{"id":37018,"date":"2018-12-14T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/~classll0\/?p=37018"},"modified":"2024-07-22T23:56:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T06:56:42","slug":"practice-vs-playing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/","title":{"rendered":"Practice vs. Playing: The Rules for Constant Progress on Classical Guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When we sit down to play guitar, what do we do? How do we decide what to do?<\/p>\n<p>How do we know that what we\u2019re doing is bringing us forward? Are we <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/progress-vs-success\/\">improving<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>In our guitar practice, we need both practice AND playing. The first step to a balanced musical life is to know the difference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"centerc\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GF44IRKVBbo?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;autohide=1\" width=\"700&quot;\" height=\"393&quot;\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">The Difference Between Practice and Playing<\/h2>\n<p>As we learn to play guitar, our main goal is to play beautiful music. While we may enjoy playing <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/why-practice-scales\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">scales<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/how-to-learn-classical-guitar-arpeggios-right-hand-technique\/\">arpeggios<\/a>, the real goal is to play music.<\/p>\n<p>And to play beautifully, we need practice. But practicing and playing are different actions. They have different motivations and objectives.<\/p>\n<p>We can both practice and play better when we understand the difference. We can then more fully embrace whichever we choose in the moment.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Practice = Building Skills and Solving Problems<\/h2>\n<p>In practice, <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/7-practice-mistakes\/\">our aim is to build skills and solve problems<\/a>. Just as we can lift weights to become stronger, we practice to become more able to play music.<\/p>\n<p>As we practice, we ideally focus on something <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/fine-details-classical-guitar-polish-perfect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">specific<\/a> in each moment. This could be a technical skill or the musical phrasing of a <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/strong-weak-beats-music-guitar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">set of notes<\/a>. It could be training our muscle memory by <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practicing-chords\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">switching chords<\/a>. It could be actively testing our <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/memorize-music\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">memorization<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever it is, it is slightly hard. It pushes our boundaries. It forces us to stay engaged.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, practice is work. It demands a <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/positive-agenda\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">positive agenda<\/a> and the discipline to challenge our current abilities.<\/p>\n<p>The reason we practice is so that when we play, we have the tools and training to succeed.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Playing = Playing<\/h2>\n<p>Playing, on the other hand, is when we play a piece with the goal of playing the piece.<\/p>\n<p>The goal here is to create music. We play from beginning to end (either a whole piece or a section). We <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/8-tips-for-a-better-performance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">perform<\/a>, whether we have an audience or not.<\/p>\n<p>While in practice we ride the <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/getting-in-the-zone-flow-guitar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">edge<\/a> of our abilities, here we may remain in a more comfortable zone.<\/p>\n<p>Conversely, we may decide to \u201clet \u2019er rip\u201d, and test the very limits of our abilities. The difference here is that the goal is to play and explore, and not to affect positive change in that moment.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Blind Repetition is not Practice &#8211; It is Playing.<\/h2>\n<p>One of the most common practice mistakes is to play a piece of music or <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/guitar-practice-vs-exercise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">exercise<\/a> over and over, hoping it will get better. This is playing, not practice.<\/p>\n<p>Time spent here will only reinforce what we\u2019ve already practiced within the piece. This means mistakes will be become even more entrenched.<\/p>\n<p>The level of focus and awareness we have during these repetitions will also become more habitual. So if we tune out and let our minds wander, we train this as a performance habit (to our detriment).<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">We Need Both Practice AND Playing<\/h2>\n<p>For a balanced musical life, we need both. To play music, we need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/85-percent-rule-polish-guitar-performance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">train our hands and minds<\/a>. Once we gain some ability, we get to share music with others. And the more we practice, the more likely we are to enjoy the act of playing music alone.<\/p>\n<p>We need practice, otherwise our skills stagnate (or grow very slowly). Practice creates progress and improvement, which is motivating and rewarding.<\/p>\n<p>Too much practice, and it may feel like a grind. Too much playing, and we run the risk of becoming bored.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">It\u2019s not always an even split.<\/h2>\n<p>At different times in our musical lives, the balance between practice and playing will shift.<\/p>\n<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/classical-guitar-lessons-beginners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first<\/a>, we do well to practice as much as possible. This way, we see progress and stay motivated. Other times, we may find ourselves playing more. This may be as we prepare polished pieces and perform for others. Or we may just feel the need to \u201clet our hair down\u201d and relax.<\/p>\n<p>When we know the difference between practice and play, we can better adjust to our current needs and desires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we sit down to play guitar, what do we do? How do we decide what to do? How do we know that what we\u2019re doing is bringing us forward? Are we improving? In our guitar practice, we need both practice AND playing. The first step to a balanced musical life is to know the difference. The Difference Between Practice &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2973,"featured_media":37019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,434,20],"tags":[378,372],"class_list":["post-37018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","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 Rules for Constant Progress on Classical Guitar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the difference between practice and playing in your musical life. 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Optimize your time for the most improvement and fun by balancing the two.","og_url":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/","og_site_name":"Classical Guitar Shed","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClassicalGuitarShed\/","article_published_time":"2018-12-14T16:00:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-23T06:56:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/practice-vs-playing-640.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Allen Mathews","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CLguitarshed","twitter_site":"@CLguitarshed","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Allen Mathews","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/"},"author":{"name":"Allen Mathews","@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/#\/schema\/person\/435f2f8d2618df3c54e630e55ba86fc6"},"headline":"Practice vs. Playing: The Rules for Constant Progress on Classical Guitar","datePublished":"2018-12-14T16:00:38+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-23T06:56:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/"},"wordCount":673,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/practice-vs-playing-640.jpg","keywords":["practice organization","practice planning"],"articleSection":["Articles","Main Content Parent","On Practicing"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/","url":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/","name":"The Rules for Constant Progress on Classical Guitar","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/practice-vs-playing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/practice-vs-playing-640.jpg","datePublished":"2018-12-14T16:00:38+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-23T06:56:42+00:00","description":"Discover the difference between practice and playing in your musical life. 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