I remember starting guitar when I was around 8 years old.

I hated it.

My dad gave me his old guitar from childhood and a guitar chord chart and kind of just let do my thing. He didn’t really show me anything I just picked up a few chords and that’s about it.

I just wanted to be a ninja turtle. Guitar was cool but it just didn’t fly with me until later on in life.

My mom and dad divorced when I was around 3 years old. So my dad wasn’t a huge influence at home because I lived mostly with my mother. I think the other reason why I didn’t like guitar at that age was because my dad literally told me that I’d better be practicing when he came to visit.

Of course when your eight years you follow orders. I can recall many times when I would hear my dads VW bus sputter in the driveway I would then run and grab the guitar and pretend to strum the guitar chords. Lol!

I regret later in life that I should have taken more interest earlier. My guitar skills would have been awesome. My environment did not lend to my inspiration. Don’t allow this to happen to you and take that first step. You won’t regret it.

Go and grab your guitar and let’s get started with the Rookie Guitar Guide.

The following are excerpts from my book, “The must have Rookie Guitar Guide”

Conclusion

That’s just a small portion of the guitar guide. If you’ve enjoyed this lesson there is a lot more to that. Receive a FREE sample by clicking here. Most guitar instruction guides are roughly 40-50 pages. The book encompasses over 100 pages of great material. Which include:

• All 16 basic guitar chords
• Covers all 6 strings
• Power chords
• Blues scales
• Over 20 songs with tab
• Eighth notes and rests
• 12 bar blues
• Over 10 strum patterns
• Bonus: 18 page standard guitar test
• And much more..

If there was ever a time to get started it’s today! Enjoyed this post? Please share it with your neighbor by clicking social media button below. Thanks for allowing me to share this with you. Enjoy your day.

Those were my thoughts at the Rock Harbor church worship leader conference in Orange County a few years back.

As Tim Hughes was talking about a particular song he wrote I sat down on my seat wondering who he was. One tune in particular, he was mentioning it was a song that mentioned touched thousands of people and become a standard in many church’s today.

I thought to myself, “what song is this?”

After his talk he started worship with the song in question. He sang, “Light of the world, you stepped down into darkness.”

“Oh yeah!!” I thought to myself. “Tim Hughes wrote that?”

Cool!

What an awesome worship conference by the way. I learned so much and it was a huge impact on my growth as a music director.

For the next set of tunes with the capo we’ll start off with “Here I am to worship”.

Finally the last installment of guitar capo secrets.

Click here and download the capo key finder.

Conclusion

That’s it’s for this tutorial I hope you enjoyed it as much as had a blast writing it for you.

Here are the rest of the series I case you missed it. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

Please feel free to comment in the section below and let me know if you need anything. And please share with your neighbor.

Thanks again peace

Roland

Stuck in my room trying to figure out this 4 second sax riff.

Back then we didn’t have apps like transcribe or the amazing slow downer app. What I had to do was rewind the tape a hundred times to capture those few second of an incredibly fast sax line.

Eventually, I got it down pat. Confusion was over.

What I learned was it doesn’t matter how many scales and chords you have to learn.

All that really matters is that you learn songs. As many songs as you can!

We call this transcribing. Usually it means to learn songs be hearing it many times and figuring out the chords and notes and then you write it down on paper.

What you’re doing is building your musical vocabulary. Music is a language. As babies we start to learn language by picking it up from our parents. It’s until we enter school is when we learn how to read and write.

You don’t really have to write the music down unless have memory like Kim Peek, but it really helps to analyze exactly what you transcribed and keep it as reference for future use.

Musicians who have not studied any music theory would say they never transcribed. But the really did, the difference is they didn’t write it down.

Learn, learn, learn as many songs as you can. It will help you build your musical vocabulary.

With that said here are a couple of tunes to get your started using the capo.

Guitar capo secrets part 4

Conclusion.

Now, you have some tunes under your belt. It’s time to start practicing and implementing.

I’ll add a couple of more tunes in the next lesson.

If you have missed the other parts. Click here: part 1 part 2 part 3

If you have any questions about this tutorial please give me a shout and leave a comment below and if you like this lesson be a pal and share it with your buddies.

Work hard like always.

Roland

I’ve liked this girl for awhile now. She was a nice girl, cute and pretty. Her friends were my friends friends.

If that makes any sense…

Every time I’d meet up with my buddies she always tagged along and kept throwing my those little hints.

