There’s something that happens in my guitar lessons that drives me a little crazy.
I’ll be working with a student who’s struggling to play something.
“Slow down,” I’ll tell them.
So they play it again. At exactly the same speed.
“No, I mean REALLY slow down.”
They try again.
Slightly slower.
This happens so often that I’ve started telling my students that it’s the one thing practically EVERYONE gets wrong.
When I say slow down, I don’t mean slightly slower.
I mean SLOW-MOTION slow.
Ridiculously slow.
So slow that you have time to think about every single movement you’re making.
Because here’s the thing.
If you can’t play something correctly at a ridiculously slow tempo, what makes you think playing it faster is going to help? It won’t.
You’ll just get better at making the same mistakes.
And here’s something else I’ve noticed – even really good guitar players struggle with this.
In fact, some of them are the worst offenders.
They’re so used to playing fast that they’ve forgotten how to slow down and actually pay attention to what they’re doing.
So here’s my challenge for you today. Take something you’re struggling to play. Slow it down until it feels almost absurd. Then work on playing it perfectly at that tempo.
You might be surprised by what you discover.
Keep reading: The three-in-a-row rule and practicing in small chunks.
Lots more tips like this one in my book 100 Ways to Improve Your Guitar Playing.
Nicholas