PRACTICE EFFICIENCY<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tHOW TO GET GREAT RESULTS FROM YOUR GUITAR PRACTICE<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIf you want to get more results from your guitar practice then one of the best places to start is to think about how to improve your\u00a0Practice Efficiency<\/strong>.<\/p>Practice Efficiency is a question of\u00a0how\u00a0to practice the guitar in the best ways to make the fastest improvements, rather than\u00a0what<\/em>\u00a0to practice.<\/p>What to practice is a different question, but the principles of practicing efficiently \u2014 no matter what you are practicing \u2014 are easy to understand and are applicable to every student.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\"TALENTED\" - OR JUST REALLY GOOD AT PRACTICING?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Guitar-Practice-and-Talent-705x1024.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tA consistent trait of guitarists who advance quickly and appear to be \u2018talented\u2019 is that they are naturally very efficient practisers. Put simply, they get far more out of their practice than other people.<\/p>
This creates a positive cycle in which they want to\u00a0practice more<\/em>, to\u00a0get more results<\/em>. Repeated over time, this process is what makes someone a very good guitar player.<\/p>However, with inefficient practice habits, the precise opposite happens: guitar practice results in little to no progress, and practice quickly becomes uninspiring or a chore to be avoided.<\/p>
This is the \u2018vicious circle\u2019 many players become caught in and don\u2019t now how to fix.<\/p>
Fortunately, it\u2019s easy to start turning this around.<\/p>
You can learn the habits of efficient guitar practice, and by doing so you\u2019ll enjoy far better results in your playing and more motivating practice sessions.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWHAT DOES <\/small>PRACTICE EFFICIENCY LOOK LIKE?<\/small><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/What-does-efficiency-look-like-1024x304.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tTo demonstrate the power of efficient guitar practice we\u2019ll use the example of two different students in a situation every guitarist has found themselves in countless times \u2013 learning a song, and coming up against a tricky bit within the song that you can\u2019t play.<\/p>
\u201cI just can\u2019t get this bit right!\u201d<\/p>
Let\u2019s imagine we\u2019re dealing with a tricky bit that happens in a particular section of a song, and let\u2019s say the tricky bit comes up at the end of the section. This would be a very common scenario.<\/p>
What we have is a\u00a0section<\/em>\u00a0of music with a tricky bit\u00a0within it<\/em>.<\/p>Let\u2019s imagine the whole section is twenty seconds long, and takes twenty seconds to play back in full. However, the tricky bit itself is only about two seconds long at the end of the section.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tA TALE OF TWO STUDENTS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Tale-of-Two-Students.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tLet\u2019s see how two different guitar students would approach this problem.<\/p>
Our first student,\u00a0Student A, is a pretty typical guitar student. Whenever he makes a mistake in his practice, or reaches a part he consistently can\u2019t play, he returns to the beginning of the section every time and repeats everything leading up to the problem.<\/p>
If he sits down to practice guitar for one minute,\u00a0Student A\u00a0practices the part he actually needs to work on\u00a03 times\u00a0(60 seconds, divided by the 20 seconds it took to replay the whole section). If he spends 10 minutes practice time doing this, he will practice the part he needs to work on\u00a030 times.<\/p>
Repeating something 30 times might sound like quite a lot? Not a bad use of 10 minutes practice, you might think.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t30 TIMES IN 10 MINUTES! - THAT'S A LOT... RIGHT?\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIt really isn\u2019t. To see why, let\u2019s look at our second guitar student \u2013\u00a0Student B\u00a0\u2013 who does things differently.<\/p>
Student B\u00a0separates the difficult part from the section, and spends his practice time focusing just on that. (Remember, the section was 20 seconds long, but the tricky part at the end was barely 2 seconds).<\/p>
By approaching the problem efficiently,\u00a0Student B\u00a0has already practiced the tricky part\u00a030 times\u00a0in the space of just one minute. (60 seconds, divided by the 2 seconds it takes to practice the actual tricky bit). That\u2019s the same amount of actual practice as Student A did in 10 minutes.<\/p>
But let\u2019s say\u00a0Student B\u00a0keeps this up for 10 minutes too, so for the same amount of time as Student A. In 10 minutes, he will have practiced the tricky part\u00a0300 times!\u00a0(10 x the 30 repeats he can make in one minute).<\/p>
After a single ten minute practice session in one day, here\u2019s where our two different students stand:<\/p>
Student A\u00a0has practiced the tricky bit\u00a030 times
Student B\u00a0has practiced the tricky bit\u00a0300 times!<\/p>
As you can see, it\u2019s a tenfold difference. That\u2019s gigantic.<\/p>
Or is it?<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tTHE REAL RESULTS OF PRACTICE EFFICIENCY OVER TIME\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tThe important point here is that we were only talking about one day in the example above \u2014 one ten minute practice session on one day. Real guitar practice is cumulative, so to get a true picture of their results we really need to look at how this situation develops as our two students practice over the next few weeks and months.<\/p>
Let\u2019s keep the practice to ten minutes a day for simplicity, and let\u2019s see what happens to their numbers above after one week.<\/p>
