How Tommy Emmanuel Practices

Published: 23/01/2013

Under: Guitar Practice, Famous Guitar Players

If you have ever wondered how Tommy Emmanuel practices then you’ll be relieved to know he follows a really simple routine! He still practises the guitar as often as he can and enjoys every moment of it!

Here are two videos which both outline how he practice and both are mini master classes.

Also, If you love him as much as I do then you’ll want to check out his latest release: The Guitar Mastery of Tommy Emmanuel.

On Practicing

The first video is about Tommy talking about how he practices daily. It looks like a hotel room and so he’s practising what he preaches (oops, sorry for the bad pun!). Anyway, it’s really insightful look into his routine and philosophy.

If you don’t have a couple of minutes to watch, here are the main points. Tommy works on ideas that he will use, such as new arrangements of old tunes or exploring techniques.

He will also spend part of his practice time working on motor skills by playing complex songs over and over for an hour at a time as well as chords which involve wide stretches.

From this short video, you can see that He LOVES to practice and it’s a really positive daily habit. Tommy also states that he concerned only with playing and doesn’t believe in using a hand exerciser.

“The Band”

The second video is Tommy playing Blue Moon. A tune we all know well. However, he plays it layer by layer. It’s a great guitar lesson without being one!

By playing the tune this way we get a front row seat into how Tommy arranges for guitar and how he uses a few notes to outline the underlying harmony. Again it’s a fantastic lesson!