Supercharge Your Guitar Practice Time

Lesson 6: Play What You Like

Segovia aside, you can't play fundamentals all the time, or you'd get bored to death. So today's lesson is: play what you like! Instead of just following along with whatever songs are in the book you're using, or whatever songs your teacher thinks you should learn, why not start with your favorite song? You'll have way more fun and be way more motivated.

Pick a song you really love and would like to be able to play. Find sheet music for it (hint: you can find a lot of free tablature and sheet music online), or find a teacher who can teach you how to play it, and start to learn it! If your ambition includes singing the songs you play, start right in: as soon as you can play a basic version of the song, try singing and playing at the same time. At first this will be hard, like patting your head while rubbing your stomach, but you'd be surprised how quickly you can learn to do both at the same time.

I like to start my practice time with some fundamental practice — usually for me it's scales or chords — then work on a song or two that I'm learning, and then finish up by playing a couple of songs that I already know really well. The key is to work on things you like. You'll be much more motivated, and you'll look forward to each practice session.