Remember, in the space of the ten minutes Student A repeats the tricky bit 30 times. In the same time period, Student B repeats it 300 times.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER ONE WEEK\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 210 times (7 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 2100 times (7 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/One-Week-1024x904.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER ONE MONTH<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 210 times (7 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 2100 times (7 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/One-Month.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tAnd after a longer time, say 3 months, here is what happens:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER THREE MONTHS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 2700 times (90 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 27,000 times (90 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Three-Months.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tThe really interesting thing is that both of our students are putting in the same effort, and both are\u00a0\u2018practicing for the same amount of time\u2019<\/em>. More accurately, they both\u00a0\u2018feel like\u2019<\/em>\u00a0they are doing the same amount of practice. In reality, they are not.<\/p>What makes the difference is their practice efficiency, in this case coming from a simple habit \u2014 one student zeroes in on the difficulty, while one repeats the entire section containing the mistake. This completely changes their results.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Whats-really-going-on-1024x251.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIf we look at the numbers above it appears that the difference between the two students is always just ten times the amount of practice (\u2018just ten times\u2019 \u2013 hah!). But it\u2019s not.<\/p>
We don\u2019t just need to think about the proportional difference (which is constant), we also need to think about the overall difference. The overall difference is the real difference between their total amounts of practice. Here are the differences in the number of times each student practices the tricky bit:<\/p>
After a single practice session, the difference is\u00a0270\u00a0(30 vs 300 repeats)<\/p>
After one week of practice, the difference is\u00a01890\u00a0(210 vs 2100 repeats)<\/p>
After one month of practice, the difference is\u00a08100\u00a0(900 vs 9000 repeats)<\/p>
After three months of practice, the difference is\u00a024,300\u00a0(2700 vs 27,000 repeats)<\/p>
If we continued like this over some more time, the differences become even larger.<\/p>
In fact, the difference is becoming so huge and Student B is now so far ahead of Student A, that we need to completely change the scale of the graph:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER SIX MONTHS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 5400 (180 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 54000 (180 days x 300 repeats in one session)
Difference of 48,600<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Six-Months-876x1024.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER ONE YEAR<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 10,950 (365 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 109,500 (365 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Difference of 98,550<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/One-Year-864x1024.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tAnd there you have it. A\u00a0tenfold difference<\/em>\u00a0in practice efficiency \u2014 which is easy to achieve \u2014 means the tricky part has been practiced almost\u00a0a hundred thousand more times<\/em>\u00a0by the end of a year.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t10x GREATER EFFICIENCY = 100,000 MORE TIMES PRACTICING THE PART\u2026<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t....in exactly the same amount of time!<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tWhat we\u2019re looking at here is more like an exponential difference. The two students start off at the same stage, but the absolute difference between the amount of real practice each has done becomes larger and larger very rapidly as some time passes.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Skills-Gap-1024x492.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tAs you can see on the graph, Student A is barely registering after a year of practice, while Student B approaches a hundred thousand repeats.\u00a0If this were to continue for just a couple of years, Student A would need to practice for more than 20 years at his current rate to catch up with Student B!<\/p>
This is a perfect example of one of the differences between people who progress quickly, and people who go round in circles making little progress and taking a very long time even to master basic things.<\/p>
Many times, people wrongly assume that if they are not progressing quickly (or as quickly as other people they know) then there is something wrong with them and they don\u2019t have talent. But as you can see from this example, small differences in practice habits produce huge differences in results.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tPRACTICE IS WHAT PRODUCES TALENT<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tLet’s think about it:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tIF YOU PRACTICE SOMETHING A HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES MORE THAN SOMEONE ELSE<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWHO DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO SOUND BETTER?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tWhen two people\u2019s overall practice time is the same or similar, yet one gets amazing results while the other doesn\u2019t, you can see why some people believe the answer is something to do with talent.<\/p>
However, rather than lacking musical ability, most people are simply getting\u00a0nowhere near<\/em>\u00a0the level of quality guitar practice required for mastery.<\/p>This is not because they are not practicing at all, or not putting in enough overall time; it\u2019s because of inefficient practice habits that lead to poor results no matter how much time is spent.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Long-Term-2-1024x484.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEFFICIENCY - PUTTING THE PRINCIPLE INTO PRACTICE<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tWhat we\u2019ve done is used a simple example to demonstrate a wider principle.<\/p>
The principle of zeroing in on the problem area to maximise results is very simple, yet powerful, and it is transferrable to many areas of guitar practice.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tTHE BIGGEST MISTAKE - \"KNOWING\" BUT NOT APPLYING<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tOften, guitar students believe they have absorbed this lesson and \u201cgot it\u201d after hearing it once. You may even have heard this lesson before in some form. The only problem is, most students don\u2019t actually\u00a0apply it<\/em>\u00a0to what they are practicing.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/BL2.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tFor example, a common challenge for many students, and particularly in the beginning stages of guitar, is smooth chord changing.<\/p>
When a tricky chord change is hampering your ability to play a song, what is the real issue holding you back?<\/p>
It\u2019s the\u00a0chord change<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 this means, what happens\u00a0at the actual moment of changing between the two chords<\/em><\/strong>. This is the thing to focus on in practice like a laser.<\/p>However, even when this is pointed out, many students simply continue to sit and repeat entire sections, slowing down and pausing to allow more time at challenging chord changes whenever they come up. The song never becomes fluid, and the chord change remains a bottleneck.<\/p>
Just like Student A, the reason for their lack of progress is that for every ten or twenty minutes practice they think they\u2019ve done, they\u2019re only vaguely touching on the actual problem a few times.<\/p>
By practicing inefficiently, it\u2019s not unknown for people to spend months or even years on things that need only take a few weeks to learn.<\/p>
However, the example could just as well be made for anything else, including more intermediate and advanced topics like\u00a0learning guitar solos<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Guitar-Soloing-768x510.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tInstead of isolating the really challenging parts of a guitar solo to give the techniques the full proper attention they need, many students basically spend most of their time replaying things they can already do.<\/p>
When it comes to the parts they still can\u2019t do \u2014 which are the parts actually needing practiced \u2014 they\u2019ll just slow down in the moment and pause to give themselves more time (\u2026. or else just keep screwing the same bits up every time!).<\/p>
They repeat like this, replaying the bits that make them feel good, ignoring the real problems, and nothing much improves. Just like Student A, they\u2019re spending time, but they\u2019re not really \u2018practicing\u2019 for most of that time.<\/p>
So, my bet would be that even if you have already heard this advice in some form, you\u2019re probably not applying it consistently, and you\u2019re almost certainly not applying it to all the things you could and in all the ways that you could.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tYOU NEED TO<\/small> PRACTICE EFFICIENT PRACTICE<\/small><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tEfficient Practice is not something you simply hear about or read about one time and then have it mastered. Efficiency takes practice to develop and focus to maintain, otherwise even the best practiser can easily slip back into wasting huge amounts of time.<\/p>
During your guitar practice sessions, ask yourself these three simple questions to ensure you are working efficiently, and to pull yourself back on track when you go off-course:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t#1 - Am I really targeting my problem areas right now, or am I messing about with stuff I can already do?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t#2 - Can I target this problem area even more directly and efficiently than I already am?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t#3 - What is the real obstacle to my progress here, and what else could I do to zero in and really nail it?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Target-Obstacle.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tGet Motivated \u2014 Get Focused \u2014 Get Results!<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s extremely motivating once you understand how to practice guitar properly, and can see how to start achieving the results you want.<\/p>
Many guitar players look around at other players (these days particularly in videos online), and feel that other people are doing better than them.<\/p>
When you don\u2019t understand the reasons why people become really good at guitar, then comparisons like this are simply a source of frustration.<\/p>
You could be comparing yourself to someone \u2018better\u2019 than you right now, who has a better baseline level right now. But if you change how you practice \u2014 as you can see \u2014 you could be overtaking them in a matter of weeks.<\/p>
But rather than competing and comparing yourself with others, a much better idea is to look to \u2018model\u2019 the mindset, actions and habits of good players. All of these things are learnable and trainable.<\/p>
You\u2019ve learned a powerful practice habit today, and now you can use it to become better.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEfficient Practice is one of the secrets to how your favourite players got so good<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIf you think of a famous great guitar player \u2014 always, a naturally efficient practiser \u2014 who has been practicing like this for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years, can you imagine how many times they have played their favourite licks?<\/p>
From our example, you can see how it would easily be an almost\u00a0uncountable<\/em>\u00a0number of times.<\/p>It would be silly to compare the few hundred times you might\u2019ve practiced a lick so far to the hundreds of thousands of times your favourite player has, then feel bad for coming up short.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.frets-on-fire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Blues-Rock-Metal-Lead-Guitarists-1024x576.png\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
HOW TO GET GREAT RESULTS FROM YOUR GUITAR PRACTICE<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIf you want to get more results from your guitar practice then one of the best places to start is to think about how to improve your\u00a0Practice Efficiency<\/strong>.<\/p>Practice Efficiency is a question of\u00a0how\u00a0to practice the guitar in the best ways to make the fastest improvements, rather than\u00a0what<\/em>\u00a0to practice.<\/p>What to practice is a different question, but the principles of practicing efficiently \u2014 no matter what you are practicing \u2014 are easy to understand and are applicable to every student.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\"TALENTED\" - OR JUST REALLY GOOD AT PRACTICING?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tA consistent trait of guitarists who advance quickly and appear to be \u2018talented\u2019 is that they are naturally very efficient practisers. Put simply, they get far more out of their practice than other people.<\/p>
This creates a positive cycle in which they want to\u00a0practice more<\/em>, to\u00a0get more results<\/em>. Repeated over time, this process is what makes someone a very good guitar player.<\/p>However, with inefficient practice habits, the precise opposite happens: guitar practice results in little to no progress, and practice quickly becomes uninspiring or a chore to be avoided.<\/p>
This is the \u2018vicious circle\u2019 many players become caught in and don\u2019t now how to fix.<\/p>
