Music Lessons, Little Rock
Practice Strategies Workshop Notes - Part II
Subscribe to my feed! It’s free, easy to do and makes me happy!
Welcome to part II of our discussion last Saturday around practice strategies.
In this post, I am going to talk about creating a practice workspace and what you need to create a workspace that is conducive to learning.
First and foremost, you cannot practice on the couch and watch TV at the same time!!! You can certainly play and watch TV, but practicing is not playing.
Let me say that again, Practicing is not Playing and you cannot practice on the couch watching TV!
As I discussed in part I of this article, when you practice, you must be very focused and engaged while you work on your material. And the first thing that will help you do that is to have a dedicated practice space in your home.
Practice Space
When you consider a practice space, look for a place in your home that is away from the TV and preferably, out of the general traffic flow of the home. Again, when you practice, your mind must stay on task. If the TV is on (with shows, or people playing video games) or people constantly walk by and distract you with movement or conversation, you will have trouble staying on task.
So, find a room in the house with the fewest distractions possible. If that is your bedroom, that's fine. Just keep the TV/Radio/Xbox off during practice time.
If there is no such place in your house, then invest in a good pair of headphones and put notice out that when the headphones are on and you instrument is in hand, it's time to work and no one should bother you unless there is fire, police or blood involved in the conversation. Then, try your best to put on your blinders and get to work.
Necessary Items
Ok, you have the best practice space in your home picked out. The next step is to have everything you need in this space so that when you sit down, you won't have to get up to get anything you need during practice.
Here are the essentials ...
Welcome to part II of our discussion last Saturday around practice strategies.
In this post, I am going to talk about creating a practice workspace and what you need to create a workspace that is conducive to learning.
First and foremost, you cannot practice on the couch and watch TV at the same time!!! You can certainly play and watch TV, but practicing is not playing.
Let me say that again, Practicing is not Playing and you cannot practice on the couch watching TV!
As I discussed in part I of this article, when you practice, you must be very focused and engaged while you work on your material. And the first thing that will help you do that is to have a dedicated practice space in your home.
Practice Space
When you consider a practice space, look for a place in your home that is away from the TV and preferably, out of the general traffic flow of the home. Again, when you practice, your mind must stay on task. If the TV is on (with shows, or people playing video games) or people constantly walk by and distract you with movement or conversation, you will have trouble staying on task.
So, find a room in the house with the fewest distractions possible. If that is your bedroom, that's fine. Just keep the TV/Radio/Xbox off during practice time.
If there is no such place in your house, then invest in a good pair of headphones and put notice out that when the headphones are on and you instrument is in hand, it's time to work and no one should bother you unless there is fire, police or blood involved in the conversation. Then, try your best to put on your blinders and get to work.
Necessary Items
Ok, you have the best practice space in your home picked out. The next step is to have everything you need in this space so that when you sit down, you won't have to get up to get anything you need during practice.
Here are the essentials ...
- Pencils - You will need to write as you work on your material. Writing out music on staff paper or tab, taking notes on what you need to work on tomorrow or discoveries you made (like cool chord grips), lyric ideas, etc.
- Staff or Tab Paper - to document your ideas, cool licks, exercises or chord progressions.
- Music Stand - a must! I can't tell you how many times as a kid I finished practice with a stiff neck from looking down at my bed and reading tab from some magazine. Put your material on a stand and save your neck and shoulders.
- Notebook - I'm a believer in writing down your goals and objectives. First, studies have shown that this one act helps you more than anything else in actually accomplishing what you set out to do. After all, they're more real when they are listed on paper than just floating around in your mind. Second, writing down your practice items on paper will help you keep track of what you need to work on, and how much time you will allot to each practice item.
- CD Player or iPod/MP3 player - something to play the music you are transcribing or learning.
- Tuner - for you guitar and bass players. You have to practice in tune or you're wasting time.
- Metronome - all musicians need this on their practice stand. Period. I don't care what Jeff Berlin says (although I love the guy).
Those are the basics for your practice space. In Part III, I am going to talk about non-essential practice tools that help tremendously as you practice.
Posted by Jason at 21 Sep 2010 
Categories: Workshops
Tags: jam session guitar lessons bass lessons drum lessons little rock music lessons piano and voice lessons
Categories: Workshops
Tags: jam session guitar lessons bass lessons drum lessons little rock music lessons piano and voice lessons
I'm a singer songwriter and find that I produce my best work in quiet surroundings. I'll often wait until everyone else in the house is asleep, no distractions when practising! I use an olympus digital voice recorder for jotting down ideas when I'm out and about. I've produced very good results with this that you can hear if you care to visit my website where I teach and help people learn and master guitar.
Reply to this
Thanks for the strategies. I find this blog very helpful and interesting. Practice makes perfect. Actually, not perfect but better.
Reply to this
Jason what Metronome were you using during the lesson? The one that can speed up in tempo as time progresses. I've looked online and can't find anything close to that.
Reply to this
Hey Michael, here is a link to the metronome I use. I believe this app is for Mac only, but I know there are similar apps for PC...
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Audio/Metronome.shtml
Reply to this
Excellent my friend, you truly have good experience in music. I, myself is very passionate about music and have a very good knowledge about music. You have shown a good understanding of what a musician needs to know - I truly want to back you on the point where you stated Metronome in the list above. Without this a person cannot know the beat cycle and its important for a musician to know know the right beat cycle counting 1-4.
Reply to this
Read your article, I think the practice is really important
Reply to this
I like the way you explain everything without using complicated terms.Thanks a lot.
Reply to this
Hey Jason,
This is a great series! I enjoyed reading both strategies (part 1 & 2). Anyway, with metronome, I only use my left foot as my guide and I believe that it works for me well.
Reply to this
Great Blog with very good posts .Can you please tell me that how much time you take to create this wonderful blog,although I am new on internet but your work is very good and i appreciate your work.
Reply to this
You use what metronome Jason in class? A fast growing faster as time goes on. I've seen online to find any.
Reply to this
Just the essentials... and practice makes perfect.
This is a really cool insight on how to make practice mean something.
Great post! Thanks!
Reply to this
excellent my friend,you have done a great job....i think you have a great knowledge in music......some of my doubts that related to music has been fulfilled with this article....so i like this blog very much Jason..once again thank you for posing this kind of post.
Reply to this
Thank you for your help.
Reply to this
Practice makes perfect. Actually, not perfect but better. This is a really cool insight on how to make practice mean something.
Reply to this
As a musician i remember as a kid not practicing correct. I had an instructor early on try to teach me the correct way to practice and i hated it. I wanted to turn it all the way up and play as fast and crazy as i could. However when i started using some of these techniques i saw my skills advance tremendously. Musicians should recognize the importance of tedious practice and learning just like with every hobby. It ain't all fun and games. The payoff is highly worth it.
Reply to this
It's true that practice makes perfect. This is a really cool insight on how to make practice mean something.
Reply to this
Practice makes perfect. This is a really cool insight on how to make practice mean something. I love to know about all this stuffs which is just very helpful to go for it.
Reply to this