Topic: One Short Lesson

[big joe weems]

To those of you who have played for some time:
As you reflect over your years playing/practicing, what is the one big (but short) piece of advice or lesson you would pass along to a new player (in one sentence)?

[btasoundsradio]

Do not force anything, let it happen naturally because sometimes we get stuck so don't let it ruin your love of music or playing.

[eric]

Not an expert player here, but one thing it took me a long time to figure out was playing a new piece as slowly as it takes to do it accurately speeds up learning.  Otherwise you can end up practicing mistakes.

[Norfolk Slim]

Listen to lots and lots and lots of the stuff you want to sound like. 

Lots.

[Johnm]

As a corollary to Norfolk Slim's advice, when listening to your own playing, listen with your ears, not your hands.  Tendency when judging one's own playing is to judge it by how it feels, rather than how it sounds, the assumption being, if it feels good, it must sound good.  Listen to your own playing the way you would listen to someone else's playing, with your ears.

[Old Man Ned]

To follow up on Norfolk Slim and John's posts. Listen, listen and then listen some more. For listening to yourself I find it useful to record my playing and listen back to it. I'm really critical of my own playing so if I leave it a couple of days before listening back I'm sometimes pleasantly surprised.

All the best,
Ned

[Stuart]

Turn weakness into strength. Identify and isolate the areas that are giving you the most trouble and then focus on working on them until they become your strong suit.

[banjochris]

... if I leave it a couple of days before listening back I'm sometimes pleasantly surprised.

I used to try to do that when I wrote papers in college. Finish, let sit a couple days, then edit/proofread. That distance helps! Of course, sometimes leaving things till the last minute didn't make that possible!
Chris

[harriet]

Record and listen to recordings of yourself, you'll be changing the perspective to that of a listener facing the guitar and be able to hear things you might not be aware of happening with your playing from sitting and playing with the soundhole and fretboard facing out.

[waxwing]

For those who are inclined to perform:

You can only practice performing in front of a room full of strangers by performing in front of a room full of strangers. And it will change the way you play every song.

A corollary to that would be to never, ever play for the guitar geeks or blues geeks you perceive to be in the audience (usually less than 5%). Play for the people to whom you can reveal the wonder you feel for the music and the joy you feel playing it (the other 95%). And if you are not feeling joy playing the music for people, refer back to the lesson above.

I also agree with Stuart, your weakest link will pretty much always be your weakest link, so strengthen it whenever you can.

Wax