Guitar Lessons Tulsa | Do I Still Practice?
This content was written for Curtis Music Academy
Many people ask me whether or not I play music on my own when I am not teaching. Now, this is a funny question because of course, yes, I do make music when I’m not teaching guitar lessons Tulsa, but unless I’m working for something very specific like a performance coming up or a recital that’s coming up, then I’m probably just playing for enjoyment and I might pull off the guitar from the wall and play a few songs and then work on a song that I’ve been working on for awhile. That might be something that I practice throughout my day in between guitar lessons Tulsa, but if I am not working on a performance for a recital or a wedding to play at, then a lot of times I, well just work on a very interesting song that I enjoy playing and there are some Mozart songs that are pretty enjoyable just to plow through and get some finger movement going.
But typically what I’ve found is if I’m going to just play through a more strenuous song, especially in comparison to like a pop song, then typically what ends up happening is I’ll probably play that song three or four times through because the first few songs I kind of view as a warmup and then I’ll play through it a third and fourth time just to have a good, enjoyable play through. So that’s something that I typically do. If I’m going to be running through a song, I just want to find a time to be able to enjoy playing music in between teaching guitar lessons Tulsa. And sometimes I might just pull out a pop song or something and I might pull up the chords and play those chords a few times. Or I might even play a song that I’ve never played before, just sight read it. And I enjoy looking at different types of songs that other people are looking for and trying to learn to play.
So I will frequently go through youtube and look for a tutorial on a song that I actually have no need to be viewing a tutorial for. But I’ll click on it because then this person may also have another video for a different tutorial and then I can actually go through and just get good ideas of different songs people are interested in learning in guitar lessons Tulsa and many people will be glad to learn these songs throughout. So by searching Youtube of songs that other people are playing, it’ll help me to find a song that’s enjoyable or maybe a song that I didn’t even think of that would be just a fun song to saint read through and have a fun time playing. And so that’s really about all that I do when I’m playing live music or trying to go through a song in my week. And it is a pretty fun thing to go through and just be able to play music throughout the day.
And a lot of people don’t have that luxury that they could just pick up an instrument and play some of their favorite songs and then sit it back down like nothing happened. And I understand that that’s something that not a lot, not a lot of people are able to do. But as you play music and you continue to do take guitar lessons Tulsa, you’ll get to the point where it’s just no big deal. You don’t have to practice day in and day out just to get the point where you might be able to play a song or you might be able to play a song without any mistakes. But it is something that is enjoyable and it is something that a lot of people take for granted. If they’re musicians like myself, and if you are someone who is interested and it is your goal to learn to play an instrument, then I would encourage you to find some of your favorite songs. Find what it is that is motivating you the absolute most to learn an instrument and write it so that you have this goal in front of you to be able to play a song or your favorite song or whatever it is to be able to play Mozart. Write it down to that. It’s a visual reminder to you that the reason you are learning your instrument, through guitar lessons Tulsa, is to be able to play this song and to play it well.
And that’s something that will happen. And once you reach that goal, what you’ll find is that you’ll be able to not only play your favorite song, you’ll be able to go beyond and play 10 of your other favorite songs because there’s always going to be a song that you enjoy playing. There’s always going to be a song that you would want to play. And I love the fact that if there’s a song on the radio that I hear and I enjoy listening to it, I love the fact that I can
pull out my guitar and start playing that song almost immediately with very, very little practice. And that is something that you can do as well. And even though I am an instructor and people could say that I am way different than other people and so even though I can do it, they might not be able to. That is true to some extent. But I have seen success and even my own students, I have seen the success of people that have put in the work they have put in the diligent time and the consistent time of practicing and getting good results through their practice and this is exactly what it takes to be able to play a song that you enjoy and to play a song that you just listened to and have a great time going through it and all it takes is a little bit of hard work. It’s temporary. By the time you get done with it, you will be like me pulling a guitar off of your wall, dabbling a little bit, playing a couple chords and then you’ll be able to play some of your favorite songs. And this is something that is very helpful to relieve stress. If I’m having a stressful day, I will pick up my guitar and just play a song and typically what happens if I am working through a specific set list or something are going through okay.
Then typically what will happen is I will actually spend quite a bit of time focusing on these songs. I will just go through and play this song over and over and over until I have mastered it, and I can play it very efficiently without much worry of making mistakes. If I have a difficult time playing through a song, I need to make sure that I’m not making mistakes and I am indeed doing a good job of making that happen. So that’s kind of what my day looks like throughout the course of practicing and making sure that I am continuing to develop as a musician, even through teaching.