Fortunately, it\u2019s easy to start turning this around.<\/p>
You can learn the habits of efficient guitar practice, and by doing so you\u2019ll enjoy far better results in your playing and more motivating practice sessions.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWHAT DOES <\/small>PRACTICE EFFICIENCY LOOK LIKE?<\/small><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tTo demonstrate the power of efficient guitar practice we\u2019ll use the example of two different students in a situation every guitarist has found themselves in countless times \u2013 learning a song, and coming up against a tricky bit within the song that you can\u2019t play.<\/p>
\u201cI just can\u2019t get this bit right!\u201d<\/p>
Let\u2019s imagine we\u2019re dealing with a tricky bit that happens in a particular section of a song, and let\u2019s say the tricky bit comes up at the end of the section. This would be a very common scenario.<\/p>
What we have is a\u00a0section<\/em>\u00a0of music with a tricky bit\u00a0within it<\/em>.<\/p>Let\u2019s imagine the whole section is twenty seconds long, and takes twenty seconds to play back in full. However, the tricky bit itself is only about two seconds long at the end of the section.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tA TALE OF TWO STUDENTS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tLet\u2019s see how two different guitar students would approach this problem.<\/p>
Our first student,\u00a0Student A, is a pretty typical guitar student. Whenever he makes a mistake in his practice, or reaches a part he consistently can\u2019t play, he returns to the beginning of the section every time and repeats everything leading up to the problem.<\/p>
If he sits down to practice guitar for one minute,\u00a0Student A\u00a0practices the part he actually needs to work on\u00a03 times\u00a0(60 seconds, divided by the 20 seconds it took to replay the whole section). If he spends 10 minutes practice time doing this, he will practice the part he needs to work on\u00a030 times.<\/p>
Repeating something 30 times might sound like quite a lot? Not a bad use of 10 minutes practice, you might think.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t30 TIMES IN 10 MINUTES! - THAT'S A LOT... RIGHT?\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIt really isn\u2019t. To see why, let\u2019s look at our second guitar student \u2013\u00a0Student B\u00a0\u2013 who does things differently.<\/p>
Student B\u00a0separates the difficult part from the section, and spends his practice time focusing just on that. (Remember, the section was 20 seconds long, but the tricky part at the end was barely 2 seconds).<\/p>
By approaching the problem efficiently,\u00a0Student B\u00a0has already practiced the tricky part\u00a030 times\u00a0in the space of just one minute. (60 seconds, divided by the 2 seconds it takes to practice the actual tricky bit). That\u2019s the same amount of actual practice as Student A did in 10 minutes.<\/p>
But let\u2019s say\u00a0Student B\u00a0keeps this up for 10 minutes too, so for the same amount of time as Student A. In 10 minutes, he will have practiced the tricky part\u00a0300 times!\u00a0(10 x the 30 repeats he can make in one minute).<\/p>
After a single ten minute practice session in one day, here\u2019s where our two different students stand:<\/p>
Student A\u00a0has practiced the tricky bit\u00a030 times
Student B\u00a0has practiced the tricky bit\u00a0300 times!<\/p>
As you can see, it\u2019s a tenfold difference. That\u2019s gigantic.<\/p>
Or is it?<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tTHE REAL RESULTS OF PRACTICE EFFICIENCY OVER TIME\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tThe important point here is that we were only talking about one day in the example above \u2014 one ten minute practice session on one day. Real guitar practice is cumulative, so to get a true picture of their results we really need to look at how this situation develops as our two students practice over the next few weeks and months.<\/p>
Let\u2019s keep the practice to ten minutes a day for simplicity, and let\u2019s see what happens to their numbers above after one week.<\/p>
Remember, in the space of the ten minutes Student A repeats the tricky bit 30 times. In the same time period, Student B repeats it 300 times.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER ONE WEEK\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 210 times (7 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 2100 times (7 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER ONE MONTH<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 210 times (7 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 2100 times (7 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tAnd after a longer time, say 3 months, here is what happens:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER THREE MONTHS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 2700 times (90 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 27,000 times (90 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tThe really interesting thing is that both of our students are putting in the same effort, and both are\u00a0\u2018practicing for the same amount of time\u2019<\/em>. More accurately, they both\u00a0\u2018feel like\u2019<\/em>\u00a0they are doing the same amount of practice. In reality, they are not.<\/p>What makes the difference is their practice efficiency, in this case coming from a simple habit \u2014 one student zeroes in on the difficulty, while one repeats the entire section containing the mistake. This completely changes their results.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIf we look at the numbers above it appears that the difference between the two students is always just ten times the amount of practice (\u2018just ten times\u2019 \u2013 hah!). But it\u2019s not.<\/p>
We don\u2019t just need to think about the proportional difference (which is constant), we also need to think about the overall difference. The overall difference is the real difference between their total amounts of practice. Here are the differences in the number of times each student practices the tricky bit:<\/p>
After a single practice session, the difference is\u00a0270\u00a0(30 vs 300 repeats)<\/p>
After one week of practice, the difference is\u00a01890\u00a0(210 vs 2100 repeats)<\/p>
After one month of practice, the difference is\u00a08100\u00a0(900 vs 9000 repeats)<\/p>
After three months of practice, the difference is\u00a024,300\u00a0(2700 vs 27,000 repeats)<\/p>
If we continued like this over some more time, the differences become even larger.<\/p>