But I was too dumb and scared to figure out what they were. Until one time we all went out to Fuddruckers.

While I was chewing on my awesome bacon avocado burger, everyone laughing and giggling at the table. She just blurted out in front of everyone.

Hey, Roland! When are we going out on a date??

Seriously, she called me out..

I froze! Awkward!!

Her girlfriend told her to relax. I told her whenever you want. I was too much of a wuss. She had more cajones then me.

She also wanted to learn guitar so I set up a lesson with her after our date. Our first date was at Pollo Loco.. Yup.. You heard me.

Pollo Loco!

The date went well and we went out a few more times. When I was teaching her guitar is when I discovered this little insights of the guitar capo. This was in my early stages of teaching.

I didn’t end up marrying her but we had a good time together. Hey, she was the one that asked me out. You don’t get that too often with women.

And through her is where I discovered and learned more about these guitar capo secrets.

Without further ado..

Guitar Capo secrets part 3

Conclusion

Keep your pants on because there’s more to come. It’s just about to get spicier. The next one we will start to introduce songs into the mix.

If you happened to miss the last parts click here: part 1, part 2..

Please let me know if you’ve enjoyed this tutorial or not. You can criticize, it’s okay I can take it:) It’s the only way I can improve.

Question:

What are the issues are you having as a musician? Maybe I can help.

Please leave a comment below.

if you have missed the first part. Go ahead and click here..

The second part of this tutorial is even juicier. I go deep into how you can really play in any key with a just a few simple moves. I also expand into your diatonic modes and a couple of more chords to spicy up your guitar chord palette.

 Enjoy the second part of Guitar capo secrets…

Conclusion

Ok, this stuff is getting pretty juicy please stay tuned for the next installment of guitar Capo secrets.

Please feel free to share this with anyone who is looking to pick up guitar and if you have any questions or struggles you’re dealing with at the moment please leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

If you missed the first part click here.

Peace

“Yup..” I answered back.

“Ok, just as long as long as my brain doesn’t melt and come out of my ears.” Corey mumbled.

“Maybe just a little. But, don’t worry I got the brain melting first aid kid on my shelf just in case.” I teased. “After this ill show you the guitar Capo secrets.”

“Deal!” Corey shouted.

While Corey has to go over all the 12 keys on guitar by memory.

I’ll start you off with the guitar capo secrets. Enjoy.

Conclusion

That concludes the first part of the guitar capo secrets for lazy guitar players. Be on the lookout for the next part.

As always keep in mind though I call this lazy guide to capo guitar playing. The goal is to be able to play the beautiful open chords in any key not to use the capo is a crutch.

I am always looking for new ways to be more efficient in my playing. I urge you to always keep learning new things and explore new ideas. With that your mind will expand and grow like a beautiful flower.

Until next time.

Peace out

Roland

As I’m sitting in isolation listening to some nice classical music that will soothe and relax my mind. I can’t seem to think of an opening line.

I’m having brain farts!

So I guess this is what I’m going to begin with. God please help me with this next guitar tutorial. I have the topic but not sure on how to start.

Have you ever had these moments where you don’t know what to say? You have distractions all around you. It’s just hindering you from being creative.

It’s the same with your guitar practice. It should be just you, your guitar, and your tools. Distractions cause you to lose focus and thus your progress becomes stagnate and your process diminishes.

Let’s get to the tutorial before my brain starts farting all over the place. Haha

Here are the 5 ultimate guitar hammer on and pull off exercises.

Tools of the trade:

1. Your mind
2. Your focus
3. Your guitar
4. Your plan
5. Your metronome
6. Your timer
7. Your recorder
8. Your music of study

I hope I haven’t left anything out. Let’s begin

Exercise 1: 1-3 Finger Hammer On

Hammer ons are a very important technique for all stinged instruments not just guitar. It provides for different sounds and also flexiblility for certain guitar passages you will encounter in you guitar career.

In the diagram below the 1-3 indicates your first and third fingers of your fretting hand. What you do is place your first finger on the top E string on the 1st fret. Then you down pick the string with your picking hand.

Click on audio

The audio sounds like I keep playing and that’s because I keep shifting  to the right to the following fret.

The “H” means to hammer the following note with your 3rd finger. I’ll keep on explaining.

As you allow the note to ring, your 3rd finger will come down and tap the 3rd fret of that same string without picking it. The force of your 3rd finger hammering down on the string will cause the note to ring.

It’s tough at first because you will not have enough strength in your fingers if you’re just a beginner.

They key is to remember as you hammer with your 3rd finger is to not move or lift your 1st finger. Many of my beginning students don’t have the the practice and flexibility to keep that 1st finger down. They have to keep on practicing and relaxing their hands.

Keeping that 1st finger down is a must for this technique to be effective.

Remember as you cover the first fret descending down the strings approaching the bottom string you are then going to jump up to the top string on the 2nd fret using the same fingerings of course, descend down and again you are going to jump to the top E string to the 3rd fret, following the same patterns and fingerings.

Every time you are going to shift to the following fret and keep on going until you run out of guitar neck.

Exercise 2: Open Hammer Pick

This is a cool technique that sounds pretty retro-ish if that’s a word. It will allow various rhythms, notes and patterns to be played in any way you want just as long as you understand the concept.

Don’t let the diagram freak you out it’s rather simple once you get it.

Click on audio

The “0” represents an open string to be down picked without the use of your fretting hand. The “H” you already know what that means. The numbers above show you what fingers to use the numbers below the diagram represents what frets to use.

Next, you hammer on the 3rd fret  with your 1st finger, then you up pick the exact same note.

Now what you do is follow the exact same concept with everything else. They call these patterns triplets.

Exercise 3: Open Hammer

This exercise is simple but effective. All you have to do is apply open hammer but using all 4 of your fingers one at a time.

Just alternate each finger starting with your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, then 4th finger this will strengthen all of your digits. I mean your fingers.

Click on audio

You can see in this exercise that I don’t finish up the last two bottom strings but the audio captures it.

Take your time practicing these exercises it’s not a race it’s a marathon.

Exercise 4: 3-1 Open Hammer Pull Offs

Just like in exercise 1 we are going to move in the opposite direction. To make this exercise work our 1st and 3rd have got be down fretting the notes.

the “PO” means Pull Offs.

Click on audio

Now, with both fingers down you down pick the first note and just release your 3rd finger keeping the 1st finger down at all times. Make sure your fingers are firmly pressing the down on the strings. This will allow the 1st fret note to ring without you needing to pick it.

As you start this exercise on the top string you keep descending to the following string using the same concept and then the next string and so forth.

Quite a simple technique and if done correctly it will open up a whole new world of musical possibilities.

The point is not to stay on the same frets but to cover the entire guitar neck.

Exercise 5: Legato 1234

The legato technique will create really smooth musical lines in your playing. All the work is done with hammer ons mostly.

Click on audio

Down pick the 1st note, then hammer the next note with your 2nd finger, then the 3rd then the 4th. The more this exercise is used you will achieve Arnold Shwarzenneger fingers and you’ll crush every lick that comes your way.

Just like excercise 3 you’ll have to descend to the following string and so forth.

Click on the audio to check it out.

Yes, it’s kind of tough at first but this is how the pros do it, they stay the course until they achieve success. Persistence is a big factor especially when your fingers aren’t working like you would want them too.

Conclusion:

Practice is a process that most of aren’t really fond of but it is a real necessity. There are 3 D’s that we need to have and they are: desire, dedication and discipline.

I’ve written and created a comic about the 3 D’s it’s pretty funny check it out here.

I hope this tutorial has helped you tons in your guitar journey and if you dig it please share it or post a comment below and let me know what you think.

Thanks and God Bless

Roland

Steve was 5 minutes late like always.

He was always ready with his guitar which was a good thing. Steve plugged right into the small practice amp that I had in my studio.

“Ok, let’s go over that two hand tap pattern that we covered last week,” I said.

With an immense flurry, Steve was totally ripping on that guitar. For a moment I thought I smelled sulfur.

“How’s that,” Steve said. “Killing.” I replied. “Now let’s do it with a metronome.”

I hooked up my iPhone Tempo app to a small amp and set the tempo. Steve looked confused he had no clue where to start. “Just listen to the beat and tap your foot along with it, find a starter point and begin” I replied.

Steve began playing his flurry of notes and it just fell apart. I then asked him to stop and play some basic guitar strumming patterns.

It was a no go.

Steve had the same issues that 90% of the thousand or so students that walked through my door.

Rhythm and Time!

Don’t worry I got you covered. If you’re starting out and got some basic chords under your fingers and you wanna throwdown some cool basic strum grooves and get the rhythm and timing down pat then this tutorial is for you.

