{"id":228,"date":"2010-01-25T19:16:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-25T19:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boopidy.com\/aj\/blog\/2010\/01\/25\/how-to-practice-an-instrument\/"},"modified":"2018-01-28T22:46:22","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T06:46:22","slug":"how-to-practice-an-instrument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boopidy.com\/aj\/blog\/2010\/01\/25\/how-to-practice-an-instrument\/","title":{"rendered":"How to practice an instrument"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the car the other day I mentioned that I was going to start practicing the guitar for real, in such a way that implied that I knew, in some deep sense, how to practice an instrument. A friend inquired about it, and with a little thought I realized that I did in fact have a notion of practicing well.<\/p>\n

I developed this notion back when I played the trumpet — far more seriously and often, and with much greater rigor, than I now play the guitar. Of course, I was still lazy back then, so I didn’t always follow the rules, but at least I knew what they were. At any rate, here’s how what I think it takes to practice an instrument well:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Warm up.<\/b> A good warmup routine achieves a few things: it helps you improve fundamental techniques through repetition, it prepares your body physically for the current practice session, and most importantly it prepares you mentally. By forcing you to focus on a task that’s both challenging and familiar, it helps clear your mind.<\/li>\n
  2. Use a metronome.<\/b> You never know how badly out of time you’re playing until you use one. Find a comfortable tempo for the exercise you’re playing — and then slow it down by 10-20%. It’s always harder to play slow than it is to play fast.<\/li>\n
  3. Focus, and reject mediocrity.<\/b> This is the most important and hardest rule to follow. One good hour of practice is worth ten bad ones, and what separates the two is focus: how hard you concentrate while you’re playing, and how unwilling you are to let minor infractions pass. Few mistakes are minor enough to truly let go.<\/li>\n
  4. Keep moving.<\/b> It’s easy to become comfortable with a set of exercises and, eventually, your mastery over them. Keep moving on to newer, challenging material, as soon as you’ve nailed the current stuff — but no sooner.<\/li>\n
  5. Listen to yourself.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Record yourself any way you can and listen to how you sound. A microphone is ruthlessly honest.<\/li>\n
  6. Get a teacher.<\/b> Expensive, but necessary. I’ll have to do this eventually for guitar if I ever want to be any good.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Okay, that’s all I have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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