Any professional blues guitarist will tell you this: Discipline is very crucial when it comes to practising the guitar. Learning to play the guitar is one of the most gratifying things I have ever done in my life but it was also one of the most difficult. The reason is that I became adept with my instrument is simple. I practised! Not only did I practise, I practiced a great deal; every day in my bedroom.



I spent most of my time practicing the fundamentals. Things like running up and down scales, changing between chords and trying to improve my repertoire of songs. Sometimes it was easy to make time to practice because I was in a good mood and I really wanted to play. At those times I could spend hours just listening to how cool it sounded when I changed from the chord D to the chord G.

But on other days, when my mood wasn't so good, it was my discipline and desire to play and improve that made me practice and develop as a player. There are two main factors when it comes to discipline in practice. They are practicing regularly, and practicing well. Both of these are important points.

Practising regularly is the most obvious and easy thing to do. Basically, you should play the guitar every day. These don't need to be gigantic, three hour long sessions, 20 minutes will generally be fine if you are very focused during that time. Doing regular, small amounts of practice throughout the week is much better than doing one or two long sessions. A great way to keep the passion for guitar practicing is to use blues guitar backing tracks. Professional blues backing tracks keep you entertained and makes practice so much more enjoyable. Companies like 50Blues Studios provide an excellent set of blues jam tracks.

I know that in a busy life it can be hard to make the time to practise but to be honest, 30 minutes a day is accomplishable for anyone. There is no set time that is best for practice but I choose to do it in the evening simply because I find that playing the guitar is a great and relaxing way to wind down after a hectic and long day.

Having said that, practicing well is a much harder thing to do and there are many reasons why this is the case. Bad practice habits affects even the most experienced players but it can be overcome with some help. Develop proper techniques and keep focusing on have solid fundamentals. You need a great foundation to build the tallest skyscraper.