Decided to buy the Jamorama guitar course? Good choice! This is a great course which will guide you towards becoming a proficient rhythm guitarist quickly, and give you the foundation techniques you need to develop your lead guitar skills in the future. However, many people who start to learn to play guitar end up falling by the wayside after a few weeks or months. This is less likely to happen when you learn with a quality course like Jamorama, but it’s still vital to go about things with the right attitude, and to keep your enthusiasm alive when the initial novelty of learning to play has worn off. Here are some tips for getting the most out the Jamorama guitar lessons, and avoiding becoming another statistic.
Set things up right
First of all, make sure that you have a designated practice area, and that it’s set up in a convenient way. If you have to spend 10 minutes every day arranging ’stuff’ before you can start to play, chances are you won’t keep doing it for very long. Since Jamorama is a downloadable course, it helps to have a computer in your practice area so you can conveniently access the audio, video and text (I use a spare laptop for this purpose). If you don’t leave your computer on all the time, keep it in stand-by or hibernation mode between sessions, so you can get started quickly each day without having to boot up from scratch. Make sure the screen is positioned such that you can easily see it from where you sit to play, and that the keyboard and mouse are within easy reach so you can start and stop the video and audio without having to get up.
Print out the text
You might also want to print out the course text, or at least just print out the tabs for the jam tracks. I did this, because the longer tracks are spread over more than one page, and it’s difficult or impossible to read them both at once on the screen. Printing the text out means you can also make use of the course when you’re away from your computer. If you do this, get a music stand
[eBay link], which will allow you to open the pages flat once they’re on the stand.
Use the bonuses
Remember to make full use of the Jamorama bonuses – they’re not referenced much within the main text, so it’s up to you to incorporate them into your practice schedule. Practising with a metronome is essential if you want to play in time, and the Jamorama metronome provides an easy way to do this. Plus you’ll want to develop your ear skills with GuitEarIt!, and if you don’t already read music, Jayde Musica is a fun game that will help you to learn. And don’t forget to use the tuner (or one of your own) to tune up at the start of each session (you’ll sound terrible when playing along with the jam tracks if you don’t!)
Keep to a practice schedule
If there is one key habit that sets aside successful guitarists from the wannabes, it’s that the former group practice consistently, every day. And they don’t just pick up the guitar when they ‘feel like it’ – but they plan their practice schedules in advance, and stick to that plan, even if they’re not in the mood on any give day. If you’re serious about learning to play well, you must do this – you don’t need to practice for hours every day, but consistent practice, day in day out, is vital. So choose a time that works well for you, and make a commitment to show up and put in the necessary work each day (and sometimes it will feel like work – playing the guitar is hugely enjoyable, but you will have off days, so don’t feel discouraged if your enthusiasm dips every now and then).
Practice mindfully
Practicing regularly is key, but what you do in those sessions is just as important. It’s vital to practice mindfully – really listen to yourself and focus fully on what you’re doing. Don’t let your mind wander while your fingers just go through the motions – it’s easy for that to happen, but you must stay focused if you want to keep progressing. Practising effectively is a bit like meditating – the ‘monkey mind’ will try to wander, but it gets easier to stay focused the more you do it.
Master each stage before moving on
With any guitar course, it’s tempting to want to progress as quickly as possible, and Jamorama is no exception, especially when you can look ahead to the more advanced videos and jam tracks, which sound more interesting than the early exercises. However, it’s important to take as much time as necessary to get the basics right – if you don’t you won’t be able to play the more difficult stuff properly anyway, and the whole experience will just be frustrating.
Pace yourself
So it’s important to practice regularly – but it’s equally important not to overdo things, especially when you’re first starting. Playing the guitar is like a workout for your hands and fingers, and just as you wouldn’t expect to go from couch potato to marathon runner overnight, so you’re not going to go from complete beginner to someone who can spend hours playing comfortably. Keep your sessions short to start with, and increase them gradually, as your muscles get stronger, and the calluses build on your fretting hand. Do too much too soon, and you risk injury.
Build good habits
Related to the above point is the necessity of building a healthy technique right from the start. Taking the time to learn the correct playing positions now (for your hands and your body as a whole), will mean less chance of injury and less time spend undoing bad habits later on. This is one area where teaching yourself at home falls short of having lessons with a private teacher. Normally the teacher could nip any poor habits in the bud, but as it is you’ll have to be vigilant on your own behalf. Every now and then (perhaps once a week or so), refer back to the opening section of Jamorama, which shows you how to sit and stand, and exactly how to place your hands for fretting and strumming, and make sure you’re still doing it all properly.
The benefits of reviewing older materials applies to the lessons themselves too – it’s always helpful to go periodically back over the chords, scales and other techniques that you’ve already learned, so they stay fresh in your mind.
Upgrade to Jamorama Deluxe
Jamorama Standard is basically a rhythm guitar course. If, like many people, you aspire to play cool lead solos, you’ll also need a course that teaches lead guitar, and Jamorama Deluxe does just that. It is designed as a to complement the rhythm guitar instruction in Jamorama Standard, since you need to learn rhythm skills first, in order to play lead effectively. If you’ve already bought Jamorama Standard you can upgrade to Jamorama Deluxe from within the member’s area, and if you haven’t made a purchase yet, consider getting Jamorama Deluxe (which also includes the Standard version’s rhythm guitar lessons) if you think you’ll want to learn lead guitar too.
Make use of the forum and support
Learning to play the guitar at home can be an isolating experience sometimes, so if you find yourself feeling discouraged, you’re having trouble with some aspect of the materials, or you have a question that the course doesn’t cover, make sure you make use of the support resources available to you as a Jamorama member. You can ask questions in the forum, as well as via the support desk in the member’s area. All guitarists run into problems and feel like giving up at times, but the Jamorama people are committed to helping you succeed, so don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.
Jamorama is a fun and effective course of guitar lessons – bear these tips in mind, stick with it and you WILL learn to play well, so long as you do your part.
