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> People say "I wish I could do that" about everything. Playing a musical instrument, for instance. Among my resolutions for 2010: learn guitar. Step 1: signe

by tjic 17y ago

> People say "I wish I could do that" about everything. Playing a musical instrument, for instance. Among my resolutions for 2010: learn guitar. Step 1: signed up for weekly lessons every Thursday, as of ... 20 minutes ago. Onward!

wallflower 17y ago
My friend Michelle just started learning guitar. She thinks it's all about getting the basic chord patterns and fingering down. And only way to do that is to practice chording every day. Good luck!
- tricky 17y ago
  Michelle is on the right track (ex guitar teacher here.) The SRS advice above is nice, but a lot of guitar playing is simply well-developed muscle memory. I got good because the guitar was always on the couch by the TV. I'd pick it up every time I sat down and just play scales or random chords. I watched a LOT of TV at the time and I had a teacher to keep me from developing bad habits. My students who watched a lot of TV and were allowed to play in the living room got better, faster than those who didn't.
Sukotto 17y ago
You might want to try using a spaced repetition (SRS) flashcard app to help you practice. ( Personally, I use http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/ http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/ + dropbox . It's crude, but it works well for me) I know... it sounds dumb. But I'm serious. It really helps. 1) When you learn, say, the C Major chord, make a new card that says "play the C Major", with the answer being the fingering chart for that chord. It will then keep track of how well you remember that chord and ask you to play it less often as you get better and better at remembering it. 2) When you learn to play a particular song, set up a card to remind you to play it. The answer to this one should probably just list what book + page number to find the song. (That's just for the early stage when you might not remember it at all.) 3) Finally, set up a Seinfield chain ( http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-se... ) for the task "practice my guitar" where the task is simply to work through the guitar flashcards for the day (there's often surprisingly few of them). http://www.joesgoals.com/ http://www.joesgoals.com/ is a particularly good tool for something like this. Good luck with your foray into the world of music. I hope it becomes a real passion for you.
- jeffcoat 17y ago
  Great tip -- I've been using Mnemosyne daily for the last couple of months, but it's never occurred to me to use the flashcards to schedule practice sessions.

by tjic 17y ago

wallflower 17y ago

My friend Michelle just started learning guitar. She thinks it's all about getting the basic chord patterns and fingering down. And only way to do that is to practice chording every day. Good luck!

tricky 17y ago
Michelle is on the right track (ex guitar teacher here.) The SRS advice above is nice, but a lot of guitar playing is simply well-developed muscle memory. I got good because the guitar was always on the couch by the TV. I'd pick it up every time I sat down and just play scales or random chords. I watched a LOT of TV at the time and I had a teacher to keep me from developing bad habits. My students who watched a lot of TV and were allowed to play in the living room got better, faster than those who didn't.

Sukotto 17y ago

You might want to try using a spaced repetition (SRS) flashcard app to help you practice. ( Personally, I use http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/ http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/ + dropbox . It's crude, but it works well for me) I know... it sounds dumb. But I'm serious. It really helps. 1) When you learn, say, the C Major chord, make a new card that says "play the C Major", with the answer being the fingering chart for that chord. It will then keep track of how well you remember that chord and ask you to play it less often as you get better and better at remembering it. 2) When you learn to play a particular song, set up a card to remind you to play it. The answer to this one should probably just list what book + page number to find the song. (That's just for the early stage when you might not remember it at all.) 3) Finally, set up a Seinfield chain ( http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-se... ) for the task "practice my guitar" where the task is simply to work through the guitar flashcards for the day (there's often surprisingly few of them). http://www.joesgoals.com/ http://www.joesgoals.com/ is a particularly good tool for something like this. Good luck with your foray into the world of music. I hope it becomes a real passion for you.

jeffcoat 17y ago
Great tip -- I've been using Mnemosyne daily for the last couple of months, but it's never occurred to me to use the flashcards to schedule practice sessions.