practicing

Practicing means working on something. There's a kind of practice that falls into the category of general maintenance. It is focussed on improving the strength and dexterity of your fingers, or helps you make better sense of what you are hearing. Stretching exercises, studying scales, tuning by ear, smoothing out new or difficult chord changes and progressions, and experimenting with different rhythmic patterns are all examples. 


Boring? Sometimes. Pointless? Not in the long run. Over the course of time, this kind of practicing pays great dividends. And it pays relatively quickly. 


Another kind of practice is the practice of bringing the songs that are inside your head out into the world. This kind of practice begins with first recognizing just what is inside your head.


There are songs still in there you heard and sang as a child. Maybe you've forgotten most of these. There are songs still in there you remember from junior high school, still familiar and maybe a little cornier now than when you first heard them. Maybe there are songs in your head that you remember your parents or grandparents listening to. Or singing. There are annoying commercial jingles and catchy pop tunes in your head too. They seem to always get stuck back in your ear.


Inside of you also, are songs which touch you and excite you. They come from the radio and the ipod and the television. They come from the famous and not so famous people you hear perform in concert or at a music festival. These songs come pouring through the stereo speakers in your car or in your room. And you hear them from friends and strangers alike, wherever guitars are being played. 


In certain ways, we define ourselves by these songs. We walk to them. We dress to them. We drive to them and work to them. We celebrate to them. Friendships are made or deepen because of them. They are the soundtrack to our lives.


Practicing means getting to know the words to one of these songs and singing them out loud as best you can. 


Practicing means getting to know the chords to that song and constructing a chord chart on paper or in your head, to guide you through the progression.


Practicing means gathering enough information to understand the mechanics demanded by the chord progression. Which finger? Which string? Which fret?


Practicing means sounding strings and changing the chords of your song to a rock-solid rhythm until what you hear becomes an acceptable rough sketch of the masterpiece you remember.


Practicing means polishing up your sound-sketch until your ears recognize the moment a clearer, sharper image begins to emerge.


Practicing means adding an intro and ending to your song. It means deciding where in your piece to play louder and where to play softer. Practicing means figuring out and adding runs, fills, and perhaps an instrumental break or other ornamentation, to further embellish your piece. 


Practicing means listening to yourself.