Welcome! In this article I want to continue sharing some great guitar learning tips.
When I decided that I wanted to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, I realized that I
had so much to study. The amount of information that my brain and muscles had to process in
order to be ready for my audition was literally way too much. I had no idea how I was going to
learn all this new material and actually become good at it. I’m talking about guitar techniques,
ear training, scales, chords. I mean if I wanted to get a good scholarship, it was a must to learn
the major scales and all its modes in every single position. I also had to learn a lot of jazz
chords and be able to improvise using them. I had to learn how to recognize chords by ear; how
to playback a line without even thinking about it. I mean let’s face it, sounds like I had a lot of
work to do.
So I decided to work on a master schedule and let me tell you, it was a good move. By the end
of the year I was already feeling more comfortable and ready for the audition. So what was this
master schedule anyway? The master schedule consisted of 7 different schedules, one for each
day.
Back then, I was trying to get good at many things and one of them was Ear Training. Now, Ear
Training itself is a huge thing. You have chord recognition, scale recognition, rhythm
recognition, interval recognition, melody dictation, solfege, rhythm reading and so on. So what I
did was practice Ear Training 3 times a day for a total of 3 hours and spread the different
sections throughout it. Consistency and practice are the key to success. There’s no other way
around.
Most guitar player get lost because they’re lacking organization skills. But if you are serious
about learning and want to become a great artist, you have to be organized and committed.
Yup, I know, it’s a lot of work. You have so many new scales and chords that you haven’t even
heard of, and it sounds like a headache, but I am telling you, if you stay organized and come up
with a schedule, you will achieve it; you will become a great guitar player.
Here are some tips for creating your schedule:
● Write down all the things you wanna learn.
● Use a calendar and figure out how much free time you have during the week.
● Create 2 different schedules and alternate them every other day.
● To stay focused, use a Pomodoro app (great for being productive)
● Be consistent. In order for you to become good at guitar, you have to practice every day.
There’s no excuse around it. This is like the gym; if you miss a day, it makes a huge
difference.
● Have fun! there’s really no point in practicing if you don’t have fun. Which brings me to
the next tip.
● Be smart when making your schedule. Spread out the material. If you are going to
practice Ear Training and Sightreading, please just practice something else in between otherwise I promise you it will get old.
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoy this tips and don’t forget to check out our entire database
of great learning tips at:
