Hi everyone,
I am curious about how you keep your motivation strong when you are not on your instrument. Some days I feel ready to practice, and other days I lose focus once I step away from it. What helps you stay connected to your music during those moments? Do you use small habits, reminders, or anything that keeps your interest active? I would like to hear what works for you. Thank you.
Walvie B.
A piece of advice I heard on a YouTube channel was commit to just 5 minutes practice a day, even if you just pick up the guitar and noodle. Setting expectations you can't meet can be very disheartening so planning to practice an hour a day when you haven't got time is really self defeating. If you've said to yourself '5 minutes', you can fit it in and once you've done it you can feel good about it, but I find that the five minutes is more likely to become ten, of twenty or more. Obviously structured practice is best when you have the time but even short regular sessions is better than going in hard one day then not touching the guitar for two weeks!
The other thing that's worked for me personally is that Rocksmith keeps track of your consecutive days of practice and since I'm now in the something thousand days, that's a lot of motivation not to let it drop. I've practiced through severe illness, remotely while on holiday and when we had to leave our home for a month.
Whilst it's been a while since I wasn't naturally compelled to have hands on the instrument daily; and for hours on end...
When those times have occurred...
I just make it a point to do SOMETHING/ANYTHING on guitar; for any amount of time
(not even 5 minutes; just ANY amount of time)
maybe run through a scale; but typically it was
just picking something from my repertoire list (things I can play with ease)
I started that list with simple riffs and melodies
and then it expanded into songs
