A lot of learning on the guitar is done automatically without your awareness. Just start playing with a more experienced guitarist and you will find you start picking up skills and playing nuances that you didn’t have before. When you are learning with your teacher you may find you not only learning the content of the lesson but also start playing and approaching things in the same way that they do.

This is very useful because you may not be able to remember all the information given to you but through osmosis you will find that your fingers will naturally start to play the tune, mastering the skill without you having to think about it.

This can be classed as unconscious learning and in many cases is pretty unlimited in the amount of knowledge, skills and experience it will allow you to pick up. Although we need to consciously learn material from teachers, books and videos there are ways we can use this automatic learning part of ourselves when using these educational resources. This will both boost your progress and enjoyment.

Here are a few tips to enhance this learning skill:

Think less – when learning something new, when you feel you are getting it, stop thinking about how you are going to play the song or passage, relax, and just let your fingers do the work, you’ll be amazed as you’ll find that you have already have got it.

Trust your ability - As a teacher the common question I get from students is, ‘is this right’ or ‘have I got it’. Invariably as a student you probably know the answer. Even if you have just started, trust your instincts and ask yourself the question, does it sound or feel right. If no, then work with your teacher to help assess where you need to put it right. This level of self appraisal will help you develop your musical ear as well as progress your playing. This is particularly useful when developing tone.

Jam – At any opportunity jam and rehearse you newly acquired skills. Your teacher may have taught you a new set of chords or scales, so use these in every playing context possible, jam with friends, with more experienced musicians, backing tracks etc. Play these in any way possible that you get enjoyment. Be completely creative. You will reinforce these skills and also automatically acquire new ones as you can see what musical context you can use them in.

Surround yourself with others music – Listen to your favourite guitarists as much as possible, or better still see them live. You may not be able to play like them a the moment, but you will start automatically picking up the way they approach their playing and music as you continue learning. It maybe the way they structure there songs, a particular technique, a tone or feeling or set of chord voicings’. After a while you may find yourself incorporating these into your own playing whilst varying it to your own style.

Mix all these activities into your learning along with the more structured lessons and practice and enjoy the music that you make.

By Alex Brett