How to practice guitar - Sam Russel book

LewisJ · September 2023

Has anyone read / tried Sam Russel’s book, how to practice guitar? The marketing blurb is interesting suggesting things we do as players that hold back progression etc and importantly ways to fix them … but that’s marketing maybe? Below is from the website;

This book is based on over a decade of experience, teaching 100s of students, as-well as lessons I have personally learned on my journey from being the worst guitar player at school, to composing heavy metal albums, classical albums, instrumental rock and soundtrack music.

You will learn how to:

Plan practice time
Specific ways to handle problems when practising
The purpose of guitar practice and how this affects how we should practice
Psychological tricks to help you practice more effectively
How to learn more effectively
How to improve your guitar tone
What creativity is
How to develop your creativity
How to become a prolific composer / songwriter
Specific examples of being creative with songwriting and melody writing

The Facebook advert has some 250+ positive comments but again this isn’t always the best indicator of quality.

Interested in anyone’s thoughts and if there’s no experience I’ll give it a go and report back!

https://www.samrussell.co.uk/products/how-to-practice-guitar-and-train-your-creativity#:~:text=This%20211%20page%20book%20contains,not%20a%20%22creative%20person%22.

Gilly · September 2023

I haven’t read the book but I believe he is a Tom Hess acolyte? That would be enough to put me off.

LewisJ · September 2023

Ooooh sounds like I need to do some digging!

sev112 · September 2023

For most, playing guitar is meant to be fun, not something that isnt

LewisJ · September 2023

That isn’t what I asked. I asked if anyone had experience of the book before I shell out £15.

It can be not fun if you’re stuck in a rut with your playing so looking for educational resources to help improve your approach to playing makes sense for some.

Barney · September 2023

I think I would be looking to check out his playing and see iff it's worked for him ...iff not I wouldn't bother

Cranky · September 2023

LewisJ said:

That isn’t what I asked. I asked if anyone had experience of the book before I shell out £15.

It can be not fun if you’re stuck in a rut with your playing so looking for educational resources to help improve your approach to playing makes sense for some.

Maybe just spend the measly £15 and then you can be one of those who lets us know how it works.

Something tells me it’s just another book that, as usual, will be only what the reader can make of it.

Rocker · September 2023

No harm in spending £15 on a book so what is holding you back? IMHO some activities such as guitar playing and golf, to name but two, can be played on your own but the real fun part is when you play with someone else.

If you do buy the book, please give your opinion on it to us here.

Kilgore · September 2023

It's got the whiff of a dubious self improvement book. "TEN SECRET STEPS TO IMPROVING YOUR..." etc, etc.

£15 though, no harm in trying.

allen · September 2023

I feel like I could answer (or at least suggest something) about every item on that list by doing some independent research.

e.g. it is well known in psychological research how people achieve greatness in sport etc. when practicing.

But I concur with a previous poster who mentioned fun. In other words, do you really know why you are playing the guitar? and if you do, do that. (sorry, for yoda-like comment).

joeW · September 2023

Noah Kageyama has some psychological / practise / performance info on his website the bulletproof musician. I’d check this out as it is free and very well researched.

Roland · September 2023

There’s a little more information on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Practice-Guitar-Train-Your-Creativity/dp/0993106846

LewisJ · September 2023

joeW said:

Noah Kageyama has some psychological / practise / performance info on his website the bulletproof musician. I’d check this out as it is free and very well researched.

Thanks joeW, for now the hundreds of articles on that site will keep me busy and seems to be the sort of reading I was looking for and even cheaper than £15, free!

Self help books make you introspective which can lead to improvement, I enjoy progressing my playing so naturally want to understand ways to improve my progression… Learnt this lesson recently through running so why not apply it to music!

As for the Ghandi-Esq advice, thanks chaps.

guitarjack66 · September 2023

Confucius say ' To find the path of enlightment,first you must find your lightbulb.'
I'm not sure if he was telling you to put the 15 quid towards your Leccy bill or not though!

Dominic · September 2023

" Become a Guitar Multi-Millionaire in 5 days .......ask me how "

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How to practice guitar - Sam Russel book

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