Maybe the most important lesson ever…

~ In this video I explain how we can use the "practice priority pyramid" to reach our music goals without burning out.

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🔗 LINKS & LESSONS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO:

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💬 LESSON DESCRIPTION:
Have you ever felt stuck or frustrated with guitar?
In this video, I provide a practice framework that’s designed to inspire and prevent burnout.
I hope it will motivate you to realize your long-term vision as a guitarist.
The framework is called the Practice Priority Pyramid.
I’ve included it in my beginner course, and many people have found it helpful.
If you're not a beginner, that's OK. You can apply the framework at any level of musicianship.
I hope you enjoy the lesson and find it benefical!
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Thanks! :)
- Jared

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🕛 VIDEO CONTENT OUTLINE (WITH TIMESTAMP LINKS):
0:00 - About this video
1:04 - The Practice Priority Pyramid
2:07 - Consistency
4:17 - Enjoyment
6:47 - Define Goals
7:34 - Define Path
9:30 - Deliberate Practice
11:24 - Recap
13:18 - All the scales to know (FREE PDF)

#guitarpractice #musicmotivation #musicpractice

[michaeldmytriw]

This channel is a sanctuary. YouTube can be a quicksand made of perfectionism and deficit thinking. You tie a rope to a tree and throw it out to us, so we can pull ourselves out. Thank you. And thank you for emphasizing that this framework is dynamic.

[RichardKraneis]

Jared, thanks for your pyramid.

I have already been good with Consistency and Enjoyment over almost 6 months of guitar study.

I already reached my initial Goals of playing guitar for my grandkids. They will always remember their Opa playing guitar at the dining room table while they did art projects with grandma. I'm expanding my goal to jamming with a friend. He's played guitar for 60 years while I have played for 6 months.

Path is a bit fuzzy. I consider this the technique area. I have learned 30+ chords and do simple strumming. I can read guitar tabulature but rhythm eludes. Time to get a metronome.

Be Challenged is my mantra. If something is too easy my practice time is ineffective. I seek minor challenges every day. I am currently wrestling with mastering the F chord but I'll get it done.

I practice/play easily 2 hours a day. That's a bonus of being retired.

Thanks for your thoughtful method and pyramid.

Best Wishes.

[iggykarpov]

Jared, your videos are always a breath of fresh air, never derivative! Your contribution to the thinking guitarists' progress and enjoyment (and I hope we are many!) is invaluable! I have purchased your courses and found fantastic value in them. Thank you so much for the great intellectual contribution to our enjoyment of the guitar mastering process!!!

[davidpatrick]

I wonder how I missed this one. This is great. Years ago when I did play regularly and so on ... I played better than I do today... but my understanding is still growing ... but applying it in the midst of other great things to do in living (not that I am great, great things I enjoy like watching egrets flying - simple stuff -) ... if I do not do it daily. I did get where I pick up and play a little daily, starting on pick up and record snippets ... trying daily ... and .. now back to unpause and watch the video. Have a great day and weekend... pat

[davidn.]

Thank you for identifying and assigning a progression of improvement. I'm 3 years into playing and find your explanation to be liberating. I'm at the Define Path at this moment and have many resources on which to draw from. Thank you for loving music so much to actually teach it with all its nuances.

[lovatfraser]

Thanks again Jared,
a colleague once told me to type out whole documents and don’t stop to correct spelling mistakes.
Complete the document, then go back and correct any mistakes.
So this is what I do with songs - I always complete the song, then work on the sore bits 😜

[donaldvella]

Great stuff Jared, very encouraging. I am somewhere at an intermediate level, classical guitar and I wouldn't mind taking one of your courses, but I know, just don't have the time to follow through as I wish I would. Still, your videos are really great and inspiring. God really blessed you with huge talent - thanks for sharing!

[mikefarquhar]

I think what I have to say here ties in directly to what you were saying about identinty, goals and enjoyment, the will to do something and tapping into what is already there- your talent

I think this way, because this is really all about what we are as people, anyone willing and able to, people who have a desire to become great at something, whether it is a guitarist or anything else, you don't have to be born "exceptional"
The truth is really you all are but aren't recognised until you show it but that takes the willingness to definitely not Bury a talent, or waste it or give in.
so I'll start with-
I believe the term "Talented" or 'Talent' can so easily be misinterpreted or mistaken as something else, definitely deeply misunderstood or not fully known in definition, in regards to the saying that some people are "born to do this" well.. that thinking can make that thing you want to do only possible for those who are considered under the misunderstood interpretation of what a talent really is, and that's the kind of short sighted thinking that traps most people in the box of the "un-exceptional" and then talent, it becomes something that is "exclusive" only to a few because its definition is based mostly on what the majority can clearly recognise as a great guitarists performance on stage or a great anything that gets the chance to be recognised.

