TRY THIS: pick up your guitar every day

“Pick up your guitar every day.”

This very simple advice is the first suggestion I make to each and every student regarding practicing. Becoming a better guitar player starts with the obvious step of playing regularly. Most of us, on most days, can find a few minutes to practice — IF it’s convenient and enjoyable.

Make this as easy as possible by leaving your guitar out, preferably on a stand or hanging on the wall. Keep it in a convenient location right in the middle of everything: next to the couch, by your bed, in your office. A guitar in a case under the bed or in a closet or up on the third floor is a guitar that is rarely played.

Another trap is putting a lot of pressure on yourself about how long you will practice. Try doing the opposite: pick up your guitar even if you only have a few minutes to play.

These bite-size chunks of time spent reconnecting with your guitar can be very valuable, and they are much easier to come by than a whole uninterrupted hour.

Five or ten minutes may not be enough time to tackle a new song or master a difficult technique, but you can make the most of it by choosing one simple thing (a new picking pattern or strum, a new chord combination) and repeating just that element.

Don’t have the concentration or motivation to focus on anything new or challenging? That’s fine — pick up your guitar anyway. Even playing a couple of familiar chords briefly will wake up your guitar brain and facilitate the learning process.

Odds are there will come a day when you don’t pick up your guitar. Don’t berate yourself — all or nothing thinking (“If I don’t practice every single day, I may as well quit!”) doesn’t work very well in the long run; just make a point of picking up your guitar the next day.

Who would you rather be — the tortoise or the hare?