Are there ways on how to track guitar progress? Is it really that important? Will guitar players benefit from that? There are many questions involving progress in guitar playing, and we are here to try and answer some of those questions.
Learning to play the guitar can be easy or hard, depending on the person. Usually, a novice guitar player will take one to two months to learn how to strum properly, play chords, and will start to experiment in playing basic plucking. Some guitar players also start to learn how to play along with a song in this period.
After three to six months, a guitar player starts to have a deeper knowledge of music theory and is able to play more advanced strum patterns and more complex plucking. By 12 to 18 months, a guitar player with constant practice can already play complex chords and do some scale runs.
The more you give time to study how to play the guitar, the higher the possibility that you will be better faster than expected. Everyone does not have the same learning curve when it comes to studying how to play the guitar; some progress slowly, while others are already playing very complex songs for just a very short time of training.
This is one of the reasons why those who are planning to try the guitar or even still in their early stages must learn how to track guitar progress so that they can assess themselves if all the time they have used in practicing the guitar made them a better guitar player.
Why Should I Track My Guitar Progress?
There are many great reasons why you should track your progress on playing the guitar.
The first is that you can monitor whether you have achieved your mini-goals in playing the guitar by tracking your progress. The idea for this is that if you fail to monitor your progress in playing the guitar, you will never know if your practice routines are having an effect on you, and you will also never know if you have reached your goals in your journey as a guitar player.
If you are tracking your progress in guitar playing, you can also assess how you are doing, and you can be able to adjust your practice methods and spend more time practicing on specific skills you think you still need to improve.
The second reason is that tracking your guitar playing progress can help you be motivated to be a better guitar player. When you assess that you still have not developed your strumming skills, then you can get motivated to put more time into practicing your strumming skills. When you also realize that you have already developed your plucking skills with just a short time of practice, then you can still get motivated to be better in this facet of your guitar playing.
When you try to play along with any songs and you realize that you can already play the notes perfectly, this will get you to be more motivated to be a better guitar player, and maybe this can push you to audition for a band or even create your own band. In the end, playing in a band can really develop your overall skills in playing the guitar.
The third reason is that when you track your progress in playing the guitar, you can determine your strengths and weaknesses. Being able to determine what are your strengths and weaknesses as a guitar player will help you greatly in your journey as a guitar player.
Maybe you are already great at strumming patterns but you can’t play any lead guitar licks, then you can change your practice routine and spend more time learning lead guitar licks, and these will make you a better overall guitar player.
Suppose you are also improving on guitar solos, but you still have difficulty in playing barre chords. In that case, you can adjust your practice schedule and spend more time practicing barre chords, as these decisions will help you make a versatile guitar player.
In the end, knowing your strengths and weaknesses as a guitar player will help you to become a better one, and it will also help you to be a versatile guitar player if you work on your weaknesses.
The fourth reason is that tracking your guitar playing progress will give you a better sense of your potential and will give you the motivation and confidence to strive harder in reaching your goals as a guitar player.
Knowing what you can already do and knowing what you can still improve will make you a better guitar player in the long run. Suppose you are aspiring to be the next guitar legend like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and many more. In that case, it is really important that you are tracking your self’s guitar playing progress, as it will allow you to have more perspective on what are the things you are going to improve to be the best guitar player you can be.
How Can I Track My Progress In Playing The Guitar
There are many ways to track guitar progress, but one of the best ways that I recommend is to record yourself while playing along with a song. You will need an audio interface and a digital audio workstation to maximize the effectiveness of this method.
You make a playlist of songs, possibly four songs that you will play along with. It must be composed of one slow tempo song, a fast tempo song that still uses basic chords, a faster tempo song that requires you to play barre chords, and a song that has guitar plucking or lead solos.
With each song, you also record yourself playing along with the song using your audio interface and digital audio workstation. After recording, you listen and count your mistakes on all the guitar parts you recorded. In this way, you will be able to assess why you made a mistake and what you should do to avoid making that mistake again.
With consistent practice and perseverance, there will come a time when playing along with any song can already be an easy task for you, and these results will show that you have already greatly improved.
This method should be executed at least once a week.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Not Tracking Your Guitar Progress
There will really be many disadvantages in not tracking one’s progress in guitar playing, as the guitar player will not be able to assess their level of playing and their strengths and weaknesses.
The first disadvantage is that there is a huge possibility that you will be making a habit of sloppy mistakes. You will be prone to this habit when you do not regularly assess yourself on your guitar playing, as you will be used to playing the wrong technique because you are not correcting yourself.
The second disadvantage is that you will not know what facet of your guitar playing skills you will focus on improving because you will not know what your strengths and weaknesses are without tracking your guitar progress.
Overall, a guitar player must know how to track guitar progress, as it will help them in the future. Always remember that playing the guitar is also like life; every day is a learning process, and it will never stop. That is why regular assessment of yourself is a must to guide you on things that you still need to improve.
