3 tips to improve your practise routine
A Key phrase you hear often from music tutors is “practice makes perfect” or simply “practice, practice, practice”. Sometimes though, quantity does not result in quality, and there may be some bad habits unknown to you that hinder your ability too rapidly improve. In this blog we will give you some helpful tips that can be applied to any musician no matter the instrument. Keep an eye out for future blogs for more specific and advanced tips in practise habits.
Warm up with a bit of fun
Just like exercising, you should warm up your limbs or whatever it is you’re using to perform music. One of the easiest ways we recommend is just playing songs you know well already, and for the advanced players, try and Jam to songs with your music player on shuffle. This will get you in the mood to play music, but also put you in a state of mind to work hard. And if you are adventurous, you could try and play it faster or as fast as you can. Which brings us to our next tip…
Walk before you run
When you are learning something new, or trying to push your limits in your music performance, it's always important to play everything slowly to begin with if it is challenging. The best way to keep you honest in your progression with tempos is playing to a metronome. These things are easily accessible now in your mobile devices app store or on your laptop/desktop via the internet. When working with a metronome, find out what bpm the song is in, and time signature. Input these settings, then knock back the tempo a few bpms to start your practise e.g. if a pop song in 120bpm, start at 90bpm. Over time when you feel confident in playing at the original tempo, try pushing yourself by playing it even faster.
Record and reflect
Recording yourself is probably the easiest way to humble yourself in your playing, but also accepting truths when you hear your performance played back to you. It really helps identify your weak points in playing, but also sometimes it may surprise you with your own playing. Always take in and identify your mistakes, but in the same vein, take the positives from it too. Over time, you may pick up on recurring mistakes you make in your technique or note choices. Do your best to be mindful of them on the next run of recordings and see if you have beaten those bad habits in your playing out.
To summarise, it's important to warm up with a bit of fun, and be constructive with your practice. Try and not move on to the next thing till you nail those mistakes. Then appreciate your progress by listening to your week 1 recording versus week 8, and if you see no progress, then get some assistance from your tutor.
But above everything else, always have fun while doing it.
Written by Moses Sulusi (HOD Guitars)