Arts & Entertainment, Music
Practice
Lesson time 08:01 min
Tom teaches you how to structure your practice time, from balancing technique and theory to segmenting your practice day.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Practice Every Day • Commit to Your Progress • Practice for a Specific Event • Segment Your Practice Day
Teaches Electric Guitar
In 26 lessons, Grammy-winning musician Tom Morello will teach you the guitar techniques, rhythms, and riffs that define his signature style.
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Practice is also a means of erasing the barriers between what's in your mind, what's in your artistic soul, and what you can actually do with your fingers. And that is really the reason to do it. And the amount that you practice will reveal how much it is that you can express yourself on the instrument of guitar. [MUSIC PLAYING] Let's talk now about practice and process. You practice technique to get your fingers to go where you want them to go. You practice theory to understand where they can go and why. You play live and you write songs, you practice that to bring the theory and the technique and create art with it. And you seek inspiration to make that art something that's meaningful to you that can communicate to others. Practice has played a huge role in my life as a musician. I had literally zero natural ability on the guitar. I had to fight for every single inch of my guitar playing. Later on, there were breakthroughs where creativity came easy, where I was able to move my fingers around the fretboard. But I promise you, and hear these words-- I had zero natural ability. It was only through hours, and hours, and hours of practice that I was able to amass some sort of ability on the guitar. Practice is really-- is something that I absolutely have sworn by my entire life to become a better musician and a more fulfilled artist. [MUSIC PLAYING] Three crucial building blocks to practice are practicing every day, playing with other people, and playing live. I received some tremendous advice when I was a beginning guitar player. A friend of mine in high school said, practice an hour a day-- he said, if you're serious about wanting to play guitar, practice an hour a day, every day, without fail. And I took those words as gospel. And I began practicing an hour a day, every day, without fail. And I found over a very short period of time, that like a slow rising tide-- I'm like, oh, after a couple of weeks my playing was noticeably better. Rather than, you know, jamming four hours on the weekend with friends, and then playing again in two weeks, and then practicing one night for a half hour. I made a commitment to practicing every day. And it was-- and I felt-- like, I started playing late. I started playing when I was 17 years old. So I always felt that I was tremendously behind. But in practicing every day, that one hour-- you can really get better when you practice an hour a day. What happens if you practice two? And then I saw my playing grow exponentially. And what if it's four? And what if it's six? And eventually it was eight hours a day, every day, without fail. And the without fail part was very important to me and the commitment to the instrument. Sometimes I'd be-- like, I'd be at college. And I'd have a-- in college I was around the four hour a day-- four hour a day mark. I'd have an exam the next morning. I'd have a fever of 101. I'd finish studying at 1:00 AM. And I would play until 5:00 AM. Not 4:58 AM. ...
About the Instructor
Tom Morello is a two-time Grammy winner and one of Rolling Stone’s "greatest guitarists of all time." In his first online guitar class, the co-founder of Rage Against the Machine will teach you the riffs, rhythms, and solos that launched his career and sent his music to the top of the charts. Tom will share his approach to making music that challenges the status quo and teach you how to create your own musical style.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Tom Morello
In 26 lessons, Grammy-winning musician Tom Morello will teach you the guitar techniques, rhythms, and riffs that define his signature style.
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