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.