Setting and Meeting Your Guitar Goals in 2012

As with any other exercise or task that your undertake, it is important that guitar-play and learning how to play the guitar is treated as a task with achievable goals, that are not only realistic, but achieved as well.

Unfortunately, almost all guitar players, especially beginners and those learning to play the guitar ignore the fact that setting goals and meeting those goals is as important a part of it all as the actual practicing and playing. Setting goals and then achieving those goals allows you to remain focused, determined and increased motivation.

Hopefully, guitar learners would’ve been able to make some good strides this year. Nonetheless, here are tips to help give them the boost that might need to learn the guitar in the better manner:

1. Setting Long-Term Goals: Having goals is important because if you don’t determine what your goals are, you can’t reach them.

Long terms goals are important because it is these that ultimately enable you to keep on track, constantly remind you of what your ultimate goal and aim is, and allow you to set milestones which help you to see where you see yourself after specific periods of time.

For instance, what are your goals for the end of the year? For instance what skills would you want to have, when the new year kicks off? Would you like to be a part of a band by the end of the year? Where do you picture yourself at the same time next year?

Bear in mind that it is essential to set goals that are realistic and achievable. You will probably not be able to meet goals that are unachievable or impossible to begin with, and once you discover that you are unable to meet and achieve your goals, you might become demotivated and discouraged, and as a result, quit the guitar. To prevent this from happening, set goals and targets that you can actually achieve!

2. Setting Short-Term Goals: Short-term goals that are in coherence with your long-terms ones are equally important as long-term targets, if not more. It is all too easy to get distracted and when learning to play the guitar and that is where short-term goals, such as day-to-day goals or weekly goals come in.

Short-term goals allow you to take control of, and dictate your progress. You’ll be able to make some proper progress and real strides once you determine your immediate day-to-day goals and set a schedule around them. How many hours will you set aside daily to practice? What goals do you aim to achieve by the end of the week, and the end of the month?

Knowing what your next move will be, and drawing out the steps will work wonders for you!

3. Schedules: In order to get something done (and this goes for anything in life!), schedule it! Put it on a piece of paper, and make a commitment with yourself that you will do it on a daily basis. This applies to your guitar practice as well. Take it seriously and set a specific time in the day aside to practice. If you’re busy, set aside an hour or so in the evening. Set aside 2 hours on the weekends!

On the other hand, fail to set a schedule and instead choosing to ‘do it when you’re free,’ and you would almost certainly never get around to getting it done.

4. Plan and Organize: So you have your goals and you’ve developed a schedule as well. Now it is time to plan in advance what you’ll be doing each day, each week and each month. It could be anything – from a set of guitar exercises, or anything specific that you might want to work on. In order to make progress, you should know, in advance, what exactly it is that you’ll be working on, so that you don’t end up repeating the same thing over and over again, thus making little to none real progress.

5. Learning Sources: It is also important to choose your learning material – where would you be learning the guitar from? Are you planning on taking private lessons? Sticking with online sources (like online guitar lessons, Youtube, or Skype)? Do you intend on taking classes for the more advanced stuff? Or will you be using a combination of multiple sources? What is your course for tabs?

Choose your learning material and prepare it for your practice session – books, tabs videos, the whole lot. DVDs can very helpful as well, for instance the Learn and Master Guitar course comes with an excellent set of 20 guitar lesson DVDs, among other resources such as books and CDs.

6. Strengths and Weaknesses: How exactly do you plan on coping with any weak areas or tackle potential stumbling blocks? All guitar players, during the course of the learning process, discover certain weaknesses. It is recommended to focus on those weaknesses which are relevant to your goals. Such weaknesses can seriously hinder your progress towards achieving your goals, which is when you might need to consult a professional or ask for guidance from a teacher or an instructor.

As for strengths, I don’t particularly recommend playing something that you’re good at repeatedly. Granted, sticking to your strengths and working on them can never be a bad thing, however doing that repeatedly will never allow you to make any progress or headway. Finding a balance here is vital!