Do you have problems focusing on the development of critical areas of your playing (like; synchronization, rhythm, and stamina)? Are you frustrated and want to do something about it? Well, you're in luck... I’m going show you exactly what to do here in this post... 



I know that it’s not limited to just rhythm or stamina, most of us have multiple playing areas that are lagging, (and are slow to grow), so in this post we’re going to look at a series of ideas - that you can work on right away - to get those lagging playing areas to start growing.

WATCH THE VIDEO:



FOCUS SMARTER NOT HARDER:
The first thing that we need to understand is that when we have a problem with our guitar playing, the best thing that we can do is to focus on that problem in the correct way.

“What you isolate concentrated focus upon will improve to a degree that is directly related to the time spent within that focus.” 

It's important to isolate the specific movement or mechanics of our playing positions that will need to be improved to solve any of our poor performance issues. This means placing isolated focus on the specific issue that’s causing us to have that poor playing performance.

Let’s look at a common problem player’s face, like synchronization of the left and right hands... Instead of continual practice of scales and pushing your way through songs, it would be much smarter to use chromatic drills to fix synchronization issues since those drills are designed for that purpose.

A chromatic drill will isolate the focus down to a recurring movement of both hands allowing you to better zero in on what you’re trying to repair in your skill set. When you start to feel some success, you could even take things further by adding in a string cross to your chromatic study. That would help your technique for synchronization become even more evolved.



BECOME MORE MUSICAL:
The next thing that’s important in developing your continued growth (and pushing yourself through those lag areas) is spending time creating some exercises and /or short musical compositions (of your own). This way you can focus on any particular movement or technical process that you feel is possibly holding you back.

Now, everything is still obviously about isolated focus, but the essential ingredient behind being more musical is all about influencing our practice sessions in different ways and getting us the best possible results in the shortest possible time.

I personally prefer making up brief musical compositions. I find that that the musical approach helps my technique and it helps my creative side because I’m also working on inventing a musical passage. A great example of doing something like this is to practice making up scale and arpeggio melody lines using a looper pedal.



STRETCH YOURSELF:
Next, I want to stress how valuable it can be to focus on your playing stamina. Whether that’s for rhythm strumming parts or for single-note line picked melodies. There always comes a point where you'll need to play guitar for an extended period. And, you'll have to work up to that.

In most cases, when you play live you’re going to be up on stage for a while. Generally, top 40 club gigs will have at least 3 sets of 45 min. each. If you’re in a touring band, you could be up on stage for 2 hours.

This means that stamina is definitely a critical area to possess (regardless of what it is you’re doing). And, the biggest aspect of stamina involves relaxation.

If you can play relaxed, you can play a long time. Plus, you’ll stay better focused on your music. But, if you’re not relaxed (and you’re body has too much tension), you’re gonna have problems.

Here’s something you can try. Take a musical passage, that operates as a full groove, (kinda like a verse of a song – lets say), and play it over and over without messing it up.

Shoot for playing it 10 through at first, then work that idea up to 20, 30 and even 50 times. Do this without making a mistake- if you bungle it up, start from the beginning again.




CONCLUSION:
Like I said at the start of the video, if you have a problem within your playing, then you'll need to isolate that problem and develop a way that will help you to be able to zone in on the specific movements or mechanics of your playing position with the guitar.

Your first step is to work at understanding what will need to be improved in order to solve whatever it is that can take your abilities up to that next level of playing.

So, let me wrap things up with a few more points.

(1). A purely mechanical exercise, without any relevant musical meaning will often be the best thing to give your brain the chance to focus only on the exact types of movements that you want to work on, [without thinking about a particular scale, or some theory concept.]

(2). Musical exercises are good when you want to isolate some type of movement or pattern that’s more important to develop when you want to stay diatonic within a key. They also work well if you're studying Jazz harmony, (where chords leave a common key center).

(3). Develop exercises, drills and studies that use combinations of strings, as well as, combinations of rhythms. By working on technical ideas that combine fret board layout along with rhythmic ideas, you’ll cover a lot of ground with respect to improving your overall playing skills.




VISIT THE WEBSITE:
Hey, thanks for joining me, If you'd like to Find Out What You Should Learn Next on Guitar - take a look at the courses over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com.

My step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses will cover what you need to know, along with how to be able to move forward and become the best player that you can be.

I've worked on these courses since 1992 and I feel that all together they're the best guitar program you'll ever find. The courses will help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to the next level of guitar playing, in a very organized way, that makes sense.

So, I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com ...And, as always, if you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more on YouTube.

Until next time, take care and we'll catch up again on the next blog post. Bye for now!