Practice Avoidance Syndrome: Get Back to the Guitar Shed
So, do you have practice avoidance syndrome?
I recently read a post by Tomo Fujita on twitter where he asked about guitarists’ practice environment.
集中力について：
練習される時の環境はいかがでしょうか？
ギター、アンプ、チューナー、メトロノーム？
いつも楽器がすぐに使える状態になっている？
練習する環境に気が散るような物はない？
整理整頓もフォーカスする前に大切なことです
身の回りの整理から効果的な練習が生まれます
— Tomo Fujita (@TomoJustFunky) January 17, 2021
For those of you who don’t read Japanese he asked about concentration and the environment in which you practice. What guitar, amp, and metronome do you use? Also, what things are distracting in your practice environment.
I definitely allow things to distract me while I practice.
The main distractions for me are the TV, computer, and phone. I tend to put a video on in the background while playing. I’ll also check my phone and computer periodically.
I’ve been turning these things off lately.
In a previous post I talk about getting an analog metronome to remove distractions. I haven’t ordered one yet but plan to get one like this:
Turning off all these things help me to concentrate better. I’m also finding I enjoy my practice a lot more without so many distractions.
Practice Avoidance Syndrome
So, his questions about being distracted during practice led me to thinking about what is distracting me from practice.
What is this avoidance I am experiencing? Do others experience it too? What are some common things guitar players use to avoid practice.
What is it?
Well a good book I’ve read on the subject is called “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield.
Resistance is what Pressfield names what I am calling Practice Avoidance Syndrome.
To summarize how Pressfield defines resistance it is anything that keeps you from picking up your creative hat and doing your work. In our case that would be any excuse we use to not pick up the guitar and practice.
Examples of Practice Avoidance
Guitar Acquisition Syndrome is a close cousin of Practice Avoidance Syndrome.
I’ve noticed how much time I spend shopping for another guitar I don’t need far outweighs how much time I devote to practicing or playing guitar.
It’s ok to like collecting guitars. But I’ve spent many hours in a day browsing guitar listings where I’ve only spent 30 minutes practicing.
Another personal example is incessant “checking” behaviors. I spend a lot of time checking twitter, stats pages, and other apps to “see what’s new.”
Checking these things is ok. However, making an afternoon of it keeps me from picking up the guitar.
My main practice avoidance technique is, by far, my constant negative thoughts about how I am not a good enough guitarist.
It would seem this thought would produce the opposite effect of making me see the need to practice. However it makes me feel down and think “What’s the use. I’m never going to be any good anyway. Why bother?”
Unfortunately it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don’t feel like I’ll ever be any good so I don’t practice. I don’t practice so I don’t get any better. Then I can tell myself “See, I’m not any good at guitar.”
When you see it like that it’s obvious avoiding practicing is the problem. How can I find out if I’m “any good,” or not, if I don’t put in the time?
How To Overcome “Resistance”
So how do we move past resistance and get back to practicing our guitars?
Here are a few ideas.
First don’t take practicing and guitar so seriously. Practicing can be something that is actually enjoyed vs being a dreaded chore.
Think about why you chose to play guitar in the first place. Do you remember who or what song inspired you to play? Recall the excitement you felt when thinking about being able to do what you heard and saw.
Be happy with every small win.
Remember things don’t usually happen in a day. Keeping upbeat about practice can be challenging when results aren’t coming in as fast as desired. That’s why it’s important to enjoy each step along the way.
If we learn to enjoy each step we’ll enjoy the entire journey.
Just get started.
The biggest hurdle is usually the first. Getting moving is always the first hurdle to overcome. I think somewhere I read that getting out of bed is winning the first battle of the day (maybe that was in a movie).
The same is true for guitar. Once you take that first step of turning off all distractions and picking up the guitar you are 99% of the way there.
Take small bites.
Overwhelm is another thing that keeps guitarists from practicing. The idea is that there is too much to learn. Sometimes the problem is not knowing where to start.
The solution is to start small. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Know that if you are going to eat the elephant it will take many meals to do so.
Did you know a many ate an entire airplane? That’s persistence for you. Heavy doses of tenacity!
I’ll leave you with four more tips from Tomo Fujita’s famous guitar picks:
Don’t worry, Don’t compare, Don’t expect too fast, and Be kind to yourself!
View this post on Instagram
So head to the practice room with a smile on your face and have some fun!
Till next time… Stay weird!