One of the challenges of learning guitar as an adult is that a large chunk of your time each week is spent generating income, either with a job or business. (I’m assuming that you’re not retired). This might mean that you practice the guitar after your work day, which is less than optimal because…
- You’ll often be tired. Most people are going to be physically or mentally tired after working all day. This will make it much harder to do something mentally taxing like practising guitar—and will make mindless things like watching TV a more appealing proposition. Personally, the probability of practising guitar after I’ve finished teaching for the day is close to zero!
- Many social and leisure activities happen after work. If you have a family, other hobbies or a busy social life, then you might have activities scheduled for some (or all!) nights of the work week. While this is all good stuff that leads to a rich and interesting life, it often means that there won’t be time for practice during the week. This might mean that the only time you’ll pick up a guitar is in the weekend. While this is certainly better than nothing, it’s going to make progressing on the guitar harder. And this slow progress might potentially make you feel less motivated to practice.
A Potential Solution For Some Guitarists
If you can relate to what I’ve just said, then you might consider trialling morning practice sessions for a few weeks. They don’t have to be long—just ten or fifteen minutes each morning would be a great start. If you can do more, then that’s even better!
A couple of significant advantages of morning practice sessions are…
- You’ll be mentally alert. Being able to practice when you’re not tired from a day’s work means that your practice will be much more effective. This means that you’ll make better progress from less practice, which can be very motivating.
- You’re making guitar practice a priority. By getting up a bit earlier and doing some practice you’ll be making guitar practice a higher priority in your life. Making practice a higher priority will always lead to more progress, which will make you want to practice even more.
Give It A Go
I’m definitely not saying that morning practice sessions are for everyone—for example, some people would rather not practice than get up a little bit earlier in the morning. And that’s totally fine, we all have different priorities.
If you’re open to the idea of morning practice sessions, I recommend giving them a try for a week or two. The worst-case scenario is that you’ll be improving your guitar playing while drinking your morning coffee. And hey, you might even develop a new daily habit that leads to massive progress over the years to come. ?
Good luck!