You Can Play Guitar - Rich's Randoms

Rich's Randoms

From time to time I share with my students my ideas
on practice, developing technique, interpreting music, recommendations on guitars and accessories, and
more. So make sure you make a regular stop
here... who knows what I may write.

Rich's Bio

Maybe the first thing I should do is introduce myself. My name is Rich Hawthorne. I was raised on the island of Oahu and for the past 15 years have lived in Santa Clara, California. I am the founder of The Guitarist. I started learning to play the guitar at age 8. I remember hearing a song on the radio and asking a friend what instrument was making that really cool sound. He said it was an electric guitar. I immediately informed my parents that they needed to buy me an electric guitar. They took me to Sears (yes, Sears!) and bought me an impossible to play steal string guitar. In a future post I will write about how important it is to make sure your first guitar is playable and easy to learn on.

Well, my parents never did buy me an electric guitar. I saved up and purchased one for myself. It was an Ibanez electric with two humbucker pickups. I later added a Kahler tremolo system (similar to a Floyd Rose, but better in my opinion). I learned to play along to songs by all those hair bands of the 80's.

During my senior year in high school I began studying Classical guitar at a Junior College. It was really my dad that got me thinking about playing classical. He would often stop by my bedroom and ask me to play a song for him. I would promptly play for him a variety of Led Zeppelin and Beatle riffs. He would say, "No, a real song that you can play all the way through that is just for the guitar." I started to realize that after years of playing the guitar I really did not know a song that I could just play as a solo. That is when I began to pursue Classical, Hawaiian Style Slack-Key and Finger-Style playing. I am so glad I did!

After high school I attended the University of Hawaii and did one of those "make up your own major things." My major was called Music Marketing. At that time I thought it would be neat to write advertising jingles. My major was part business and part music (mostly music). My musical studies included lots of composition courses and of course my instrument was guitar. I performed in lots of recitals and ensembles. I also played electric guitar in various college bands that played around town and played in a classical guitar duo at an Italian restaurant. Those were some really fun years!

Now I live in Santa Clara, CA. I have been teaching here at The Guitarist for 15 years. I also teach at the Santa Clara Adult Education Center and at the Bethel School of Music and with the DeAnza and Foothill College Short Course Program. I have lost track of how many students have taken classes from me, but believe it our not, its over a thousand!! I also am co-author of the book I Always Wanted to Play Guitar.

I am having more fun teaching and playing the guitar now than when I first started! I also get to play every week with the best band I have every played with. That is, each Sunday at Bethel Church. Stop by and see me sometime.

Here are a few PRACTICE TIPS that I have posted at the studio:

-	Aim to practice at least 30 minutes 5 to 6 days a week.
-	Accomplish something every practice session.
-	Use a metronome and challenge yourself to play each piece at the proper tempo.
-	Do not sacrifice quality for speed.
-	Inch by inch it's a cinch (work on small sections of music).
-	TV time is great practice time (work on bar chords, scales, etc).
-	Don't be hard on yourself (practice makes better - nobody is perfect).
-	Trying it one time is not practice. Play it 100 times.
-	Show up for lessons.