In fact, the difference is becoming so huge and Student B is now so far ahead of Student A, that we need to completely change the scale of the graph:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER SIX MONTHS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 5400 (180 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 54000 (180 days x 300 repeats in one session)
Difference of 48,600<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER ONE YEAR<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tStudent A\u00a0\u2013 10,950 (365 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Student B\u00a0\u2013 109,500 (365 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Difference of 98,550<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tAnd there you have it. A\u00a0tenfold difference<\/em>\u00a0in practice efficiency \u2014 which is easy to achieve \u2014 means the tricky part has been practiced almost\u00a0a hundred thousand more times<\/em>\u00a0by the end of a year.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t10x GREATER EFFICIENCY = 100,000 MORE TIMES PRACTICING THE PART\u2026<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t....in exactly the same amount of time!<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tWhat we\u2019re looking at here is more like an exponential difference. The two students start off at the same stage, but the absolute difference between the amount of real practice each has done becomes larger and larger very rapidly as some time passes.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tAs you can see on the graph, Student A is barely registering after a year of practice, while Student B approaches a hundred thousand repeats.\u00a0If this were to continue for just a couple of years, Student A would need to practice for more than 20 years at his current rate to catch up with Student B!<\/p>
This is a perfect example of one of the differences between people who progress quickly, and people who go round in circles making little progress and taking a very long time even to master basic things.<\/p>
Many times, people wrongly assume that if they are not progressing quickly (or as quickly as other people they know) then there is something wrong with them and they don\u2019t have talent. But as you can see from this example, small differences in practice habits produce huge differences in results.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tPRACTICE IS WHAT PRODUCES TALENT<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tLet’s think about it:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tIF YOU PRACTICE SOMETHING A HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES MORE THAN SOMEONE ELSE<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWHO DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO SOUND BETTER?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tWhen two people\u2019s overall practice time is the same or similar, yet one gets amazing results while the other doesn\u2019t, you can see why some people believe the answer is something to do with talent.<\/p>
However, rather than lacking musical ability, most people are simply getting\u00a0nowhere near<\/em>\u00a0the level of quality guitar practice required for mastery.<\/p>This is not because they are not practicing at all, or not putting in enough overall time; it\u2019s because of inefficient practice habits that lead to poor results no matter how much time is spent.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEFFICIENCY - PUTTING THE PRINCIPLE INTO PRACTICE<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tWhat we\u2019ve done is used a simple example to demonstrate a wider principle.<\/p>
The principle of zeroing in on the problem area to maximise results is very simple, yet powerful, and it is transferrable to many areas of guitar practice.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tTHE BIGGEST MISTAKE - \"KNOWING\" BUT NOT APPLYING<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tOften, guitar students believe they have absorbed this lesson and \u201cgot it\u201d after hearing it once. You may even have heard this lesson before in some form. The only problem is, most students don\u2019t actually\u00a0apply it<\/em>\u00a0to what they are practicing.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tFor example, a common challenge for many students, and particularly in the beginning stages of guitar, is smooth chord changing.<\/p>
When a tricky chord change is hampering your ability to play a song, what is the real issue holding you back?<\/p>
It\u2019s the\u00a0chord change<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 this means, what happens\u00a0at the actual moment of changing between the two chords<\/em><\/strong>. This is the thing to focus on in practice like a laser.<\/p>However, even when this is pointed out, many students simply continue to sit and repeat entire sections, slowing down and pausing to allow more time at challenging chord changes whenever they come up. The song never becomes fluid, and the chord change remains a bottleneck.<\/p>
Just like Student A, the reason for their lack of progress is that for every ten or twenty minutes practice they think they\u2019ve done, they\u2019re only vaguely touching on the actual problem a few times.<\/p>
By practicing inefficiently, it\u2019s not unknown for people to spend months or even years on things that need only take a few weeks to learn.<\/p>
However, the example could just as well be made for anything else, including more intermediate and advanced topics like\u00a0learning guitar solos<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tInstead of isolating the really challenging parts of a guitar solo to give the techniques the full proper attention they need, many students basically spend most of their time replaying things they can already do.<\/p>
When it comes to the parts they still can\u2019t do \u2014 which are the parts actually needing practiced \u2014 they\u2019ll just slow down in the moment and pause to give themselves more time (\u2026. or else just keep screwing the same bits up every time!).<\/p>
They repeat like this, replaying the bits that make them feel good, ignoring the real problems, and nothing much improves. Just like Student A, they\u2019re spending time, but they\u2019re not really \u2018practicing\u2019 for most of that time.<\/p>
So, my bet would be that even if you have already heard this advice in some form, you\u2019re probably not applying it consistently, and you\u2019re almost certainly not applying it to all the things you could and in all the ways that you could.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tYOU NEED TO<\/small> PRACTICE EFFICIENT PRACTICE<\/small><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tEfficient Practice is not something you simply hear about or read about one time and then have it mastered. Efficiency takes practice to develop and focus to maintain, otherwise even the best practiser can easily slip back into wasting huge amounts of time.<\/p>
