This is my first blog post for this new blog about my attempts to record music and learn songwriting. For February 2026, I'm attempting the RPM Challenge with a goal of recording just one original song. I haven't spent a lot of time learning either songwriting or recording in the past, as a guitarist who never really thought I'd be interested in recording my own music or treating songwriting seriously. So both are things to learn.
Instead of talking about what I'm learning in recording or about songwriting today, I wanted to talk a little bit about practicing instead. In the past, I don't think I had quite enough focus when I practiced. Over the years, I've developed more and more focus and ability to be aware of various aspects of what I'm practicing. And by extension I can be aware of those things while I'm playing, too. Posture, speed/timing, hand position, muting, all sorts of things -- I've learned through various failings and insights to get better at paying attention while I'm practicing. That said, as a neurodivergent brain, I have a lot of trouble actually focusing while I'm practicing. I can lose that focus and it all falls apart, no matter how much I muscle memory I drill into my fingers. There's no amount of willpower that really wins over a distracted brain, for me.
There's an idea I've encountered before, of imagining how tightly you're gripping a pen. If you tense up and really manhandle that pen, it's going to be really hard to sign your name or write down some quick notes. But if you hold it too loose, the pen just slips right out of your fingers the second you try to write something. I feel like I am trying to maintain that kind of focus when I'm practicing -- not white-knuckling it, but not being so "loose" with it that my brain flies away with the first contact with a note.
In the past, I actually ended up with a pretty serious left hand injury from not being aware of what I was doing. The injury happened away from the guitar, but it impacted my ability to play guitar for over a year and required physical therapy and occupational therapy before it felt right again. I had to double down being aware of hand position, how hard I was pressing, and how well my timing and release of notes were. Too light on the release and it would have a little buzz on the tail of the note. Add in some gain and it became apparent as a sloppy note.
One thing I've made extensive use since is an activity I can mindlessly do -- chromatic 1234 type finger exercises, to warm up while trying to press as light as possible. This feels like it is priming my tendons and my brain for that light touch, as light as I can get away with without the note buzzing. and it starts to warm up that focus that is so elusive. If I can pay attention to the various aspects I've come to be more aware of -- timing, pressure, release, perfect timing for note length, breath, posture, probably more things that I'm forgetting to list here -- I can get my brain into the right focus level to actually practice. If I don't, I might as well just throw the pen across the room. It's gonna be a mess once I get into something hard.
I'm not sure if this will help anyone else, but I thought to write about it because today as I warmed up on guitar, I reflected on the fact that years and years later after starting using it, I'm still using the 1234 chromatic note type warm-up, but my awareness and what I'm using it for has changed quite a bit since I first learned it. When I've talked to guitar teachers about this problem of focus and focusing-on-too-many-things failing, I haven't really gotten any insights from them. It's very possible their brains are more adapted to the kinds of deep focus that will be rewarded on guitar, and my brain instead chose to diverge a little too much and fight me for the past 20+ years of learning to play the guitar.
As I continue into to RPM Challenge for February (which I'll talk about more in a future post), I'll have to be careful, because I already felt the inklings of my left index finger tendons reacting poorly to the sort of heavy-riffing I'm working on for the instrumental song I'm writing. With any hope, being a little bit more aware can translate into sustainably playing and getting through this February challenge that I've set for myself.