Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Hello everyone,

I'm just curious what's everyone's mentality before you begin practicing your guitar. Right now I'm trying to learn triads which has been going well. However, I'm the type of person to get distracted and not make sure I'm following the fundamentals of proper guitar playing. This is what I am trying to incorporate into my "pre-practice checklist" before I begin

- Tune your guitar
- Make sure amp has little to no effects
- Hold the guitar sitting upright with strap on
- Hold pick properly, remembering to keep your pick light while playing
- Palm muting strings that aren't being played as possible.
- Left hand muting strings when possible.

What suggestions might you add to this list? What else do you do personally that helps?

Hey David,
That looks amazing! Can't add much.

Maybe:
-Have a metronome.
-Have a little notebook.
- Have a GW Shirt on :-)

Kurt

Great thread!

I would add:

- Silence phones/computers/other distracting electronics
- Attend to any other humans and animals so that they're good while you're busy
- Aim to practice at around the same time of day every day
- Develop an abbreviated version of your daily practice routine that you can do if you are short of time that day
- Place your practice session in the right place in your daily schedule; mine is after coffee and working out (on workout days) and before everything else

Regarding "Make sure amp has little to no effects"; I follow Tomo's settings for tone (more treble and a little louder) and I never use any effects at all during practice.

Best wishes,

- R

Thanks for a very important thread, David!

As Ralph mentioned, Tomo writes in his book about shutting out distractions like the internet, TV, and smartphones.
This is very helpful advice for me.

Let's keep going!

Hey David - everybody has great input here. I like the notebook advice. I was using a notebook before the July challenge, but I was using it to make notes during / after practice. I can't remember who suggested it during the challenge, but I started writing in my notebook BEFORE practice. This helped me stay on track. For long periods, most of my practice can stay the same - so I don't need to write those things every day - just when they change. But I leave room for focus topics, and I think about those and write them down before I start.

Great reminders, I need to sit up!
I've started (best intentions) to read my last notes and then decide what I would like to improve before playing. I also try to video the first attempt which adds a bit of stress which I'm hoping will help me play in front of people. Another thing I'm trying out is not to stay on one topic for long (5mins) and rotate around the things I'm practicing, just helps me concentrate better.
Main thing is to still enjoy practicing :)

Adding to everything everyone has mentioned…
I take a few breaths before I practice and make sure my shoulders are relaxed.
I also make sure I am holding my pick lightly
Then start moving my body to feel the rhythm.