In this Beginner Guitar Student FAQ article, RGT guitar tutor Lin Flanagan shares his stock answers to three of the most common questions students ask.
Q: How many hours a week should I practise?
A: Preferably 40 – but failing that, the important thing is to practise little and often. How often will depend on your other commitments in life and your ultimate aims with your guitar playing. But, whatever your ambitions, it’s much better to do (for example) six twenty-minute sessions rather than bash away for two hours non-stop.
Anything over half an hour and the concentration will go and you’ll end up ‘playing’ rather than ‘practising’. There’s an important difference, and whilst playing for hours on end can reinforce your existing knowledge and skills it simply ain’t the same as the hard graft of practising new material and techniques.
Q: Should I buy an electronic tuner?
A: Well, they can be a great aid – but used aurally, not visually. In other words, get one that audibly produces the tones and tune to this, rather than just following the needle or LEDs. After all, music is about using your ears, not your eyes. If you can’t tune your guitar by ear, how do you expect to work out tunes by ear?
Try your best to tune up by ear at home, and if you get really stuck then just give me a ring and we’ll tune up down the phone between us. Better that, than start tuning up with a visual aid and very quickly becoming dependent upon it.
Q: I bet Jimi Hendrix never spent hours practising all the ‘proper’ techniques you’re getting me to learn – so why should I?
A: First of all, I have to point out that you’re not Jimi Hendrix. Secondly, it doesn’t matter how creative you are if your limited technique prevents you from showing any of it.
Although Hendrix’s technique could be described as unconventional, it more than allowed him to do what he apparently wanted to. And that’s the important thing!
Django Reinhardt was only able to play with two fingers, and yet left a legacy. But, surely it would be daft when you have four fingers available to restrict yourself to just two on the basis of someone else’s genius?
On the other hand, since you seem to rarely want to use your third or fourth fingers maybe we should get the hacksaw out and…? Only joking!
What are the most common questions you receive from new guitar students? Share your thoughts below and add them to this Beginner Guitar Student FAQ.
I’d much rather that my students get started with an electronic tuner and learn what an in-tune guitar sounds like instead of allowing them to become accustomed to the sound of an out of tune instrument. It won’t exactly work wonders for their motivation either when everything they practice sounds wrong. Ear development comes with time.
40 hours of practice a week but in 30m sessions? Over 11 practice session per day? Really?
I have to agree with Mr Reed on the tuning point in particular. Some students have a natural ear for tuning and can hear when things aren’t right, others seem oblivious. I always encourage focused practice aswell as sessions of just playing. Especially when they are fairly new to the instrument, the line between a challange and a chore is very thin at these points.
Agree with the tuning point by Mr Reed, however I also endorse the importance of ear development. So much so that I always emphasise and provide guidance on singing in tune. For me, this is probably one of the most important things when learning an instrument. I encourage students to try a sing a short riff or snippet of a melody that they know VERY well (maybe just 6 notes to start with) and then learn to find it and play it on their instrument. This leads to a strong connection with chords, harmony and rhythm later on. Just thought I’d share that for what it’s worth