Depot Artspace

Auckland Guitar School with Dylan Kay Practising guitar

Dylan Kay

Playing guitar is a lifelong journey. The beauty of it is that there is so much to learn that you’ll never get bored; the downside is that it can sometimes appear overwhelming. So, let’s focus this month on how to practise effectively.

Make a schedule

It’s important to establish a consistent, regular practice schedule. Book in the time, and plan in advance what you are going to practise. Like anything, you need to make time for your guitar playing.

Get motivated

What are you working on and why? Be clear on the path to your longterm musical goals. A good teacher will provide the right materials and give you the motivation to practise them.

Get organised

Have everything you need set up and ready – guitar, music stand, materials, metronome, any backing tracks you need etc. That way it’s easy to get straight into practising. (Ideally have a dedicated room or area where you can leave everything set up.)

Eliminate distractions

Let your family know you’re practising and not to be disturbed. Turn your phone and notifications off. This is your chance to shut out the world and focus on your guitar playing!

Healthy practice

Guitarists are upper body athletes – make sure to warm up before, drink water during, and stretch after practising. It’s also good to practise standing up sometimes. Your hands may get a tired but if you experience any pain, stop for a break.

Don’t forget to just “play”

It’s important to learn more, work hard and practise to get better, but always make time to have fun just jamming, playing songs, being creative etc.

A great teacher will help you to make the best use of your practice time to get the fastest results.

Check out our homepage www.aucklandguitarschool.co.nz to download your free practising e-book “Perfect Practice for Guitar” and ask us if you need help! See you next month!

Dylan Kay, Auckland Guitar School, Howick and Takapuna, Auckland "Transform your playing." 09 533 5246 www.aucklandguitarschool.co.nz

Depot Artspace with Amy Saunders Depot Artspace and Creative Hub, Devonport

Amy Saunders

Well, another month has passed and we’re still working from home.

But the good news is the gallery opened to two beautiful exhibitions, PulseArt: Over My Shoulder and Hana Carpenter: Suspended Movement in November, and we were thrilled to sell several works online – so we now know our online gallery works and we can continue to support artists through future lockdowns, if need be. We’re thrilled to be supporting and welcoming to the gallery favourite local artists Robyn Gibson and Linda Gair in December and the beautiful new works of Rhea Maheshwari.

Speaking of local, we’ve been wonderfully inundated with entries to this year’s Members' show with more than 150 entries received. We will endeavor to get all of these online but seeing them in the gallery will be a real treat so please come and do some Christmas shopping with us and support local artists. All works are newly made and under $250. www.depotartspacegallery.com

As well as celebrating the opening of the gallery we have also had the pleasure of welcoming our new Creative Careers and Employment Manager, Siemone Rawson. She is an amazing addition to our team and has hit the ground running despite the complications of lockdown. Siemone is working hard with our Creative Career and Employment programmes; making sure that creatively minded graduates, school leavers and those on Job Seekers know that we are here to help with our two programmes, Artslab and Wayfind Creative, both unique career pathway programmes leading to creative employment and sustainable creative careers.

And finally a shout-out to all those trying to navigate this tricky time. It’s been challenging for sure but what has been most lovely throughout this time is the generous people who have reached out and extended kindness and care. We thank you. Here’s to 2022!

Depot Sound is celebrating the success of our in-house audio engineer Noah Page who is absolutely ecstatic to have been selected for the recent round of New Zealand on Air's development funding which enables music producers to work on developing music with new and emerging New Zealand artists. "Looking forward to getting into the studio in early 2022 and making some awesome music!!" – Noah www.depotsound.co.nz

Wayfind Creative has celebrated some amazing successes for its creatives during lockdown as well as getting some incredible feedback from our recent Zoom programme workshops and industry panel discussions! If you would like to take your creative career to the next level, check out our exciting programme to start your path to creating a financially viable, sustainable and deeply rewarding career: www.wayfindcreative.co.nz

Depot Galleries: Don’t miss our four December exhibitions! Our annual members' show is perfect for unique Christmas gifts while supporting talented local artists. www.depotartspace.co.nz/events