10 best guitar strumming patterns for beginners.

To start off you have got learn how to read these basic guitar strumming diagrams.

Here’s the intro:

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Intro

Pattern 1

The diagram you see below contains 4 slashes separated by a vertical bar line followed by 4 more slashes. The first 4 slashes equals 1 bar. In total we have 2 bars.

The vertical line in the middle indicates the first bar and the line at the tail end indicates the second bar.

The slashes indicate a down strum. Therefore each bar contain 4 down strums each for a total of 8 down strums. The “D” equals a down strum.

Now it’s your turn to start strumming. Count out loud the numbers and strum along as you count. Remember, it’s very important to count out loud but don’t shout it because neighbors will think you’re a strange fella.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 1

I suggest also to tap your foot along as you count because your whole body has to be part of the guitar strumming pattern.

Ok, pick a basic G chord and start practicing and keep the counting as even as possible. Smooth like mash potatoes!

Pattern 2

Now we are going to add an up stroke.

As you can see in the diagram below an upstroke is added on the 4th count of each bar. the “U” equals and up stroke just so you know.
This will give the pattern a bit more flavor instead of just mindless down strokes.

When you reach the 4th count a down and up stroke is required. But, remember the same steady counts as before in the first pattern must be kept even to maintain the rhythm in this pattern as well.

Go ahead and give it a try.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 2

If you own an iOS or android device you can download Tempo which is a great metronome app that will help you keep time. Timing is very important!

Pattern 3

A bit more interesting. Let’s add the down and up stroke on counts 2 and 4.

This time I would like for you to choose a different chord for each bar instead of the same chord as before.

Don’t forget to use the metronome app to keep time, tap your foot and count out loud.

For this pattern it’s important to evenly play the down and up stroke and fit it into the tempo time frame.

For example: As you reach count 2 for the “DU” stroke, right before count 3 clicks on the metronome you have to be already on the down stroke. Make sure you keep your tempo slow at first so your strumming arm can keep up with the rhythm.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 3

Pattern 4

Adding the down and up stroke on the third count will cause the strum pattern to seem faster but in reality it’s the same tempo as before.

Attack this rhythm slowly and steady and don’t forget to mix it up and add a couple of different chords to spice it up and make it more musical.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 4

Pattern 5

Now it’s time fill up both bars “DU” all over the place. Down and up stroke is filled up from counts 1-4.

Don’t go crazy on this one. Add different chords to each measure and when you repeat it change up the chords again.

For example: “G” chord then “Em” chords for the first time round and then try “C” chord to an “Am”.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 5

Pattern 6

Once you have the basic guitar strumming patterns down pat it’s time to move on to really cool patterns.

The “p” means to smack the strings with an open palm, still keeping your guitar pick of course on your strumming hand. If done right, this pattern is pretty cool.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 6

Don’t smack the strings like a madman keep it cool baby.

It’s provided to keep tempo and make you sound like you have some rhythm.

Pattern 7

Keeping the same pattern as before we’re just changing it up a bit by adding “DUDU” on counts 3 and 4.

Repeat out loud “DUDU”! Doesn’t it sound like something familiar? Haha, got ya!

If you didn’t get that reference, then you’re pretty slow.

Ok, give the strum pattern a try and repeat the pattern until it’s smooth.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 7

Timing is important in this one keep the tempo super steady and grooves or course.

Pattern 8

This one can be a tad tricky. My students sometimes can’t get the basic timing on this bad boy. It starts with a “DU” stroke then a “UDU” stroke. The “R” mean to rest just for that instance. This is what you call an eighth rest which is a short period of rest. It is a small little empty space in between the notes that makes this rhythm cool.

Tons of tunes had used this rhythm. Give it a shot.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 8

Sounds pretty rad huh?

The feel is most important than anything but with repitition you’ll get it.

Pattern 9

Here comes the cool stuff. Another pretty tricky strum pattern.

Starting on the first 2 counts with “DU” and palm hit, immediately following a down strum, then up strum followed by another palm hit.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 9

Played at a solid tempo and groove this will really get the ladies dancing! Woot woot!

Pattern 10

The very last pattern. This is a pretty recognizable one. Maybe you can call it out.

For this one we are going to use 4 bars instead of the usual 2 bars that we had in the other patterns. If you observe carefully the first 2 bars they are exactly just like the third and fourth bars.

