ur practicing habits determine the quality of our playing. The way in which we practice is magnified when we perform under pressure. It is absolutely important to emphasize awareness and concentration when we sit down to play the guitar at home. One reason why we often feel frustrated when performing for an audience is because we become more self-aware. Different than when we practice; when we perform in public we can much clearly hear every note and musical expression. If we have been repeating a wrong note or musical idea at home over and over, most likely, it will sound the same way when we perform for an audience. The difference is that this time we will notice it for sure. A good method of practicing is to emulate a live performance at home. Obviously we wouldn't perform a technical exercise on stage, but it is possible to develop the habit of reaching a higher level of self-awareness even when practicing technique.
I find that when I focus all of my attention into the quality of practice I get tired faster. It is important to find a balance in which we can achieve enough practice time and quality, simultaneously. This way practicing will become more effective, and therefore, we will grow faster as a guitarist and a musician.
The same way that our mind is capable to memorize, our muscles are too. When approaching a technical difficulty the most effective way of overcoming it is by analyzing it, creating an excercise that will aid the solving process, and then, repeating it numerous times until the muscles learn the movement. It is also important to learn musical ideas by repetition. Again, first we analyze the music and come to a decision, then, we repeat it until it becomes part of ourselves. The first repetitions after having solved either a musical or technical task should be done with much care and attention. This is a crucial point in which we either learn it right or wrong. Speed is a very important factor in this procces. The brain works much better at slower speeds when learning something new. Once the muscles start to feel familiar with the movement and/or the mind starts to internalize a musical idea, we can back off the intensity of attention in order to save some energy. This way we will become able to practice for a longer period of time. Danilo Perez, a famous Jazz musician, once told me: "Don't worry about speed, it will come by itself at the right time...practice slow" I find this statement to be true, every single day of my life.
A difficult passage in a piece can never be repeated enough times. Sometimes we believe we have mastered a piece or a musical section. I think that it can only get better as we practice it more and more times. Did we think one hundred repetitions were enough? What about we try it one thousand times? This leads me to the next point.
Frequency of practice is very important, too. We have to decide when to practice by repeating a passage over and over for a long period of time, or, when to repeat it just a few times, take a break and do something else, and then get back to it. This is an issue in which I will not go into much depth, but I just want to raise the idea that sometimes we may choose to practice the same passage one hundred times within the same practice session or sometimes we can practice it just ten times and do it again over ten practice sessions. Every person is different and we all function in different ways, so details like these are up to each player. I personally like to do it one way one day, and another way the other day. I try to find variety to make practicing a more enjoyable experience.
There are many more techniques and methods to optimize our practicing time. I encourage you to learn more about the different ways in which the mind and memory work. Here are a few topics that can help you improve your skills: Visualization, Understanding of the Memory, Relaxation, Anxiety Management, Preparation and Management of Practicing Time.
Above all, it is important to understand the meaning of balance. We all work in different ways and we need to develop different aspects of guitar playing in equal levels (technique, sight reading, artistry, musical knowledge and understanding, etc.) There are no rules carved on stone that could apply to every single person, but there are rather an endless number of tools that we can all make use of in order get better every day.
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