That's true to a degree, that when you turn the tv on or listen to a legend guitarist on whatever, but it is also very much MORE TRUE that ANYONE who has a GENUINE DESIRE to become SOMETHING to be great at whatever it is FIRST! BEFORE trying to be as good as or better but aren't there yet, they are led to believe they "jst dont have what it takes" in essence that statement is just wrong and completely false especially when anyone has a genuine desire in their heart to be something.
This shunning is especially apparent in the music industry and.. well.. they're just not given much of a chance, but that's Just in that case?... no! it is a bar set that many people use to judge others' abilities - that is very much truth.
So, there is a difference, between truth and not so true-
Truth- anyone with a desire in their heart to do something wether it was a desire woken up from inspiration or simply something you've always known you have wanted to do...
...This is the definition of a talent so..
Talent = a genuine desire or drive to do something to become someone and it was always there waiting to be fanned into flame.

All of the pyramid steps or areas you have kindly shown us all here, I can see that if put into practice this can be used to affirm anyone's God given talent because this pyramid is based on responsibility, and it is simply wrong to Bury a talent, it can be considered one of the worst things to do to Bury a talent- I mean how else would we think we'd feel when later on in lifewhen we know it's too late like death bed thinking, when we had the chance to take responsibility to grow a talent into something but just buried it... deep regret, I'm sure. In a way that makes responsibility the meaning of life!

Thanks for your time and effort and live you put jnto making this video it's very useful and makes a lot of sense. Best of all it takes something like everything Guitar and condenses what could be complicated without direction into something simple with direction.

[crashdaddy]

My VA case manager has a similar guide. He says, "Set your goal, make a path to that goal, follow the path, " and it's been working out great so far with guitar, too!

TL;DR: This random stranger endorses your method. 🎸🤘

[jeffro.]

I don't know, I see improvements weekly. Sometimes daily, but the next day, I might not play as well as the day before.
But overall, I see improvements in my playing, my technique, etc pretty much weekly.
Over the course of a week, I practice new things, keep up my abilities to play old things, and learn new techniques. Every practice session doesn't include all those things, or I'd have to practice for hours each time. Instead, I play what's inspiring me at that moment. It might last for a few minutes to over an hour, depending on how much time I have, but I try to get at least one good session in every day.
Good job, Jared!

[davidlind]

Thanks Jared, this is very helpful. I find myself in the guitar wilderness a lot. Mostly in the middle of guitar Wyoming.

[kimlodrodawa]

For me, fun and joy comes first. If that is not present, just forget about the rest. Goals I totally leave out and reason for that is; setting goals leads to nothing but disappointments and if reaching a set goal, the joy and surprise will be vague. Exploring and just using the ear, is for me the key, to have fun and joy and thus, consistency and rapid progress followed. I started out the traditional way and quickly found it extremely boring, non-aspiring, lack of creative mindset from most teachers. Was nothing but torture of fingers and mind. Things are different from person to person and should stay that way. That's how music was composed in old days. As a famous drummer from old school said; "It is not about beat per minute, but FEEL per minute"!

[jimwing.]

I can testify that your pyramid is effective. I have a question about how to move from the deliberate practice stage to making good music. I can almost master a tune - technique and memory are 100% - but when I play with that kind of deliberate concentration, the output sounds like a student playing the right notes, but not musical. If I try to make it truly musical, I have to tap into another aspect of mental progress and it is fantastic - until I forget what comes next. Retreating back to deliberate practice, I regain my memory, but lose the mojo. Do you have any thoughts on getting it all together?

[EoinStronge]

Hi Jared, love your videos. Have a question - so for example I set my goal as being able to improvise. I define my path, like analysis of progressions to work out scale options, work on scales in different positions, moving through positions, maybe isolate some changes with a looper, a little ear training to try play what pops into my head... But then I often find that technique lets me down, like I can't play fast enough for what I want, or I fluff a bit I want to sweep, or my right hand lets me down string skipping or with synchronisation etc. so I think ok, I need to go work on technique and it derails me from the path. Feels like a better use of my time to get the techniques right. How do you fit this all together?

[iggykarpov]

Hey, Jared. Do you have a degree in positive psychology? If you don’t, you could have fooled me. 😊