Yesterday evening I had an epiphany while mowing my grass. Yeah – this time of year it takes pretty much twice a week to keep things under control. Fortunately, I enjoy cutting my grass, when I have time for it that is.
Back to that epiphany.
If you want your yard to look good, you have to maintain it, right? That means cutting the grass twice a week in my case.
Well, guitar is like that too.
If you want to build up any kind of muscle memory, you’ve just GOT to be maintaining what you’ve accomplished. And guess what? Fingers need more than twice a week 🙂
Nothing new there though, everyone already knows you need to practice if you want to improve. The interesting thing though, is that learning guitar theory is not like that.
It breaks the rules.
That’s kind of ironic, considering it is mostly rules you’re learning. It’s like planting your lawn with some weird Japanese grass that only ever grows short so you never have to cut it. There’s work involved initially, but the upkeep is minimal.
Why’s that?
Because guitar theory empowers how you THINK about the guitar, not your actual fingers. So once you’ve taken the time to study and understand the theory, and learn how to apply it to your guitar, it’s yours.
It’s like learning the location of a new store in town. Once you’ve been there once or twice, you remember, and there’s no need to “practice” by going back each week. That would be silly, wouldn’t it?
Add some guitar theory to your skill set, and you’ll gain a lasting improvement to your playing…