Run smarter, more effective, and more efficient rehearsals with these tips and resources for getting the most out of your practice time.
If you’ve ever wondered how to cross the line from being a good to a great guitarist, you’ve probably already identified some key factors to focus on — mastery of technique, the quality of your gear, and learning to adopt different performative styles. But I wouldn’t start with any of those — I would start with organization. I have studied the…
If you want to be an active professional musician, you should learn to sing. It’s an incredibly beneficial skill for your ear development, and it’s a lot of fun as well! There are tons of benefits to being able to sing and play an instrument at the same time. For musicians that are primarily instrumentalists,…
If you have a story to tell, then you have something to say with your songwriting, and guitar is your backup instrument. In other words, use your guitar to support your singing. Write your story down and keep your lyric ideas in a folder or binder just for songs. Save them to a folder on…
Often times when we practice and rehearse, we just do so instinctively — we show up, play through our songs, maybe talk about them a bit, and then do it again. While any sort of practice and rehearsal is probably a good thing, no matter how you go about it, there is some interesting research…
Setting up a proper workspace can make practice time infinitely more productive — at least, it definitely did for me. Here’s a list of things to keep at hand when you’re honing your craft. 1. A notebook Okay, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be a literal notebook (though I personally feel pretty tied to…
For a brief few years in college, I got to treat music as a full-time job, devoting 40+ hours a week to musical improvement. I lived ten minutes from the practice rooms and had very few responsibilities, so I could practice as much as sleep and school would allow. Now that I’m a full-fledged grown-up…
“Practice makes perfect.” While I can’t necessarily say I’ve heard any “perfect” music yet, I will certainly attest to the fact that putting in the time will improve any musician’s sound. Throughout my college and post-degree years, I’ve heard people talk about how they “hit the shed” for days at a time — stopping only…
Stockings are coming down, crumpled wrapping paper’s being shoved into recycling bins, and people worldwide are skeptically patting their winter weight in anticipation of the coming year. While we whole-heartedly support your decisions to start taking cross-acro-zum-fit classes and maintaining a strict paleo-free-tarian diet, why not add something painless to your resolution list? Here are two…