During your guitar practice sessions, ask yourself these three simple questions to ensure you are working efficiently, and to pull yourself back on track when you go off-course:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t#1 - Am I really targeting my problem areas right now, or am I messing about with stuff I can already do?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t#2 - Can I target this problem area even more directly and efficiently than I already am?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t#3 - What is the real obstacle to my progress here, and what else could I do to zero in and really nail it?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tGet Motivated \u2014 Get Focused \u2014 Get Results!<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s extremely motivating once you understand how to practice guitar properly, and can see how to start achieving the results you want.<\/p>
Many guitar players look around at other players (these days particularly in videos online), and feel that other people are doing better than them.<\/p>
When you don\u2019t understand the reasons why people become really good at guitar, then comparisons like this are simply a source of frustration.<\/p>
You could be comparing yourself to someone \u2018better\u2019 than you right now, who has a better baseline level right now. But if you change how you practice \u2014 as you can see \u2014 you could be overtaking them in a matter of weeks.<\/p>
But rather than competing and comparing yourself with others, a much better idea is to look to \u2018model\u2019 the mindset, actions and habits of good players. All of these things are learnable and trainable.<\/p>
You\u2019ve learned a powerful practice habit today, and now you can use it to become better.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEfficient Practice is one of the secrets to how your favourite players got so good<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tIf you think of a famous great guitar player \u2014 always, a naturally efficient practiser \u2014 who has been practicing like this for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years, can you imagine how many times they have played their favourite licks?<\/p>
From our example, you can see how it would easily be an almost\u00a0uncountable<\/em>\u00a0number of times.<\/p>It would be silly to compare the few hundred times you might\u2019ve practiced a lick so far to the hundreds of thousands of times your favourite player has, then feel bad for coming up short.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
If you want to get more results from your guitar practice then one of the best places to start is to think about how to improve your\u00a0Practice Efficiency<\/strong>.<\/p> Practice Efficiency is a question of\u00a0how\u00a0to practice the guitar in the best ways to make the fastest improvements, rather than\u00a0what<\/em>\u00a0to practice.<\/p> What to practice is a different question, but the principles of practicing efficiently \u2014 no matter what you are practicing \u2014 are easy to understand and are applicable to every student.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t A consistent trait of guitarists who advance quickly and appear to be \u2018talented\u2019 is that they are naturally very efficient practisers. Put simply, they get far more out of their practice than other people.<\/p> This creates a positive cycle in which they want to\u00a0practice more<\/em>, to\u00a0get more results<\/em>. Repeated over time, this process is what makes someone a very good guitar player.<\/p> However, with inefficient practice habits, the precise opposite happens: guitar practice results in little to no progress, and practice quickly becomes uninspiring or a chore to be avoided.<\/p> This is the \u2018vicious circle\u2019 many players become caught in and don\u2019t now how to fix.<\/p> Fortunately, it\u2019s easy to start turning this around.<\/p> You can learn the habits of efficient guitar practice, and by doing so you\u2019ll enjoy far better results in your playing and more motivating practice sessions.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t To demonstrate the power of efficient guitar practice we\u2019ll use the example of two different students in a situation every guitarist has found themselves in countless times \u2013 learning a song, and coming up against a tricky bit within the song that you can\u2019t play.<\/p> \u201cI just can\u2019t get this bit right!\u201d<\/p> Let\u2019s imagine we\u2019re dealing with a tricky bit that happens in a particular section of a song, and let\u2019s say the tricky bit comes up at the end of the section. This would be a very common scenario.<\/p> What we have is a\u00a0section<\/em>\u00a0of music with a tricky bit\u00a0within it<\/em>.<\/p> Let\u2019s imagine the whole section is twenty seconds long, and takes twenty seconds to play back in full. However, the tricky bit itself is only about two seconds long at the end of the section.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Let\u2019s see how two different guitar students would approach this problem.<\/p> Our first student,\u00a0Student A, is a pretty typical guitar student. Whenever he makes a mistake in his practice, or reaches a part he consistently can\u2019t play, he returns to the beginning of the section every time and repeats everything leading up to the problem.<\/p> If he sits down to practice guitar for one minute,\u00a0Student A\u00a0practices the part he actually needs to work on\u00a03 times\u00a0(60 seconds, divided by the 20 seconds it took to replay the whole section). If he spends 10 minutes practice time doing this, he will practice the part he needs to work on\u00a030 times.<\/p> Repeating something 30 times might sound like quite a lot? Not a bad use of 10 minutes practice, you might think.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t It really isn\u2019t. To see why, let\u2019s look at our second guitar student \u2013\u00a0Student B\u00a0\u2013 who does things differently.<\/p> Student B\u00a0separates the difficult part from the section, and spends his practice time focusing just on that. (Remember, the section was 20 seconds long, but the tricky part at the end was barely 2 seconds).<\/p> By approaching the problem efficiently,\u00a0Student B\u00a0has already practiced the tricky part\u00a030 times\u00a0in the space of just one minute. (60 seconds, divided by the 2 seconds it takes to practice the actual tricky bit). That\u2019s the same amount of actual practice as Student A did in 10 minutes.<\/p> But let\u2019s say\u00a0Student B\u00a0keeps this up for 10 minutes too, so for the same amount of time as Student A. In 10 minutes, he will have practiced the tricky part\u00a0300 times!