Learning to play guitar

When I was in high school I learned how to play the guitar. I took a few lessons to get the basics. I read articles on guitar. I tried to be around other musicians as much as possible. I would even spend hours practicing the same chords over and over again.

I didn’t think much about the process. I simply had a goal (to play the guitar) and then did whatever I thought would help me achieve that goal.

I didn’t think about it as a process at the time. But I have since revisited the steps and found that the same pattern appears in other areas as well.

The actual steps might change but the process remains similar.

Setting a Goal

The first step is to decide what you want. Some people emphasize the importance of setting a goal. But for me, it has always been more of a vague desire than a concrete accomplishment to shoot for. In other words, I wanted to learn how to be a better guitar player, not be able to play the solo from a specific song.

It is important to have this sense of purpose. This helps, even if you don't articulate it with a written goal.

Developing and growing the foundation

The next step is to find a way to develop the muscle memory to do the basic movements. In sports we often say that we have to teach the fundamentals. In music we often talk about learning the scales and chords. In math we have to learn the basic equations. For guitar, we have to learn how to form our hands in the proper way to play the chords.

This is an element of the learning process that often gets overlooked. We have a desire for something and try to use effort to get us there as fast as possible.

So we rush through this phase. We learn just enough of the foundation but then want to jump to being an expert immediately.

When I was learning how to play guitar, I often found myself breaking apart songs to learn more. It might be to slow down and play at a slower pace. It could be to keep practicing a new chord structure or a new scale. Whatever it was, I couldn’t just use effort to suddenly become an expert. I had to do the difficult work necessary to have my natural muscle memory be able to keep up with my desires.

It is very important in the early stages to start slow. Learning something new requires attention. This often means that less is more. Keep doing the same basic patterns until you gain enough muscle memory to add more.

In Learn Guitar Faster With These Muscle Memory Exercises, the article states, “It can take a while to learn guitar, but incorporating muscle memory exercises can actually help you learn guitar faster.”

I have found that to be true. Once I focused on getting the basic hand movements down, I became more proficient as a guitar player.

The article goes on to say, “And because the muscle fibers receiving that signal to play a C major have played it many times before, forming the right shape on the right strings happens quicker.”

Muscle memory is important. It is the key to being able to complete the task without much direct thought.

Leveraging Your New Skill

Once you have the basics down, the next step to learning something new is to leverage your skills. This means that we use the foundation we have built to start to grow it.

We learn more and more complicated patterns and become more fluent in this new structure. We can then seek more opportunities to improve and grow. We leverage the basic skill we have developed to gain more from developing those skills.

This could be to start to shift to similar areas of improvement. After you start jogging every day you can start to add weight training. After you learn to cook healthy foods you can start to develop your own recipes.

After I learned how to play guitar, I bought a bass guitar. The musical aspects were similar, but the hand movements were a bit different. I had to learn how to play the larger strings and how to play along with the drummer in a different manner.

After I learned bass, I bought drums. I worked to develop the muscle memory to play each drum. I already had a basic understanding of the rhythmic aspects.

Once I learned a few more instruments, I started to learn about recording music and live sound. I took college courses at the local community college and started my own business.

Sharing Your Knowledge

The last part of the process of learning something new for me, is to share what I have learned to try and help others. For my interest in music and guitar, I taught several friends how to play an instrument. I also taught classes at the same college I studied at for students interested in a career as an audio engineer.

Sharing our knowledge isn’t only about giving back. We gain a better understanding of something when we have to explain it. We have to learn to attack the same problems but from new angles. It forces us to become concise in our explanations. It breaks down complex understanding into something simple, so a beginner can comprehend.

Improvement Process

I find that this pattern has shown up in my life many times. I used the same concepts to earn my MBA. I used them to lose about 45 pounds and quit smoking. I used them to pay off $10,000 in credit card debt and improve my career.

I refer to this method as the systems and habits approach to improvement. It is all about starting small and setting a goal or having a general sense of where I want to grow. Then I learn the basics and form the muscle memory and habits necessary.

Once I have the basics down, then I leverage what I have learned to improve. Then I share it with others to try and help those on a similar path.

Whether you want to learn to play the guitar or achieve any other goal, start to focus more on the process. Start with a desire for something. Then work the process until you reach your goal.