Though cliché, the old saying couldn't be more true. Practice really does make perfect...or as close to perfect and one can get. Though many new musicians can be discouraged when hours of practice don't seem to make any difference as far as getting better, sticking to your instrument practice regime well eventually begin to pay off. So what are the best ways to learn and practice your instrument?

With so many concepts and techniques to learn such as scales, chords, arpeggios, rhythms, strumming, picking, finger style, bending, and slides (just to name a few), it's only natural to have both option anxiety and progress anxiety. It's hard enough to stay focused enough to learn, absorb, and assimilate a particular concept without continually questioning whether the manner in which you are learning is actually working.

For me, the most effective way to deal with these types of anxieties is to get back to why you are learning the instrument in the first place: the music. When I say "the music", I mean the comfortable execution of a musical idea. It can be a song, a melody, a riff, a lick, part of a solo, a one-bar phrase, or any other things you can play that feels good and objectively sounds good. When a musical idea fits these criteria, it takes on the characteristics of what I like to call a groove.

A great source for these kinds of grooves is the increasing number of play-along book and CDs that are now available. A recent arrival on the sheet music scene, play along packages come with the sheet music, including guitar sheet music and piano sheet music just to name a couple, (and guitar scales and tablature if applicable) of songs from your favorite bands and artists, and a matching CD that has a live band playing these songs minus your part. So you're the one who completes the music by "playing along". There is no better way to improve your playing and comfort with an instrument than by playing in a band, and this is the next best thing (plus you don't have to worry about waking up the neighbors). Imagine being able to play along with Stevie Wonder's greatest hits or to jam with Van Halen?

Play-along music books are available for a lot of different instruments, the most common being:


Piano/Vocal/Guitar Play-Along
Guitar Play-Along
Bass Play-Along
Drum Play-Along
Jazz Play-Along for Bb, Eb and C instruments
Violin Play-Along
De Haske Play-Along for band & orchestral instruments

As you go through the process of learning a part and playing along with the accompaniment, try to keep a few things in mind:

Don't set any kind of timeframe for how much practice it will take to lock in your part. Just concentrate on getting the timing down, and then the feel of the music. Try to feel secure in the notion that it definitely will happen, instead of always wondering when it will happen.
One tell-tale sign that you're locking in your part is that you will naturally start to use an economy of motion to execute the idea. If you ever watch any of your favorite players closely, you can see that it usually requires very little movement to execute the ideas they play.
This type of practicing can also be helpful if you are learning a larger body of music. For example, if you're learning a long solo, it's good to break it up into several smaller digestible parts, to practice each piece in the above fashion, and to then put the practiced pieces together and play them in sequence.

As simple as the above exercise is, it can often be hard to execute, especially for beginning and intermediate players. The emphasis always seems to be on learning more, instead of spending time honing what you already know. For a long time, I was guilty of this, knowing how to play full songs and solos note-for-note, but not playing any of it well, or in a satisfying way either to myself or to a listener. It's like you're giving a speech in which you're reading directly off the paper, instead of spending time learning how to pace the sentences and where to throw in certain inflections to make the subject matter more interesting and convincing.

To use another metaphor, the concept of honing or locking in a particular groove is akin to cross-training for an athlete, in that you are subconsciously and simultaneously working on the building blocks that constitute good musicianship, instead of tackling them one at a time. In particular, it helps you develop good "time", which is a steady and even rhythmic component that all good players possess, and good technique, which is the smooth and easy execution of the particular groove.

Similarly, the honing of a groove is what all musicians go through when they join a band. In this case, the number of people trying to lock in the groove is equal to the number of musicians in the band. When everyone in the band has it locked in, the band has become what is often referred to as tight, with good time and well-executed parts.

So if you find yourself feeling the same kind of frustration I've outlined here, try getting back to the essence of playing an instrument - the music itself, and use the given exercise to facilitate this. In the long run, you'll be happier, and you'll be continually reminded of why you ever decided to start playing music.
Active Musician
http://www.activemusician.com
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