How To Play Guitar At Your Best In Real-Life Scenarios

What is the best way to see if you can play something on guitar really well? Answer: your capability for playing perfectly when it’s all on the line– I refer to this as “real life guitar playing”.

Real-life guitar playing refers to the following:

*Playing guitar on stage or in front of others without messing up.

*Playing guitar at your very best even you're playing is off

To practice for real-life musical scenarios, you’ll have to:

1. Train yourself in order to play at your very best in any situation. This free online resource makes your guitar playing consistent and reliable.

2. Use a guitar practice circuit to practice for playing in live scenarios. A practice circuit can be made for your particular needs, goals and skill level. Guitar practice circuit training is also fun and efficient. This column discusses how a guitar practice circuit helps your guitar playing.

The guitar practice circuit below gets you read to perform in any situation. Use a metronome to keep pace. Play everything at the original tempo unless given instruction to do otherwise.

Step 1: Play a specific practice item while standing for six total repetitions.
Step 2: Now play that same practice item while moving your hands as you play. For example, tilt your guitar up or make gestures with your hands after playing a note. Do this for nine repetitions, but only while playing the item from step one.

Note: If you aren’t sure what kind of movements to make, watch videos of your favorite guitar players.

Once you’ve done this, quickly do this:

Step 3: Begin walking around the room while playing it. Repeat this 8 times in a row.

Once you’ve done this, quickly do this:

Step 4: Now close your eyes and play the item seven times. Although mistakes are inevitable, try to play as perfectly as possible. Even if you make a mistake, keep playing.

Once you’ve done this, quickly do this:

Step 5: Play the practice item around 10 beats per minute faster than you would usually play at. Repeat four times.

Once you’ve done this, quickly do this:

Step 6: Intentionally make a mistake while you are playing. You read that right: think of a particular mistake and insert it into whatever you are playing on purpose. Repeat the practice item four times in this manner.

(Unsure about what the top speed of consistent and reliable playing is? Get this free guitar speed building report.)

Repeat this complete practice circuit for 25 minutes and then stop.

How This Guitar Practice Circuit Gets You Prepared For Real-Life Musical Scenarios:

Practicing Guitar With Eyes Shut:

Most guitarists watch their hands too much while playing. On stage, you won’t always be able to see what you're playing. Sometimes it will be too dark, other times there may be light in your eyes. Practicing guitar with your eyes shut helps you prepare for this.

Practicing Guitar At A Higher Rate Of Beats Per Minute:

Playing something at a faster tempo than normal makes it easier to play reliably when playing at the original tempo.

Practicing Guitar By Purposefully Inserting Mistakes:

You will always make at least some mistakes while playing live. By training yourself to keep playing as you make a mistake, you remove any potential nervousness or embarrassment that might happen while playing live.

Practicing Guitar As You Stand:

Performing live almost always requires standing. It’s harder to stand and play guitar than it is to sit and do so. The guitar feels less stable as you stand. This makes it more difficult to play.

Practicing guitar standing up makes it easier to perform well.

Practicing Guitar With Movement:

The best performances always involve movement and expression using one’s body. Merely playing the right notes is just not enough to play a great live show. You express yourself more clearly by moving.

Practicing Guitar As You Walk:

Walking around while performing challenges you to play accurately and reliably. This makes you a better performer on stage.

Question: “Tom Hess, what are some of the mistakes you can put in your playing?”

Answer: Think of the kinds of mistakes that would naturally occur as you play. For instance, string noises, notes being played at the same time when they shouldn’t be, playing everything out of sync, bad timing and using out of tune bends.

Additional Ways To Practice Guitar And Prepare For Real-Life Scenarios

Idea #1: Stand adjacent to the amp and turn the volume up louder than usual. It feels much more different to play while standing next to a loud amp. You need to play well even when the sound from your guitar is blaring in your face.

Idea #2: Stand far away from the amp. For instance, stand in the hall while the door is closed in the room containing your amp. This adds a different dynamic to how it feels while playing guitar (when you can barely hear what you’re playing). You need to be able to play well in this situation.

Idea #3: Play to a backing track and have the backing chords/parts turned up too high. This happens commonly during live shows and you have to be able to adjust.

When you have mastered the ability to play in these musical situations, you feel more confident as a musician. This leads to better live performances.

Warning: this circuit should not be a replacement for other practicing strategies. Combine it together with your current guitar practice routine several times each week for the next two months. Acclimate yourself to this circuit and enjoy the results you get from it. Keep using this circuit to improve your live playing.

This free online resource makes your guitar playing very consistent and reliable.