The "Simon" Method of Practising a Lick

I was working on a melodic phrase on the guitar today. I was getting a bit frustrated because I could play the phrase intuitively on the saxophone but not on guitar. Intellectually I knew it, but the guitar mechanics were not there for me yet.

Then I remembered to try the "Simon" method of practising that I use with my students occasionally. I call it the Simon method after the electronic game that plays a sequence of colours and tones which you memorise and play back to the machine. Each turn, the machine adds one more colour/tone. I've adapted the premise of thisĀ game to music practising.

Let's say the music phrase that you need to practise has 10 notes in it. Play it as far as you can and notice how far you can play it perfectly. Pretend you can go as far as 5 notes. Practice those 5 notes until you can play them easily. Then add note number 6. Once you can play the first 6 notes easily, add note 7. Keep adding notes until you can play the whole phrase.

It's another approach if you are getting bogged down. Let me know if it works for you!