One of the most important things you can do to get the most out of every guitar practice session is to keep your mental focus on the guitar. Here you will learn seven tips to keep your mind focused as you play guitar scales so you can get the results you desire.

What you focus on when you play guitar will largely determine your practice results.

If your mind is 100% focused on the guitar during your practice session, you will be able to get great results. If you are only 50% focused, well, I am sure you know what the results will be.

So, what do you do if your mind starts to wander during your practice session? Bring it back to the guitar! Focus on what you are doing.

There are many aspects of your guitar playing that you can focus on. In fact, the power of your concentration can give you remarkable results. Paying attention to the little details will allow you to make massive gains in your guitar playing.

If you have studied martial arts you may have noticed that it is the tiny details that make a difference between a black belt and white belt. A black belt and a white belt may know the same arm strike, but the black belt knows the minute details of the movement and hence can perform it at a much higher level.

The same is true of world-class musicians—when they perform a song that a novice can play, although the notes may be performed in the exact same order, the subtle details are what really brings the song to life.

So, what is the best way to keep your mental focus as you play guitar? Let us take a look at how to keep your mind focused on an area where it is easy for your mind to wander: playing guitar scales.

7 Tips to Keep Your Mind Focused as You Play Guitar Scales
Let us say you are playing guitar scales forwards and backwards and your mind starts to wander. Here are some great areas you can focus on:

1. Instead of just practicing a scale forwards and backwards, focus on the sound of each note.

2. Hear the distance (interval) between each successive note.

3. Listen to the sound quality of each note. Is every note clear? Is there a slight fret-buzz on any of the notes?

4. What about your fret-hand? How far are your fingers coming off of the fretboard after playing a note? Ideally you want to minimize wasted motion. This means that your fingers should move only the minimum distance they need to perform the passage.

The greater the distance your fret-hand fingers come off of the fretboard, the greater the distance they must return to play the next note. When you minimize wasted motion, you will be able to play guitar more efficiently and quicker.

5. Examine your pick-hand. When you play a note with a down-stroke and pick the next note with an up-stroke, how far is the pick extending beyond the string that was just played? The greater the distance a down-stoke travels beyond the picked string, the greater the distance the pick must return to perform the up-stroke.

When you perform an up-stroke, how far is the pick extended beyond the string? Again the greater the distance that the pick is extended beyond the string, the further it must return to produce a down-stroke.

The goal here is to minimize wasted motion with your pick-hand.

6. What about the muscular tension in your fret-hand? On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimum tension and 10 being maximum tension, how would you rate your fret-hand as you play the guitar scale? If you rate your muscular tension at 5, can you lower it to a 4, or 3? Ultimately, your goal should be a rating of 1-3. Your hands should be as relaxed as possible when you play guitar. By focusing on this you can monitor it and ultimately control it. How much tension can you detect in your forearm? Can you decrease the level of muscular tension?

7. How much muscular tension is in your pick-hand? Can you lower the level of tension without dropping the pick to the floor? What about your forearm? Is your pick-hand forearm tense or totally relaxed? Again rate it on a scale of 1-10 and then focus on lowering the rating.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for aspects you can focus on as you play guitar and guitar scales. Remember, just as with a black belt, focusing on the little things will compound into big results.

Experiment with these focus exercises and make sure you develop your own.

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