Practice makes perfect?

  Today and for my first real post, I'd like to talk about practicing your instrument and trying to get the most out of those practices. This might seem minute, but it's such a major reason as to why a lot of musicians suffer when it comes to playing/performing on their instrument. And it's usually because the method the person was using is just ineffective.

  Below I'm going to make a shortlist/guide for developing good practice habits. And then afterwards I'll explain by what I mean on each of them

1. Set aside a specific time during the day in which to practice.
2. Find exercises or songs that fit your goals.
3. Practice for at least an hour per session (two hours at the most).
4. Use a metronome and make sure you start off slowly.
5. Make your practices fun/interesting.

 Setting Aside a Specific Time

  For most people, I'd say this one can be a little bit tricky and this is usually to no fault of their own. Our schedules due to either work or school, can make it difficult to find points in the day in which to practice our beloved instruments/music. In my opinion the best way to get around this technicality, is to set your practices during the times in which you aren't working or at school. Practicing doesn't need to be at exactly the same time of day to be effective (which would be stupid if anyone ever believed that). They just need to be consistent and often enough that you're able to improve your skills. 

  Overall as long as you're able to find an hour (or two) to put aside each day, you'll be fine. Most people tend to think that it's hard to practice to find time to practice because they're too focused on trying to practice at exactly the same time each day. Which is never smart, because nobody's schedule is consistent enough for that.

Finding Exercises or Songs that Fit Your Goals

  This is one of the best things you can do for yourself as it gives you something solid to focus on and you don't end up wasting your time trying to cover everything. Just set a goal, whether it's a song or a technique and just focus most of your efforts to accomplishing that goal. 

  My personal example with this, is that I recently have been wanting to improve the dexterity and accuracy of my playing along with being able to play faster. So I created an exercise routine in which I could aptly learn all the skills that would improve those areas. Over the past few weeks I've been practicing my exercises daily and have overall seen small increments of improvement.

  The point is... without goals, how do you know you're improving? If you just practice blindly and without direction, you'll have a more difficult time grasping where you are as a player and most of the time you'll find yourself not improving at all. The best thing you can do for yourself is to always set goals on where you want to be and what you want to accomplish. And they should contain both short and long term.

Practice Length

  This can usually vary for people depending on their comprehension and ability. But in my opinion an hour for anyone is good length and sometimes two, depending on the difficulty and level of what the person is trying to accomplish. This gives your brain time in which to develop memory and grasp the technique.

  Also, I'd like to add that you can practice more than one to two hours if you'd like. But if you do that, I'd suggest breaking your practices into smaller sections as to avoid burning yourself out.

Starting off slowly

  For this, I suggest finding the fastest speed in which you can play what you want to play (cleanly of course) and taking it and slowing it down further. This will develop even better accuracy and natural playing ability and will make it easier for when you start to build it up past your current plateau of playing level. For example, you can play something cleanly at 100bpm, but the tempo of the piece is 120bpm. I'd suggest slowing it down about 60-80bpm and then building it up to 120 from there. Also, always use a metronome. This will not only improve your accuracy, but also your natural timing for rhythm. 

Make Practicing Fun

  This is right here, is the "best" thing you can do for yourself. Every time someone thinks of practicing, they think of scales or boring repetitive exercises that just burn them out faster and overall get them nowhere. I've found the best way to avoid this... is design your own exercises based off of what you want to learn. Or take certain sections from your favorite songs that contain usage of the techniques that you want to work on.

  Any of those things will keep you from burning out. Also, in my opinion making your own exercises is also a good way to show that you understand what you're trying to learn and accomplish.

Summary 

 

 Basically, my points are...

• Keep your practices consistent
• Keep them goal oriented
• And most of all... make them fun!

  Also, I can't emphasize this enough... but always take breaks from what you're doing. While music is fun, taking a break from it is also good and also allows your mind to refresh itself. Just make sure you go back to it at some point. Along with that, always make sure you're getting a good amount of sleep. A tired mind and body aren't very helpful to the learning process and can only make it more difficult to learn.

First post!!!

  I'd like to start off by saying hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Stevan, currently 22 years of age, and basically what I've created this blog for, is the discussion of music related topics. And as such I will cover things including: my views on music, the creation of music, suggestions for improving your playing or composing, my views on the music business/industry, my current music projects, music releases/suggestions of who to listen to, and other assorted topics.

So a little about me as a musician and person...

  Ever since I was young I had a love affair with music. When I was two I had a little guitar that I'd run around my grandmother's house. From about the ages of about 6-9 my parents had a little Yamaha Keyboard in our house. I was always fascinated with it and always had fun trying to learn the songs that were built in. Also around that time my sister began learning Violin, which was another thing that influenced my interests. Later in my life I played in concert bands, jazz bands, and marching band. Now I'm currently a college student working on trying to get a degree in music production. And so early on, my young and developing mind grew an appreciation for music and that in form led me to take up learning music, and that led to me wanting pursue music later in life, which eventually led to part of who I am today.

  Over the past years, I've played an assortment of instruments, have taken multiple music classes (from theory to recording) and have composed for many genres. Of the instruments I've played/play, are: clarinet, tenor sax, guitar, bass, and (some) percussion/drums. Genres I've written for: metal, hard rock, blues, punk, classical, drum and bass, and dubstep. I enjoy playing so many instruments, because it helps with writing. And I enjoy writing for many genres, because I feel you can always take from one genre and find a way to apply it to another. My writing style tends to focus around minor keys, awkward time signatures, complex rhythms, key, chordal, and modal modulation, dissonance (sometimes unresolved), and creating themes. My playing style when it comes to guitar tends to compliment that. I like to utilize space, extended harmonic and melodic passages, diminished runs, unresolved tritones, ambience and long drawn out notes using short, fast vibrato. Along with that I'll use lines influenced from the shred movement (usually influenced by the likes John Petrucci or Steve Vai).

  As for my musical influences. They span all the way from movie composers, like Danny Elfman to metal bands, like Veil of Maya, and electronic producers similar to Photek. I have a love for jazz and classical music, as much as I love drum and bass and metal. For me there is no one genre, I have to try them all and listen to them all (yes, even country). For guitar, I really don't have one specific influence. I try to take in all I listen to and apply it. And sometimes that's even from players of other instruments.

  And now for me as a person in general. While I love music and have pursued it almost religiously my whole life, I also have other interests (which sometimes do or do not influence my music). A lot of what I like to do in my free time when not concerned with music is: watch movies, read (I'm as much a voracious reader as I am musician), anime, comic books and graphic novels, writing short stories and poetry, drawing, etc.

  So I hope that gives an overall idea of what kind of person I am when it comes to music. Before I end this I want to make this statement. My overall goal is not to change your perception of music and what you believe. Everyone has different ideas as to what's the right way and wrong way. And to be honest, over the years I've learned that there is no right or wrong way, just your way. My goal with this is though, to maybe help people try and better understand themselves and others as musicians. I can't change what you think and whether you agree or disagree with me is not the point. The point is for you to try and establish your own views. And if you get something out of this, then I feel good and I hope you feel good. If not, oh well.

  Overall I hope to establish a good following from this and I hope that people can maybe learn and expand their horizons further when it comes to music.

 Thank you to the people who read this first post.