Practicing Mindfulness With A Scale On The Guitar

Mindfulness is a skill that scares away many people and intrigues others. Many people practice mindfulness through yoga, Eastern meditation, walking, and a slew of other activities. The idea is to be fully present at any given time. The guitar makes a great tool to incorporate practicing mindfulness into your life.

Below is a simple exercise for practicing mindfulness using a scale on the guitar. You could use an entire piece of music as well. A scale allows for a disconnect in how much you need to focus on for it to be successful. The goal here is not to work on the scale but to work on your ability to be fully present in the process of playing the scale. It may sound easy but to be fully present is a difficult aspect of life that few have mastered. And those whom we think have mastered it will tell you that it is always in process.

The Exercise For Practicing Mindfulness On The Guitar

1. Sit comfortably with the guitar in a location where you will not be disturbed or distracted.
2. Close your eyes and breath in and out slowly. Count one, two, three, etc. on each inhale. Once you reach ten, switch the counting to each exhale. Don’t worry about how many times you do this and just focus on counting and breathing.
3. As you begin to feel relaxed, open your eyes, and begin to play the scale slowly. But don’t just go right into playing. First, notice your hands moving into position. Notice your posture and the placement of the guitar. Don’t judge it as good or bad, just observe.
4. Now, play the scale at an even pace and begin to focus on different elements of the music. Focus on only one element at a time for as long as you need to. Remember, these are just observations. If a thought of correction comes into your mind, then acknowledge it and return to observing.
   1. How does each note sound?
   2. What do my fingers feel like as they compress the strings?
   3. How does my right hand feel?
   4. How does my left hand feel?
   5. What is my breathing like?
5. Take as much time as you need to just focus on every aspect of the scale of your choosing. Many thoughts will come into your mind as you play the scale. It’s fine and normal for this to happen. Just return your thought to the task at hand.
6. Stop when you feel ready to move on to another task.

A Few More Notes About Mindfulness

Generally, it is a good idea to give yourself a timeframe to complete the exercise above. Most people find that the first twenty minutes of mindfulness practice is difficult. But somewhere past the twenty-minute mark, the mind begins to settle down and mindfulness really kicks in. I like to set a timer on my phone for 30 minutes.

You may think that it is absurd to play a single scale for 30 minutes. However, the idea is not to play a scale but to work on mindfulness while playing a scale, or anything else. Sometimes when we try to be mindful while playing a song we tend to get too involved in the song rather than the idea of being fully present.

What do you think? Have you ever thought of using mindfulness with the act of playing guitar? Do you have questions about mindfulness? Leave a comment below and be a part of the conversation.

For further reading on mindfulness, check out Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness by John Kabat-Zinn. It is a book that will change your life. I did mine.

Originally Published: 15 May 2017

Chadwick Becks

I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.