Lessons and Practice Sessions

Today was a pretty normal day full of lessons. Right now, I'm finished for the evening, but I'm enjoying listening to Mike and his student Alaina singing in the next room. Alaina is taking guitar lessons, but right now they are playing piano and guitar AND singing together. It really sounds great! Is this the best job in world, or what???

It was a day full of great progress. Kurt is getting ready for a mission trip to Syria and he is taking his fiddle along with him. We talked about how to transpose written music, and we are going to work on that some more when he returns. Kurt plays both by ear and by music. His tone is great; you can really tell that he works on his bowing and intonation (playing in tune).

Dolton is working on Duelin' Banjos and Shuckin' the Corn on his banjo. His wife is learning guitar, so they practice together. That is really a great way to spend part of your practicing time. Learning to play together can be really hard when both people are beginners, but it has the wonderful benefit of both people not minding practicing the same thing over and over again. Dolton and I were talking about his progress since the beginning. He is able to memorize so much more than when he first started, and he learns everything much faster than he did in the beginning. This is actually a normal progression of learning, but it is really great when you start to realize your progress for yourself.

Now that I'm talking about practicing, let me just state a few tips regarding practice.

1. Play vs. Practice - First of all, there is a difference between practicing and playing. When you practice, you will probably be working on the same thing(s) over and over again. When you are playing, you are more likely to go through the song(s) once or twice, and what you play should be fairly good.

2. Speed - Make sure you practice slow enough that your technique and clarity of notes is good. Once you can play the song with only occasional mistakes and good technique, you can start speeding it up. A metronome works very well for this. The way to work with a metronome is to start at a speed that is easy for you. After you play through the song once, then speed up by 5-10 notches. Play the song again at this new tempo. Then speed it up again 5-10 notches. You should be able to do this about five times. By the fifth time, you should be making lots of mistakes and be barely able to keep up. Then cut the speed back 10-20 notches and play the song again. It should be easier. Record (write down) your starting speed so that you know what speed to start at next time. When you get to where the fifth speed is pretty good, then you need to "up" your starting tempo.

3. Mistakes - Everyone is going to make mistakes. The most important thing is to keep going. Only worry about wrong notes if you make the same mistake every time. If you make the same mistake every time in the same spot, then you need to focus your practice on that one spot to fix the problem. If you play LOTS of wrong notes, then you are probably playing too fast, or maybe you are just having a bad day. It is also possible that the song is too difficult for you. You should be able to tell the difference between these if you think about it.

4. Practice Time - The best time to practice if you take lessons, is to practice on the day of your lesson AFTER you have had your lesson. This will allow you time to forget a LITTLE of what you learned and then remember it again while it is still pretty fresh. This will really help cement your learning for that lesson. Although long practice times can be very helpful, they are not absolutely necessary. In fact, more frequent, smaller time periods are preferable. It works on the same theory as practicing on your lesson days. It allows you a little bit of time to forget what you worked on, and then have to remember it again later. You are also fresher when you start your practice session.

When I'm practicing hard on a song, I might practice that one piece 100-200 times in a row. It has always been amazing to me how I can do that, and then the next day I can't seem to remember the song. It's always faster learning it the second time around, though, and it won't take me long to get it back in my head.

Too much practice on the same thing can put you on brain overload so that you start getting worse instead of better. When that happens, either work on a different song, or stop practicing for a little while. I usually spend the first part of the my practice time working on my new songs or licks. That is actually the majority of my practice time. Then I will do some playing. Playing is when you enjoy what you are doing the most. It involves just going over the songs you already know how to play pretty good. You might find something to practice among your playing songs, especially if you haven't played a song in a long time, but you should be pretty good on your playing songs. Playing will keep your songs fresh in your head so you won't forget them.

5. Make a List - Make a list of all the songs you know how to play. A songlist will help you with your practicing because you won't forget to play or practice all the songs you know. It is also helpful for when you play with other people, because then you know what you can play. It's funny how you can know 30 songs, but when someone asks you to play something, you can't seem to think of any. If you have a list, you can just look at it.

Once you have a long list of songs that you can play, you won't be able to get through them all in one practice session. I try to make sure that I go through the songs I know at least once every two weeks. That might be only 10 songs for each practice session before I've covered them all. That's not too bad.

6. Play with Others - This is the most important thing you can do for yourself. There are many ways this will help you. It will keep you steady in your rhythm, and will also help you find the weak spots in your playing. Plus, it's fun! When you play with other people, you will find people your own age that are doing exactly what you are doing, and you will have someone to share your music with. You never know who you might inspire! Someone else will see you learning and they will decide that they can do that, too! Remember -- it doesn't matter how good you are. If you are a rank beginner, sit on the edge of the jam session, make sure you are in tune, and play quietly. You may be lost the first several times, but YOU WILL GET IT! We all started there, too.