Hello guitar freaks! It’s me again with more mind-tickling insights about the instrument we all love very dearly. It took me a long time to write a follow-up to my first lesson mainly because I was lazy. Nah, just kidding! Between my band, my studies, my studio and my family, I guess you can say that I got my hands full. With all these things going on right now, they served as my inspiration for this lesson. The "P" word. (tantadadaaaam!)

Well, the "P’ word isn’t a cuss, but most people, not only guitar players, dread it. Enough suspense, the "P" word is PRACTICE. Yep, that’s right. You might be leaning back saying, "Nah, I ain’t afraid of practicing. I do it everyday." Good for you! But do you really practice everyday? Don’t you sometimes feel that you just want to bum around and watch the boob tube or surf the Net all day? Or maybe just practice some other thing like the Superstar setting of your NBA Live Playstation? Or maybe you just tell yourself that you’re too tired and busy to practice playing your beloved guitar? Or worse yet, you tell yourself that you don’t need to practice anymore because you are as bitchin’ shredmeister of the highest degree?

Well, don’t fret. We all fall into complacency at one time or another. It’s just a matter of making the conditions conducive to practice. I’d like to share with you guys some tips that have worked for me in getting my lazy butt in gear.

1. Always keep your guitar within reach – There is no excuse better than "I’m too tired to get my guitar out of its case!" I like to leave my guitar lying on my bed so that whenever I walk into my room, I just have to pick it up and play something. If you don’t like leaving your guitar lying around, then just keep your case open.
2. Keep an open mind – Boredom is the cause of most abandoned practice rituals. Keep your eyes and ears open to be able to discover new and interesting things. Tired of neo-classical shred-o-manic runs? Try delving into the minimalist poetry of the blues. Sick of your pentatonic meandering? Taste some modal jazz excursions. Tired of playing in a band? Check out some solo Classical Guitar pieces. I try to play and listen to and with a lot of people. That’s the schizophrenic in me. That way I don’t get tired of what I usually do and the added research and experience does wonders for my vocabulary. Try it.
3. Go for quality not quantity – A lot of guys "practice" while watching TV or something. Reality Check!!!!! That’s called "noodling". Practice needs focus because not only are you training your fingers, you’re also training your mind. Noodling only develops muscle memory, which is also a bad thing. The next time you practice, unhook your phone, turn off your beepers and concentrate on each note and technique you are practicing.
4. Be consistent – A 7-hour practice day is not equivalent to a 7-hour practice week. Consistency is the key to development. Don’t practice for 18 hours on Monday then bum out during the rest of the week! Try to get in at least 1 hour of fruitful practice everyday and just expand that hour whenever you can.

All the other tips are relative to these 4. The hardest part about practicing is getting started but once you do start, I don’t think you can ever stop caressing those strings and hearing your beloved gee-tar sing out some of the most emotional sounds that have ever touched your heart.

Here try practicing this exercise to loosen up your fingers before you go on and play those beautiful sounds.

Till next time….