Also we are going to use down strokes only and the reason is because is will create some drive in this pattern. You’ll see.

The first two bars are simple but as you can see the rest are mostly up strokes on count 3 and 4 on the first bar and counts 1 and 2 on the second bar. The third and fourth counts of the second bar are just simple down strums.

Obviously the third and fourth bars are just the same.

Note: keep every strum short.

Go ahead and knock it out of the park.

Click on the player to hear the clip.

Download Pattern 10

If you guessed it already it’s “Viva la Vida” from the band Coldplay. Of course they use strings to play the rhythm and we’re using a guitar. Also they are playing it another key.

Ok, my friend that’s it for now and I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial.

As always, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or suggestion below and if you have found value in this tutorial please share it with someone who can use it.

Thanks and God bless

Roland

He said, “I wanna be the best guitar player that ever lived!”

Then I said, “Really? Well then, all you have to do is create a fool proof guitar practice routine and find a witch and pay her to put together a potion that will resurrect all the great guitar players in history. Then you have to battle them to the death in the “Superintergalactic Guitar Competition of the Universe” and God and I will be the judges.”

“What!” Armando shouted. He proceeded, “Ok, I meant best guitar player In the world!”

I retorted, “In that case you have to google, “best guitar players in the world today” then you have find there email addresses and contact them and challenge them to the “World Guitar Shredding Championships” and Slash and I will be the judges.”

“Oh, geez!” Armando blurted. “Nevermind! I think I’ll start off with being the best in the school and then the best town.”

“That sounds doable. Let’s get started” I answered.

Yes, I had interesting students with pretty interesting goals. But not all were like that. Most students didn’t have a clue of what they wanted. I expected that.

Practicing is part of the process and journey that will lead you to your success. But! There is a a right and wrong way on how to rehearse. The days of the typical 4-8 hours a day to reach your goals are gone.

You do still need to need to dedicate time and with today’s new discoveries and strategies that time can be cut in half.

Fortunately for your guys it’s not quantum physics. I have laid out a simple plan for you guys. There are no tricks it’s common sense.

Here are 10 steps to cutting your guitar practice routine in half.

1. Burning Desire: What do you crave? How badly do you want it? On a scale of 1-10 what would you do to get it?

Many folks say they want to lose weight but never achieve it. Why? Because their desire level is probably a 1-3. Their desire for sugar and grease is level 7-10.

That’s exactly where you want to be somewhere in between level 7-10. This is the hot zone meaning you will do what it takes to achieve guitar greatness.

2. Goals: Before you pick up your instrument you have got to know exactly what you want.

Do you want be a blues player? Rocker? Shredder? Jazzer? But more importantly in order to reach these milestones you need to set small goals in order to reach your ultimate destination.

One step at time. Grab a sheet of paper and write it down! I can’t emphasize this enough. It’s proven that people that write down their goals and place it somewhere where they can remind themselves daily will most likely get those goals accomplished. You don’t have to write a whole essay down.

Just a few clear steps that will help your reach your goal. For example:

1. Master all 15 basic open chords
2. Master the entire fretboard

You get the idea.

3. Practice Plan: This does not need to be complicated but is a complete necessity. There are certain skills a musician needs to obtain and work on constantly to reach guitar awesomeness.

I have laid out all the necessary skills in a blog that I wrote awhile back click here to find out more.

Your plan will lay out step by step all the necessary details you have to accomplish daily. It’s like homework. Studying daily until you get to the big test.

Target certain techniques or songs 1-3 months at a time to reach small mini goals. Here is a sample:

This week.

1. Master blues scales at 80-90 bpms up and down on the entire fretboard using alternate picking and eighth notes.
2. Master Chorus of “Canon in D”
3. Master intro of “Stairway to Heaven.”

Very simple and doesn’t need to be complicated but the small mini goals must be clear and must useful to achieve your main goal, if not scratch it out.

4. Metronome and small audio recorder: is a must to track and review your progress.

My student Sandy, she’s so sweet but when it comes time to use that metronome or recorder she’s totally disgusted. She can’t stand the metronome and doesn’t want to bother even hearing herself play on some recording device.

The metronome is just another musician that has better timing to accompany us and help us through our progress. The recorder and metronome will point out mistakes that will get us to our goal. These devices are our allies not enemies, embrace them because they are there to help not harm us.

