Hello from the Azores, Portugal!

Chasplaya
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Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:42 pm

lcousino wrote:
Wow! Talk about a warm welcome. I really appreciate the kind words from everyone and look forward to learning from all of you.

I complete the first beginner lesson and learned a few things. First, I was not given Mozart's prodigy talents. :laugh: I'm ok with that! Also, I learned I was holding my hand to close to the neck.

Now my first question. At what point should I move on to the next lesson? How long should I practive everyday?

Today, I played through the four lesson and then an additional 15 minutes or so, but felt I should stop cause my hand was a bit tired and I was starting to play a bit worse.

Thanks in advance for your advise Mighty Guitar Gurus!!!

Larry
The length of practise time is really a personal thing, but if it starts to get painful thats a good sign to take a brake. Moving to the next lesson.. my advice and what I do is when I'm learning something on the guitar and I can pick it up and just play whilst say watching tv then its time to move onto the next. Its a muscle memory thing, when you can work/play through whatever it is without thinking too hard then move on, but its always good to revise a little before you start new things


lcousino
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Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:48 pm

Thanks a bunch Chas! Take care and have a pleasant evening.

Larry


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:48 pm

Welcome Larry over there in the sunny Azores! As the man said: "There are tons of good folks here who are always willing to help ...." but they haven't joined TG yet so you'll just have to put up us guys and girls (though haven't seen Barb for days)! I noticed Chas jumped in as soon as the word Guru was mentioned..... it's true, he is but think more like Goldmember... you know Austin Powers... Welcome and enjoy. Sounds like your practicing like we all do... till our fingers bleed or wives/partners end out missing person SOS's.


haoli25
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Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:54 pm

Larry, another thing that will help you as you progress. As you move through the lessons, every so often go back and review the previous lessons just to make sure you are not developing any bad guitar habits and you are retaining the instruction. If you can make a video of some of your practice sessions, reviewing those from time to time also helps.


Bill


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Music Junkie
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Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:09 pm

haoli25 wrote:
Larry, another thing that will help you as you progress. As you move through the lessons, every so often go back and review the previous lessons just to make sure you are not developing any bad guitar habits and you are retaining the instruction. If you can make a video of some of your practice sessions, reviewing those from time to time also helps.


Bill
Good recommendation there! I still go back and do the beginning lessons once every week to two weeks. Some of them are very easy now, but others still trip me up when I get lazy...... It is good to keep yourself on your toes.....lol

:P


Chasplaya
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Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:36 pm

As i've already stated and BIll has further endorsed always revise first. Repetition is a basic law of learning and you would find good teachers always go over that which has been covered previously. I teach staff at work how to be Instructors and the format for delivery of any lesson includes a component for revision in the Intro stage of the lesson. Therefore, if you apply this principle of learning yourself i.e. go over the previous lesson picking out the main points in your practice session first you know if you are ready to progress, it also helps set the scene sometimes.


BigBear
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Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:41 pm

lcousino wrote:
Now my first question. At what point should I move on to the next lesson? How long should I practive everyday?

Larry- I try to practice something new until I can play it accurately but at VERY slow speed, then I move away from it. The next day, I go back and play it accurately again but maybe just a few beats per minute faster. Notice, the emphasis is always on acuracy and technique. Never sacrifice either one for speed. Speed comes from practice but if you play it sloppily at slow speed what chance do you have faster.

Never try to master anything in one sitting. Take small bites and then back off. Every few days take a day or two off and rest your hands and mind. When you come back you'll play better!

IMHO it's okay to bite off one, two or even three lessons at once if you only practice them 10 minutes or so each and keep coming back to them. Don't skip lessons if you can help it. If you get stuck ask questions here. And keep it fun. Practice techniques but after serious practice play some fun songs or something that gives you satisfaction. Sometimes I'll just sit and pick melodies from old movie songs. Or do some pentatonic scale plinking.

And for Pete's sake, when you get frustrated, and you will, post a message here and we'll all jump in and blow sunshine up your tailpipe! Some of us, without naming names, seem better equipped to provide technical support on that end of the problem than the rest of us!! lol! :lol:


AndyT
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Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:58 am

Technical support? Is that what we are calling it now? :laugh:


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