How Do I Stay Consistent With My Practice?
Okay, so there’s a couple of things I want to address here. We have a story of somebody who had played for a while and lost motivation, and you’re also asking about how to stay consistent with your practice. It’s going to be the same answer, but let me get to the consistent part later.
First of all, the only reason why you would not be motivated to practice is two reasons. One is because you don’t have inspiration, and I’ll talk about that in a second. The second is because you think about something in your brain that is actually demotivating.
Hack #1: Go Out and Find New Inspiration
If you just don’t feel inspired to play, then you need to get inspiration. There’s a couple of different ways that are really good.
See Live Music
Number one, go see somebody who you like play. Go see somebody who you like, go see and play in person, or go see a band or some music that you like. That’s going to inspire you to want to pick it up, boom, right away. The best way is to go see a guitar player in person that you really like or that you don’t even know but who sounds really good and you like the style of it. That’s going to motivate you.
Listen to New Music
The second best way is to listen to some new music. Listen to new music that you really like and really listen to either the guitar or whatever the sound is that you really like. But if it’s a guitar player, it’s going to inspire you to play guitar. Go listen to that until you hear something where we get what we call an “earworm.” That thing that you just can’t get enough of, that new hook, that new chorus, that new guitar solo, that new thing that’s like, “oh man, this is awesome!”
You gotta find some new inspiration. The way to do that is not to pick up your guitar and try to make yourself motivated. That doesn’t work. That’s going to actually have the opposite effect; that’s going to backfire on you. So you need to go out there and get new inspiration from somewhere else.
Hack #2: Change Your Demotivating Thoughts
The other thing that I said a moment ago was that if you don’t feel motivated to play guitar, one of the things that is probably happening is that in your brain, in your mind, when the topic of guitar comes up, you are either picturing or feeling something that is demotivating you to play.
What Are You Picturing?
For most people, it’s a picture. It could be picturing the last time that you picked up a guitar or all those times that you picked up the guitar and you didn’t get anywhere or you spun your wheels. Or you’re thinking about how hard it’s going to be to figure out what to practice.
The problem is, it’s not that practicing is hard; it’s that most people don’t know what to practice. So the hard part is trying to figure it out. When you go pick up your guitar, you try to figure it out, you can’t figure it out because you don’t know what you don’t know, you get demotivated, you put it down, the cycle continues, and eventually, you just don’t even pick it up anymore.
Shift to a Success-Oriented Mindset
So back to what I was saying, when you think about playing guitar, you need to actually think about something that motivates you rather than something that demotivates you. Most people get in the habit of thinking about something that is hard or boring, like, “oh I just got to sit down and study Theory,” or “I got to sit down, my fingers are going to hurt,” or “last time I didn’t make it anywhere,” or whatever.
Yes, you do need to change your mindset to a success-oriented mindset, a positive mindset about your guitar playing, in order to be able to keep motivated and succeed in it.
Hack #3: The 3-Part Formula for Consistency
The answer to your actual question about how to stay consistent in my practice is actually just doing the two things that I said, plus one more.
1. Constantly Look for New Inspiration
You need to constantly look for new inspiration for your guitar playing. So that can be new guitar players, new bands, new music, going to see concerts, going to see guitar players, etc. That’s probably the top way to stay motivated to want to continue.
2. Make Actual, Consistent Progress
The second thing is you actually have to make progress. In order to make progress, you have to know what you’re doing when you sit down and practice. If you don’t, then you need to find somebody or something—some book or some method or something that you understand—that will help you reach your personal musical goals. That will help you make small, consistent progress whenever you pick up your guitar. When you do that, you’re going to be super motivated to want to continue because succeeding at anything feels good, right? We want to keep doing it, especially when it’s something we’re super passionate about like playing the guitar.
3. Let the Negative Thoughts Disappear
Finally, requirement number three, which the first two will actually take care of, is the demotivating thoughts. The things that make you not want to pick up the guitar, like “oh man this is gonna suck,” or “this is so boring,” or “I’m terrible at it,” or “my fingers don’t work,” or all the excuses in the book. They’re really just excuses.
If you eliminate those—and you can eliminate those by doing the first two—you will want to pick up your guitar, and therefore you will be consistent at picking it up. So to sum that up, do those two things, and the third thing will never happen. It will cause you to be consistent because you won’t need to have to want to play the guitar, you will want to play the guitar.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why am I not motivated to practice my guitar? It’s likely one of two reasons: you lack fresh inspiration, or you are thinking about demotivating things (like past failures or how hard it will be) when you consider practicing.
- How can I get inspired to play again? The best ways are to go see a guitarist or a band you like play live, or to listen to new music until you find a song or a guitar part that you can’t get out of your head. Don’t try to force it by just picking up the guitar.
- What is the best way to stay consistent with guitar practice? There are three keys. First, constantly find new inspiration. Second, have a method or a plan so you know what to practice and can make consistent progress. When you do these two things, the third key, which is eliminating negative thoughts about practice, will happen automatically.