\u00a0(10 x the 30 repeats he can make in one minute).<\/p> After a single ten minute practice session in one day, here\u2019s where our two different students stand:<\/p> Student A\u00a0has practiced the tricky bit\u00a030 times As you can see, it\u2019s a tenfold difference. That\u2019s gigantic.<\/p> Or is it?<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t The important point here is that we were only talking about one day in the example above \u2014 one ten minute practice session on one day. Real guitar practice is cumulative, so to get a true picture of their results we really need to look at how this situation develops as our two students practice over the next few weeks and months.<\/p> Let\u2019s keep the practice to ten minutes a day for simplicity, and let\u2019s see what happens to their numbers above after one week.<\/p> Remember, in the space of the ten minutes Student A repeats the tricky bit 30 times. In the same time period, Student B repeats it 300 times.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Student A\u00a0\u2013 210 times (7 days x 30 repeats in one session) Student A\u00a0\u2013 210 times (7 days x 30 repeats in one session) And after a longer time, say 3 months, here is what happens:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Student A\u00a0\u2013 2700 times (90 days x 30 repeats in one session) The really interesting thing is that both of our students are putting in the same effort, and both are\u00a0\u2018practicing for the same amount of time\u2019<\/em>. More accurately, they both\u00a0\u2018feel like\u2019<\/em>\u00a0they are doing the same amount of practice. In reality, they are not.<\/p> What makes the difference is their practice efficiency, in this case coming from a simple habit \u2014 one student zeroes in on the difficulty, while one repeats the entire section containing the mistake. This completely changes their results.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t If we look at the numbers above it appears that the difference between the two students is always just ten times the amount of practice (\u2018just ten times\u2019 \u2013 hah!). But it\u2019s not.<\/p> We don\u2019t just need to think about the proportional difference (which is constant), we also need to think about the overall difference. The overall difference is the real difference between their total amounts of practice. Here are the differences in the number of times each student practices the tricky bit:<\/p> After a single practice session, the difference is\u00a0270\u00a0(30 vs 300 repeats)<\/p> After one week of practice, the difference is\u00a01890\u00a0(210 vs 2100 repeats)<\/p> After one month of practice, the difference is\u00a08100\u00a0(900 vs 9000 repeats)<\/p> After three months of practice, the difference is\u00a024,300\u00a0(2700 vs 27,000 repeats)<\/p> If we continued like this over some more time, the differences become even larger.<\/p> In fact, the difference is becoming so huge and Student B is now so far ahead of Student A, that we need to completely change the scale of the graph:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Student A\u00a0\u2013 5400 (180 days x 30 repeats in one session) Student A\u00a0\u2013 10,950 (365 days x 30 repeats in one session) And there you have it. A\u00a0tenfold difference<\/em>\u00a0in practice efficiency \u2014 which is easy to achieve \u2014 means the tricky part has been practiced almost\u00a0a hundred thousand more times<\/em>\u00a0by the end of a year.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t What we\u2019re looking at here is more like an exponential difference. The two students start off at the same stage, but the absolute difference between the amount of real practice each has done becomes larger and larger very rapidly as some time passes.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t As you can see on the graph, Student A is barely registering after a year of practice, while Student B approaches a hundred thousand repeats.\u00a0If this were to continue for just a couple of years, Student A would need to practice for more than 20 years at his current rate to catch up with Student B!<\/p> This is a perfect example of one of the differences between people who progress quickly, and people who go round in circles making little progress and taking a very long time even to master basic things.<\/p> Many times, people wrongly assume that if they are not progressing quickly (or as quickly as other people they know) then there is something wrong with them and they don\u2019t have talent. But as you can see from this example, small differences in practice habits produce huge differences in results.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Let’s think about it:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t When two people\u2019s overall practice time is the same or similar, yet one gets amazing results while the other doesn\u2019t, you can see why some people believe the answer is something to do with talent.<\/p> However, rather than lacking musical ability, most people are simply getting\u00a0nowhere near<\/em>\u00a0the level of quality guitar practice required for mastery.<\/p> This is not because they are not practicing at all, or not putting in enough overall time; it\u2019s because of inefficient practice habits that lead to poor results no matter how much time is spent.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t What we\u2019ve done is used a simple example to demonstrate a wider principle.<\/p> The principle of zeroing in on the problem area to maximise results is very simple, yet powerful, and it is transferrable to many areas of guitar practice.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Often, guitar students believe they have absorbed this lesson and \u201cgot it\u201d after hearing it once. You may even have heard this lesson before in some form. The only problem is, most students don\u2019t actually\u00a0apply it<\/em>\u00a0to what they are practicing.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t For example, a common challenge for many students, and particularly in the beginning stages of guitar, is smooth chord changing.<\/p> When a tricky chord change is hampering your ability to play a song, what is the real issue holding you back?<\/p> It\u2019s the\u00a0chord change<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 this means, what happens\u00a0at the actual moment of changing between the two chords<\/em><\/strong>. This is the thing to focus on in practice like a laser.<\/p> However, even when this is pointed out, many students simply continue to sit and repeat entire sections, slowing down and pausing to allow more time at challenging chord changes whenever they come up. The song never becomes fluid, and the chord change remains a bottleneck.