked on in shorthand in any sort of practice journal, you’ll know exactly what you did last time. 

Jim is advocating a quick review of the previous lesson, not just reading through the transcript, but actually playing through the chords, strumming patterns, or exercises that were offered in a previous lesson. 

That way, he’s reviewing and retreading what he knows – which builds confidence – but also ramping up for what is purposefully placed next in the process – which leads to greater confidence with the new material.  Thanks, Jim!

4. Linette says, “Organize your practice space or materials just a bit for visual space and focus.”  Some of us – myself included – tend to let our practice spaces or binders get a little messy.  Entropy is not conducive to solid learning. 

Linette, who is highly administrative and deliberate, knows that a tidy workstation leads to more effective practice.  She’s been with us in GuitarSuccess4U for several years, and I always appreciate the way she approaches her practice with intention. 

Taking just a few moments to organize your practice space leads to visual space and an awareness of where everything is, whether pencil, metronome, or tuner. 

Having things neatly organized in anticipation of a practice session is invigorating and empowering, and leads to a better practice session.  Thanks, Linette!

So that was the first part of our discussion.  Let’s talk about the second part…

Bookends for Coming Out of Your Practice Time

1. I say, “Take a GuitarSuccess4U Encouragement quiz, check your work – rejoice in the correct answers, and understand how to fix incorrect ones.”  Now, you might not be a member of GuitarSuccess4U yet, but of course, you could join us and experience the wealth of neatly-organized, bite-sized lessons that are waiting for you.  Want to know where to find this?  Just head on over to GuitarSuccess4U.com/join. 

Back on this subject, I offer an Encouragement lesson the second week of every month, which not only provides and uplifting story or quote (which, by the way, is a total win), I also offer a short quiz. 

Gaining insights into what we know and are still learning, is definitely a win…and it’s facilitated in no small part by this quiz.  Exempli gratia – I have some listening quizzes where I check to see if you can identify certain types of chords or rhythms by ear. 

Ear training is a huge part of musicianship.  So, you can take the quiz, experience the “wins” of correct answers, and – wait for it – experience the “wins” of figuring out how to fix incorrect answers.  I’ve quoted him before and I’ll quote him again: Nelson Mandela said “I never lose.  I either win, or I learn.”  Let learning be a “win,” too!

2. I also say, “Play something you learned today (perhaps at a slower tempo).”  Whatever you’re practicing on the guitar, it’s always good to learn something new. 

And depending on the level of difficulty, it’s good to try playing a segment of it, even at a slower tempo, so as to demonstrate to yourself that you’ve overcome the next obstacle. 

If the song is tremendously technical, just try a measure, still slightly slower than tempo.  If the song is not as technical mechanically, try playing it along with a recording of someone else playing it, again at a slightly slower tempo. 

If the song is new to you, as I’m suggesting it would be, be sure to play through whatever segment of it in a way that doesn’t put pressure on you to keep up with the prescribed tempo.  That’s for later. 

For now, it’s about playing part of a real song, or an exercise, in a way that shows you that you have learned and can reproduce what you’ve learned on some level.  That’s definitely a “win,” because you’re showing yourself what you’ve accomplished.

3. Jim has another tip.  He says “Play something on the guitar that you’re extremely confident that you can play.”  This tip actually came from Jim’s recent observations of a golfing instructor at the practice range where Jim plays golf. 

Towards the end of the lesson the golf instructor was offering to his student came a strategic “bookend” suggestion.  The instructor told the student to hit some shots he was extremely confident in.  That way, the student would end the practice session on a high note, helping him to feel good going into his next round of golf. 

Ending on a high note, or ending well, is something I’ve heard other guitar instructors recommend.  Because the “taste in our mouths” as we leave the practice space can still linger into the next time we sit down to practice, a day or two later, this is extremely important.  If it was a “sour” taste because we ended on a struggle and put down our guitars with disappointment, we may feel more intimidated about getting back into the practice mindset. 

However, if we’ve finished strong, even on something that’s totally within our reach, we have a good feeling, a “good taste” going into our next practice session, which, as you’ve probably gathered at this point, is a bookend “win” on both sides – the end of one practice session and the beginning of the next one.  Thanks, Jim!

4. Shirley says, “For fun, try playing another instrument to wind down (e.g. ukulele).”  Shirley is one of our intermediate members, and she’s a worship guitarist.  Another fretted instrument she’s been cultivating is the ukulele. 

As a change of pace, she recommends winding down the guitar practice session and transitioning briefly to the uke, to play something different (most likely quite accessible) to sort of “cleanse the palate.” 

This is likely quite a lot of fun, which allows for a different kind of brain activity and also leads to the feeling of victory in a related way, still with music.  Definitely a “win.”  Thanks, Shirley!

Lastly…

5. Ephron says “Pray at the end of your practice time.”  I hadn’t considered this, but having concluded many of our group Zoom calls in prayer, this totally makes sense. 

The victories and the struggles we’ve encountered on the guitar during our practice session are once again committed to the Lord, where He can take them and use them for His glory, whether to remind us of our utter dependence on Him, or perhaps to use them to develop our brains even while we are away from the guitar.  

There’s no such thing as too much prayer when it comes to our guitar journeys.  Thanks, Ephron!

Well, as you can see, Proverbs 15:22 is clearly on display here. 

“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors, they succeed.” 

I’d like to give a shout-out once more to Cole, Jim, Linette, Shirley and Ephron for their great suggestions.  There were others on the call who contributed to the discussion and nodded their approval. 

And that Zoom call was a “win,” too, because everyone walked away with a better picture for how to bookend their practice sessions with “wins.”

👉🏻 Which “win” from today rings true to you?  

And if you’re looking for wins, you may have just found your people.  Don’t wait.  Join us at GuitarSuccess4U.com and see what the Lord does to give you momentum, focus, and joy on your guitar journey.

I’ll see you next time.