5. Deep Focus: Remove distractions! Set up a time and place where there are zero distractions. No tv, text messages, internet, phone calls, crazy kids, annoying neighbors. Locking out distractions will create deep focus and will cut your progress in half.

I live in a small apartment in LA where cars are whizzing by and neighbors are arguing and making noise. What I do is plop on some headphones and it reduces the noise, if you have a quiet area use it if not look for a spot.

6. Motivation: This is the reason that is going to get you to turn off Netflix and start practicing. Sometimes we forget what reason that is, so we have to keep reminding ourselves. It has to be strong enough from a level of 7-10 to spark that burning desire.

Yes, many times that burning desire needs kindling every now and then.

“People often say motivation doesn’t last, we’ll neither does bathing that’s we we recommend it daily.” Zig Ziglar.

Your motivation can be positive and negative. It is true that negative emotions are a lot stronger than positive ones but I suggest you use both. Before I start rehearsal I actually recall past negative and positive experiences in my musical career, I also love watching video on YouTube. This is what gets me going and super motivated.

In high school my best bud Jonah wanted to learn the sax. After a year of playing the sax he was pretty good but one time he was asked to play at church music group conference.

Jonah was exciting to be able to perform until this more experience cocky sax player totally blew his mind away. After the gig he approached the cocky sax player and asked many questions and totally praised him but unfortunately the cocky sax player was to cocky and didn’t pay Jonah any attention and he was totally disappointed with the guys attitude.

After that day Jonah vowed to come back to the conference and literally smoke the cocky sax player out of the water. Sure enough two years later of hard dedication and practice Jonah returned to the conference and took the whole show away. And yes the cocky sax player was dumbfounded. What’s your motivation?

7. Visualize: During chemistry class In high school I used to finish my work early (no I’m not a nerd.) so I would pull out of my bag a guitar magazine and study the guitar lessons without a guitar.

I was visualizing the fretboard, notes, rhythm, etc. I was basically playing a small video clip in my head fingering the notes and practicing. I call it glorified day dreaming. Right before you play a tune, scale, etc you have to press the play button in your imagination and visualize and hear it before you physically play it on your instrument.

This is huge! Studies show that athletes use visualization techniques to improve their training. In high school I wasn’t even aware that’s what I was doing in chemistry class, yet when I got home after school and picked up my guitar and played what I was visualizing is class it seemed a whole lot easier.

They say 10-15 minutes of visualization is equal to 1 hour of practice time. I suggest you start visualizing.

One thing at a time: This will be a quick one. Make a list of all small mini guitar goals you have to accomplish and prioritize them in order to reach your major guitar goal. Do one thing at a time!

8. Chunking: In the Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, New York where many famous musicians have attended including renowned violinist Josua Bell, have an approach called chunking.

Basically you gather bits and pieces of music your are working on and your just drill them for a certain period of time. What I do is set a timer for a certain period of time let’s say 5 minutes.

Then I use a 2 bar phrase of riff that I’m currently working on and I just do repetitions until the timer stops. Depending on the difficulty of the part my hands could get pretty sore, but I’m building my motors skills.

“Repetition is the mother of all skill.”

9. Target weaknesses: Another quick one. Knowing your weak areas in your playing and targeting them will increase your progress. Don’t forget to keep working on your strengths as well, but focus should be more on your weaknesses.

10. Practice schedule: Yes, it’s important to have a schedule of practice time. Whether it’s right after work, before you go to bed, in the morning, before school. Consistency is key, life can get in the way and believe my it always does.

My buddy came over to my studio as I’m writing this blog and wanted to hang out. I didn’t want to feel like a hermit always stuck in the studio working so I obliged. I’ll be a day late posting this.

Keep a schedule! If you have to change it that’s fine, but don’t keep changing it like you do your dirty underwear. Being consistent will take you a long way.

Here is a recap.

1. Burning Desire
2. Goals
3. Practice Plan
4. Metronome and small recorder
5. Deep Focus
6.  Motivation
7. Visualize
8. Chunking
9. Target weaknesses
10. Practice Schedule

These 10 steps seem like a lot but they really aren’t. These tips I have picked up over time and has help me tremendously to grow my skills in a short period of time. You don’t need to spend 8 hours a day unless you really want too. That’s your prerogative! (Bobby Brown reference)

Once again that’s another installment of one of my lessons. Any suggestions or comments below feel free post them below.

Thanks and God Bless

Roland