Guitar Lessons in Boulder & Longmont, CO with Joseph Brenna

updated 7/31/2007

Show information is subject to change. Always check with the venue.

So you’re new to guitar, or perhaps you’ve been playing awhile and want to improve your technique, or learn applied music theory to break out of your current confines, or become a more expressive soloist or a better rhythm guitarist. One of the most important steps you can take is to find others to play with, and have at least one weekly jam session. Without exception I’ve found that my students who are playing with others in addition to practicing at home progress at 2 or 3 times the rate of those who mainly practice alone.

There are many reasons for this. One is that practicing alone can often mean practicing out of context. Live music is dyamic and fluid, it’s a river running, sometimes quiet and serene, sometimes racing in rapids over falls, through canyons, around hairpin turns. The practice that you do at home is to prepare you to jump in and ride this stream. It’s careful and controlled - you put on the metronome and practice finding the groove as a rhythm guitarist; you practice scales and then use them to make melodies over a loop (see my post on using loops); you learn to mimic a lead or rhythm part from one of your favorite songs and practice it along with an mp3. You practice a tricky passage slowly and carefully to produce the best possible tone and timing. These are all skillful ways to develop your abilities, to sharpen the tools you bring to playing.

But when you play with others, something else happens. First of all, the predictability of your carefully structured practice vanishes. Your partner starts a song at a faster tempo than you are used to playing. Or she chooses a key to play in that is unfamiliar to you. Or you find that she’s not going to stop and start over when you falter, she keeps playing and you have to somehow pull it together, find your place, and jump back in. These are valuable experiences that raise the bar on you and prod you to react more quickly, think on your feet (or fingers!), hold your poise.

It’s the energy of interaction that is missing from solo practice. A metronome can’t hear what you’re playing and give you clues to deepen your groove, but your playing partner can. His solo is a response to the groove you throw down, and in turn you groove in response to his solo. You’re dancing with a partner rather than alone, and you never know exactly just how he is going to move next, so your senses are opened and you respond spontaneously. Your carefully memorized licks may not work in this dance, but something new emerges, something that comes from the facility you’ve acquired in practice together with the energy of this moment.

So your practice at home is honing your skills, putting tools in your toolbox. Then when you play with others, you’ll be surprised. At first you won’t even be able to use these tools. You feel awkward and self-conscious. But you try anyway, and soon you are beginning to get the hang of it. And then you are surprised by the music you are making. This experience gives you both positive feedback, and negative feedback, each of which guides you and feeds your desire to practice more. When things go right in your jam session, it feels so good you can’t wait to go home and practice and learn more. And when things go wrong, you discover your limits, and now you know what you need to work on in the practice room in order to go beyond them.

Playing with others provides an essential balance to practicing alone, is a great motivator, and after all, it’s the reason you wanted to learn to play music in the first place, isn’t it? So don’t wait - talk to your friends, your co-workers, scan the ads on Craigslist or place one yourself, put a sign on a community bulletin board, or go to a jam session at a club. However you do it, find someone to play with. If you’ve learned a few chords and can hold a rhythm, you are ready, so get out there and jam!