{"id":3202,"date":"2015-05-01T12:30:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T19:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarshed.foureyes.com\/?p=3202"},"modified":"2024-07-22T23:44:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T06:44:48","slug":"guitar-practice-tips-evaluation-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/guitar-practice-tips-evaluation-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Guitar Practice Check-In: The Painless Way to Fast Forward Your Guitar Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever heard Peter Drucker&#8217;s phrase, &#8220;What gets measured gets managed.&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s absolutely true. \u00a0And one way to apply this to your guitar practice is to regularly check-in and evaluate how your are doing.<\/p>\n<p>This simple act of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/before-bed-review-nightly-guitar-routine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reflection<\/a> acts as a powerful cue to our subconscious minds. \u00a0This leads us to be more alert, more focused, and more on-task in our guitar practice. \u00a0It also leads to more fun and enjoyment, in part because we see forward progress more easily.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Evaluating Your Guitar Practice<\/h2>\n<p>There are many different ways we can approach evaluating our guitar practice and our guitar playing.<\/p>\n<p>Here are just a few things at which we could look:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Speed<\/strong> (metronome markings of scales, pieces, arpeggios, anything else)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Time<\/strong> (How much guitar practice did I do? on specific parts of my practice?)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Progress<\/strong> (on learning pieces, memorizing chords and scale shapes, etc)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Focus levels<\/strong> (How well did I notice when my mind wandered? \u00a0How quickly was I able to re-focus? This is more subjective, but worth thinking about)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enjoyment levels<\/strong> (On a scale of 1-10, how much did I enjoy myself this week? \u00a0What most?)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Organization<\/strong> (Did I plan my guitar practice and stick to that plan? \u00a0Did I note times, speeds, and observations in my practice notebook?)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Any personal goals, aspirations or desires we have can be regularly checked in on. \u00a0And the bonus to doing this is that with every check-in, the likelihood of meeting those desires\u00a0increases enormously.<\/p>\n<p>In short, if we create the habit of holding ourselves answerable for our progress, we will progress more quickly.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">The Mind Loves Questions<\/h2>\n<p>The simple act of asking a question sets off a whir of activity in our minds.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, if I ask you the question, &#8220;How many different shades of blue can you notice today?&#8221;, your mind genuinely wants to come up with the answer. \u00a0You may not get a final number, but you will notice more blue things in your world.<\/p>\n<p>I have written elsewhere about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">asking great questions<\/a> in our guitar practice in order to practice more creatively.<\/p>\n<p>We can also ask some very specific and detailed questions about the way we work, how we focus, and what we get done in our guitar practice.<\/p>\n<p>We can ask these questions each week, month, quarter, year, etc. \u00a0I suggest weekly for a start.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Good Check-In Questions for Your Guitar Practice<\/h2>\n<p>To craft your weekly check-in questions, first decide on what you want. Ideally, you use your check-in as an opportunity to instill and\/or reinforce good guitar practice habits. \u00a0 Be sure to include questions that pertain to the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Enjoyment<\/strong>, pleasure, fun<\/li>\n<li><strong>Different sections<\/strong> of guitar practice (specific techniques, pieces, playing through repertoire)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Documentation<\/strong> (writing down metronome markings, progress on new pieces, etc)<\/li>\n<li>Any <strong>specific challenges<\/strong> you have that &#8220;get you juiced&#8221; (like memorizing a new piece for a special occasion)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask for ideas<\/strong> on how to do better at something next week<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask for specific goals<\/strong> for the next week (write these someplace you can see them in your guitar practice.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember, this is a conversation you are having with yourself, so <strong>be honest and gentle<\/strong> with yourself. \u00a0Make realistic expectations and forgive yourself if you have a hard week. \u00a0(It happens to the best of us!) \u00a0You can always pick it back up next week.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">The Right Tools for the Job<\/h2>\n<p>Of course there are many different ways of checking in, and there are no wrong ways, so long as it gets done. I have students that bring a completed personal evaluation form to lessons each week. \u00a0It&#8217;s not so much for me to see, as it is a reminder for them on any questions they had, and to share breakthroughs and exciting revelations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever heard Peter Drucker&#8217;s phrase, &#8220;What gets measured gets managed.&#8221;? It&#8217;s absolutely true. \u00a0And one way to apply this to your guitar practice is to regularly check-in and evaluate how your are doing. This simple act of reflection acts as a powerful cue to our subconscious minds. \u00a0This leads us to be more alert, more focused, and more &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/guitar-practice-tips-evaluation-tools\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434,20],"tags":[378,372],"class_list":["post-3202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-content-parent","category-practicing","tag-practice-organization","tag-practice-planning"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v25.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Guitar Practice Check-in to Fast Forward your Playing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover how to create a recurring email check-in questionnaire to guide and focus your guitar practice. 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