Are Technical Exercises a Chore?

This was originally supposed to be part of the Ways Exercises can be Fun series, but I’ve decided that this point is important enough to warrant taking over an entire post to itself! Don’t worry, there is a post coming up with the rest of the (now only 4) ways that technical exercises can be made into something bearable!

If it’s a Chore, You’re doing it wrong!

Exercises such as these can sometimes be about pushing your technique to the limits- but it doesn’t always have to be so. Sometimes you’re simply just warming up, ready to play, right?

This is where many people go wrong. You see, if you’re doing the exercises because you feel like you have to, rather than because you’re actually interested in perfecting a certain technique, then how can you claim to be focused? The exercise has now become just a chore, and you’re likely doing that chore like any other- i.e. out of habit, or on autopilot. Why are you practising the guitar with the same mindset that you’d do the housework, or clean your room with?!

The problem is: habits can be bad as well as good, and if, when you practise an exercise, you’re only playing by habit, how can you improve? Any good habits you have will be improved, yes- but so will the bad habits! The point of doing any exercise is to improve a certain technique- which means you need to be focused on gradually correcting your own mistakes when you see them!

You won’t be able to see and correct your mistakes if you’re only playing by habit or you’re on autopilot! When you do get to the point where you can’t see any more mistakes, then it’ll be time to move on to the next thing in your practice routine (and/or ask your teacher or read this blog to know what to do to improve further…).

Secondly, if you’ve played something so much today that you’ve actually become bored with it, then that’s too much! You’ll never ever need to warm up for that long, and you might just be making your hands tired- and tired hands will not be able to play their best!

Starting to practise with warm hands is good; starting practise with worn out hands is bad. The first one will mean that your hands are at the peak of their performance, the second will mean slow, uncoordinated hands that may start to ache…

The message here is: if you over practise, to the point where you’re bored or where your hands ache, then at best you’re not going to play too well (from fatigue), and at worst you’ll eventually just get bored of the guitar! Let your own interest level (and stamina of your hands) be your guide.

If you have any questions, please post them below. As promised, next week we’ll be looking at more ways to turn boring exercises into fun things.

Until then,
Rob.

December 14, 2011 at 10:18 pm | Exercises, How to | No comments