{"id":59465,"date":"2019-09-13T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/?p=59465"},"modified":"2024-09-30T23:21:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T06:21:04","slug":"short-guitar-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/short-guitar-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make the Most of Short Practice Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Life can get busy. With work, family, friends, and all the rest, finding time for guitar practice can be difficult.<\/p>\n<p>So we often have only short bursts of time for guitar. How can we make the most of these? How do we continue to see improvement and growth, using short practices?<\/p>\n<p>Actually, if we do it right, short practices can be even more effective than long ones! If we stay keenly aware of the time and use our best focus, we can level-up in leaps and bounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"centerc\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xAco3dRAVNo?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;autohide=1\" width=\"700\" height=\"393\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">The Guitar Practice Conundrum: Much to Do, Little Time<\/h2>\n<p>If we only needed to practice scales, there would be no question of what to do in practice. We would just play our scales.<\/p>\n<p>But classical guitar is a multi-faceted jewel. We have many challenges and skill-areas. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/best-time-to-practice-guitar\/\">And each of these is worthy of practice time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So the big question is: What do we practice in our <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/short-guitar-practice-routine\/\">short practice times<\/a>?<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Tip: Know the Main Practice Areas<\/h2>\n<p>To plan our practices, it helps to know the major areas of guitar practice. We can include each of the following in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/guitar-practice-schedule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guitar practice schedules<\/a>. By touching on each, we form a well-rounded routine.<\/p>\n<h3>Technique<\/h3>\n<p>Classical guitar technique is the study of how we use our hands to meet the demands of the music. This includes mastering the <a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/how-to-learn-classical-guitar-arpeggios-right-hand-technique\/\">movements<\/a> and habits. And it also means mastering the abilities to change volume (dynamics), accent notes, or change the tone quality. In short, technique is the \u201chow\u201d of playing.<\/p>\n<h3>New Notes<\/h3>\n<p>We stay more engaged and satisfied in our practices when we learn something new. A measure or two each practice on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/how-to-learn-classical-guitar-pieces\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new piece of music<\/a> will keep us motivated, and help us build a repertoire.<\/p>\n<h3>Detailing Current Pieces<\/h3>\n<p>In our pieces, there are bound to be tricky spots. \u201cDetailing\u201d is one label for working out these tricky spots and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/polish-performance-level\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">polishing<\/a> our music.<\/p>\n<h3>Maintaining Older Pieces<\/h3>\n<p>And once we\u2019ve learned the notes and smoothed the bumps, we need to maintain our music. This way, we always have pieces we can play at a moment\u2019s notice (aka our &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/how-to-maintain-classical-guitar-repertoire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">repertoire<\/a>&#8220;). Practice can\u2019t be all practice &#8211; we also need to play!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Tip: Set Your Priorities<\/h2>\n<p>So in small practices, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yale.edu\/2024\/08\/14\/sleep-it-how-brain-processes-many-experiences-even-when-offline\">it becomes more important to set priorities<\/a>. We don\u2019t have endless time to meander from piece to piece or exercise to exercise. We are called upon to be more strategic with our time.<\/p>\n<h3>We don\u2019t have to do everything all the time<\/h3>\n<p>We can focus on quality over quantity. Where we may do all our scales in a longer practice, in a shorter one we may choose just one scale shape on which to work.<\/p>\n<p>Using this strategy, we can give high-intensity focus to the small details of that one item. This intense focus on the details will elevate everything else we do.<\/p>\n<h3>Touch on each practice area<\/h3>\n<p>In a short practice, it can be tempting to spend all the time on the newest piece of music. Or we may feel we should ignore our pieces and work only technique.<\/p>\n<p>But we do best touching on each of the four areas listed above. Even if it\u2019s only for a couple of minutes, we continue to learn and improve in that area.<\/p>\n<h3>Don\u2019t duplicate work<\/h3>\n<p>In our strategic short practices, we can avoid duplicating work. For instance, let\u2019s assume we have two pieces of music, each with fast scale passages.<\/p>\n<p>We may not need to practice both of these scale passages, as well as scales in our technique practice. We can instead use one or both of these AS our scale practice. Then we can use our technique practice time for other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/classical-guitar-technique-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">patterns<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/quick-prepping\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">movements<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, we could slow practice one of these two scale pieces. Then we could use a different practice method on the next, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/classical-guitar-speed-bursts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">speed bursts<\/a>. This way, we\u2019re not doing the same practice with different notes.<\/p>\n<p>In one practice, we can use several different practice methods and skill-building exercises. And we make the most of our time by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classicalguitarshed.com\/someday-techniques\/\">keeping the variety high<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Be Grateful for the Time You Have<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s tempting to begrudge our short practices. But this not only gets us down, it shortchanges our practices.<\/p>\n<p>It takes discipline and personal control to sit down and have a strategic short practice. It\u2019s much easier to surf the web or watch TV for 20 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>So instead of disparaging the short practice window, we can be grateful for the time we do have. We can pat ourselves on the back for showing up and doing the good work.<\/p>\n<p>In busy times, all practice is bonus practice. It\u2019s reason for celebration and cheer. We\u2019re moving forward on personal endeavors instead of martyring ourselves to the chores of life. So high-five and \u201cGo team\u201d!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life can get busy. With work, family, friends, and all the rest, finding time for guitar practice can be difficult. So we often have only short bursts of time for guitar. How can we make the most of these? How do we continue to see improvement and growth, using short practices? Actually, if we do it right, short practices can &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarshed.com\/short-guitar-practices\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,434,20],"tags":[26,33,378,133,372,373,64],"class_list":["post-59465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-main-content-parent","category-practicing","tag-guitar-practice","tag-practice","tag-practice-organization","tag-practice-philosophy","tag-practice-planning","tag-time","tag-time-management"],"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>Make the Most out of Short Practice Times on the Guitar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You can learn classical guitar, even with short practice times. 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