Its important to get the most out of your time and effort no matter what you are trying to accomplish,musically or otherwise.

You’ve probably stuff like heard this before but I’ll repeat it for you anyway…You’ve got to plan and then take action to on the plan to get results.  So lets think about how we can apply that to become better musicians

Start by planning our work.  Consider this:

A song,chord,scale, lick or whatever is only as hard as its hardest sequence of notes. Usually these come in the form of physically technical challenges.  Sometimes they can be musical too such as timing or pitch related.

So start by knowing what your biggest challenges are in learning a new piece, Those are going to be those hardest sequences of notes. Also know what parts require little effort to learn.  That’s making the plan.

Now lets apply effort to get results.  Practice those hardest parts alone, away from the rest of the piece.  That is the best use of your time.  No sense putting time into something you can already do.  Anything you can do already don’t spend a second on.

Once you have worked all of the parts to an equal level of performance put them all together.

That’s the big picture.  Hopefully this tip will save you some practice time.  Tune in for my next lesson, Practicing More Effectively Part 2, where we will refine this practice technique to take your practice to a whole new level.

-Bob

Last time we looked at the big picture for planning our practice and then taking a
action to get results by working on the most challenging parts apart from the rest of the piece and then later putting it all together.

Today I just want to say that it takes practicing perfectly to play perfectly.  Here’s what I mean:

Here’s a definitive method to discovering exactly where the parts that need the most work are, the ones that need some work, and the parts that you can just ignore.

You’ll need something to record your playing on for this one.  You’ll also need the sheet music, tabs or written notes of the piece in its entirety, that means from start to finish, every single note.

Here’s the process:

1) Play the entire piece 3 times through entirely into you recorder.  If you make a mistake don’t stop and correct it, just keep going.

2) Listen back to the tape.  Every time you hear a mistake circle it in the sheet music or tabs.

3) When you are done you will have some parts that are circled 3 times, others 2, others once, some not at all.

4) The ones that are circled 3 times are your most challenging.  Plan on practicing those first and more often.  Ones with 2 circles are second priority.  Those with one may have just been a fluke but practice them anyway.  If its not circled just ignore it.

5) Repeat the parts until you can play them SEVERAL TIMES with no mistakes.  Don’t just get one good one and move on!  Play then 4 or 5 times IN A ROW, NO MISTAKES.

6)  Now you are ready to play the whole piece.  Get out your recorder, record it 3 times again and repeat this process.

7) Keep repeating the process until you can play the whole thing 3 times with no mistakes.  Yes, I’m aware this mat take weeks or even months.

Hope this one helps you become more of a perfectionist when it comes to practice.

-Bob

I still remember the feeling I had the first few times I ever jammed with my friend who was a drummer.  Both of us were still learning to play.  Neither of us was that good at our instrument.  In fact I had never even taken a lesson and he only had only learned a little bit in school.

We only knew a couple songs in common and neither of us actually knew the entire songs.  But that didn’t matter.  We were making noise and doing it together.  The vibrations from the rattle of the 2nd hand drum set and the cheap dirty feeding back guitar parted the hair on our heads and rattled our little brains.

It was exhilarating and inspirational.  It sounded so good (to us) that we had to tape it at the next jam.  We would play it time after time, and again and again until our parents could no longer stand it.  But we still didn’t get a good take.  So much for our demo.

“Wait!” we said “we needed somebody who owns a bass”. They didn’t have to know how to play it, just own it.  After all we had only been playing for a month or so anyway.  It would just take them a week or two to get as good as us if they practiced harder.  That would make our recording sound better.  Then we could get gigs and girls, then a record deal, then fame and fortune.  Yep, we had it all figured out.

I hope your first jamming experience gives you the feeling I experienced with my first “band”.  Nobody ever gave me any tips on how to go about playing with other people.  I just had to do it by trial and error.  So here’s a few tips on how to get started for your first jam session.

1)  Choose players with the same ability level as yourself.  This way you can grow together as musicians and improve along with each other.  Don’t let your jam session to turn into you teaching someone a lesson.   Don’t frustrate someone else by slowing them down and making them wait for you to figure out whats going on.  Don’t let your jam session become a licks trading session.  Finding an appropriate match of talent level is best for everyone.

2) Choose players that you have things in common with. Common musical interests are a must for beginning jammers.  Knowing the same songs or at least pieces of them will make things progress quicker.

3) Listen as much as you play.  You will learn to appreciate what your friends are doing musically plus it will keep everyone together, which is the point of jamming. “Musicians that play together stay together.”

4) Set goals for the next jam session the prepare for them.  This could mean adding new songs, the goal of writing a song together or just getting a better mix of your sounds.  This keeps things fresh and gives everyone something to look forward to.

5) Don’t be too critical or competitive with one another.  A jam is not about showing off or who can play better.  Its about supporting one another and helping each other improve as you go.

As you get better you will become comfortable and talented enough to play with musicians that are better than you.  Then you will be ready to take to the next level what your first jams have prepared you for.  In time you’ll learn enough licks to have a licks trading session with other players.  But in the beginning keep it basic by using the tips I just gave you.

By the way my drummer friend and I found a bass player and a singer and were playing parties and schools by our junior year.  We went on to gigging clubs by the time we were freshmen in college, got more popular and eventually made a decent amount of money.  We both are professional musicians now. But professional music isn’t for everybody.  Our bass player is now a cop and our singer a hairdresser.  Nobody ever got a record deal.

So whether you aspire to make music for a living or just as a hobby, jamming can be fun and rewarding.  Now its time to go call up your friends and organize your first jam so I’ll talk to you later in my next lesson.

-Bob