<\/p> Just like Student A, the reason for their lack of progress is that for every ten or twenty minutes practice they think they\u2019ve done, they\u2019re only vaguely touching on the actual problem a few times.<\/p> By practicing inefficiently, it\u2019s not unknown for people to spend months or even years on things that need only take a few weeks to learn.<\/p> However, the example could just as well be made for anything else, including more intermediate and advanced topics like\u00a0learning guitar solos<\/strong>.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Instead of isolating the really challenging parts of a guitar solo to give the techniques the full proper attention they need, many students basically spend most of their time replaying things they can already do.<\/p> When it comes to the parts they still can\u2019t do \u2014 which are the parts actually needing practiced \u2014 they\u2019ll just slow down in the moment and pause to give themselves more time (\u2026. or else just keep screwing the same bits up every time!).<\/p> They repeat like this, replaying the bits that make them feel good, ignoring the real problems, and nothing much improves. Just like Student A, they\u2019re spending time, but they\u2019re not really \u2018practicing\u2019 for most of that time.<\/p> So, my bet would be that even if you have already heard this advice in some form, you\u2019re probably not applying it consistently, and you\u2019re almost certainly not applying it to all the things you could and in all the ways that you could.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Efficient Practice is not something you simply hear about or read about one time and then have it mastered. Efficiency takes practice to develop and focus to maintain, otherwise even the best practiser can easily slip back into wasting huge amounts of time.<\/p> During your guitar practice sessions, ask yourself these three simple questions to ensure you are working efficiently, and to pull yourself back on track when you go off-course:<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t It\u2019s extremely motivating once you understand how to practice guitar properly, and can see how to start achieving the results you want.<\/p> Many guitar players look around at other players (these days particularly in videos online), and feel that other people are doing better than them.<\/p> When you don\u2019t understand the reasons why people become really good at guitar, then comparisons like this are simply a source of frustration.<\/p> You could be comparing yourself to someone \u2018better\u2019 than you right now, who has a better baseline level right now. But if you change how you practice \u2014 as you can see \u2014 you could be overtaking them in a matter of weeks.<\/p> But rather than competing and comparing yourself with others, a much better idea is to look to \u2018model\u2019 the mindset, actions and habits of good players. All of these things are learnable and trainable.<\/p> You\u2019ve learned a powerful practice habit today, and now you can use it to become better.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t If you think of a famous great guitar player \u2014 always, a naturally efficient practiser \u2014 who has been practicing like this for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years, can you imagine how many times they have played their favourite licks?<\/p> From our example, you can see how it would easily be an almost\u00a0uncountable<\/em>\u00a0number of times.<\/p> It would be silly to compare the few hundred times you might\u2019ve practiced a lick so far to the hundreds of thousands of times your favourite player has, then feel bad for coming up short.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\"TALENTED\" - OR JUST REALLY GOOD AT PRACTICING?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tWHAT DOES <\/small>PRACTICE EFFICIENCY LOOK LIKE?<\/small><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tA TALE OF TWO STUDENTS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t30 TIMES IN 10 MINUTES! - THAT'S A LOT... RIGHT?\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Student B\u00a0has practiced the tricky bit\u00a0300 times!<\/p>THE REAL RESULTS OF PRACTICE EFFICIENCY OVER TIME\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
RESULTS AFTER ONE WEEK\n<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Student B\u00a0\u2013 2100 times (7 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER ONE MONTH<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Student B\u00a0\u2013 2100 times (7 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER THREE MONTHS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Student B\u00a0\u2013 27,000 times (90 days x 300 repeats in one session)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER SIX MONTHS<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Student B\u00a0\u2013 54000 (180 days x 300 repeats in one session)
Difference of 48,600<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tRESULTS AFTER ONE YEAR<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Student B\u00a0\u2013 109,500 (365 days x 30 repeats in one session)
Difference of 98,550<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t10x GREATER EFFICIENCY = 100,000 MORE TIMES PRACTICING THE PART\u2026<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
....in exactly the same amount of time!<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tPRACTICE IS WHAT PRODUCES TALENT<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
IF YOU PRACTICE SOMETHING A HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES MORE THAN SOMEONE ELSE<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
WHO DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO SOUND BETTER?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tEFFICIENCY - PUTTING THE PRINCIPLE INTO PRACTICE<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
THE BIGGEST MISTAKE - \"KNOWING\" BUT NOT APPLYING<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tYOU NEED TO<\/small> PRACTICE EFFICIENT PRACTICE<\/small><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
#1 - Am I really targeting my problem areas right now, or am I messing about with stuff I can already do?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
#2 - Can I target this problem area even more directly and efficiently than I already am?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
#3 - What is the real obstacle to my progress here, and what else could I do to zero in and really nail it?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tGet Motivated \u2014 Get Focused \u2014 Get Results!<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Efficient Practice is one of the secrets to how your favourite players got so good<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t