Well the weekend is upon us and not a moment too soon! From now on I will post a recap of the weeks events Friday evening, this will be your chance to look back at your practice notes and track your progress. Since this is only the second post and we have not discussed a practice schedule yet I will just give you the run down of what to expect from Fridays column.

First off we are going to chart our progress for the week by looking back at our practice notes. I am going to recommend that you keep a practice log with you during the week so that you can hand write the topics that you cover, the key, the tempo that you practiced in, and your weekly goals. We will enter all of this info into an excel spreadsheet every Friday. I will have some blank templates available in a couple of days so keep checking back.

The next item on the list is to prepare next weeks lesson plan. Having a pre-made schedule will help keep us focused and on track, it will also make it easier to track our progress. I recommend preparing your notes on Friday and starting your weekly practice routine on Saturday. For most people Saturday and Sunday are the best days to find time to really focus on your practicing because you don't have work, if you have a different schedule feel free to change your weekly plan to suit.

Lastly you will want to gather any tabs, theory, or technique lessons that you plan to use (I will provide some samples) for the week and sort them in your practice binder. I recommend preparing a three ring binder with dividers to help sort your lessons and keep them handy.

I will try to post a tutorial on preparing practice material tomorrow night, as a bonus I plan to do a tutorial on how to set alerts in an iPhone calender that will remind you to practice!

Now rest up, we have a big week of practice ahead of us!

Scott

Welcome to the Struggling Guitarist's blog!

The goal of this blog is to give a play by play account of what it is like to go from a complete beginner (where I am now) at guitar to a Virtuoso like Joe Satriani (Where I hope to get)! It is going to be a long process I know, but with a little luck, a lot of hard work, and support from the online community I think we can make it!

So without further ado lets get started with a little background information to get you up to speed. I have been attempting to teach myself guitar for a little over six years with varying degrees of success. I am not a guitar expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a great desire to become one. On this blog you will be able to follow along with me as I progress through my journey. I will provide links to information that I find useful as well as a weekly update on my practice schedule.

So how does this work? To start I will be providing a library of links to extremely useful information from some of the best teachers in the business. I will give you a play by play account of how I use my practice time so that hopefully you can follow along and progress in your playing right along with me. Finally I will open up the blog to teachers and experts that are willing to help guide us through the learning experience.

Guitar skills are not something we are born with, It takes time and a lot of hard work to achieve a high level of success on this instrument. But with the proper dedication and enthusiasm anything is possible.

Just remember the following points to keep on track:

Stay focused!

Stay motivated!

Practice does not make perfect. PERFECT Practice makes Perfect!!!

I look forward to the journey.

Scott