Practice Time

Whenever it came to practicing I would usually pick up my guitar and just start working on whatever I felt like at the time. I would spend a lot of time working on separate styles and songs until I had enough. I would then put my guitar away until I felt like practicing again. I loved the guitar so picking it up at least a couple of times a day wasn't a stretch. There were times when I would work on specific lessons and songs but most of the time it was whatever goes. I spent a lot of the time just 'noodling around' without much focus. After a while, I realized that I could probably accomplish a lot more and improve a lot quicker if I was more disciplined about my practice time. I then read up and researched all that I could about practicing and how the great players practiced.

What

I found out that not only did the greatest players practice a lot, but they were also very disciplined about what they practiced. If you've ever read about John Coltrane's practice regimen you can see that he was not only hard working but thorough. He worked through everything in all twelve keys, working on every variation imaginable; a method well known among jazz players. I also learned that not only does this apply to the greatest players; it was also true of the great composers, songwriters and pretty much anybody else in an artistic discipline. It's not enough to practice; you must be disciplined in figuring out what it is that you have to know and then working through all of the necessary exercises to gain the required knowledge and ability.

There are a lot of ways to find out what it is that you need to learn and it's just a matter of asking the right questions and you'll find the right answers.

Most of the players mentioned had minimal education and some were completely self-taught. The point is that they figured out what it is that they had to learn then spent the necessary time to master those techniques. They were focused about what they had to do. You'll also find that although a lot of these players were self taught and had a style of their own, the method by which they went about learning their craft is very similar. For example, most jazz players go through the same method of learning scales to improvise over complex chord changes. This includes systematically going through all of the different variations of progressions in all keys, in different tempos, with different variations. No small feat that takes a considerable amount of time and focus. The same can be said of composers who learn the necessary theory and then go about working through all of the different ways that the theory can be applied to their craft. Ask Quincy Jones about some of the things he went through when learning his craft.

How

When I teach guitar, I usually treat the lesson like an actual practice session. In other words, I go through all of the things that you should be going through every time you practice. The following is a general list that I start with and then adjust according to the level of the student and their goals. For everybody the basic list is like this:

• WARM UP - 2 minutes
  
• PICKING EXERCISE - 2
  
• READING - 5
  
• EAR TRAINING - 5
  
• CHORDS - 10
  
• SCALE - 10
  
• SONG/REPERTOIRE - 10
  

Within each general heading there is a few things included that isn't listed in the title. For example chords and scales also include rhythms and theory. I always try to apply the theory to real world examples and songs that they're working on. The picking exercise includes arpeggios and finger-picking. The warm ups are to be done slowly to focus on the left hand and develop independence. This of course is the short list and depending on the student and genre, other headings would be added. For a jazz student, more time would be spent on scales and chords because this would include improvisation and comping. The times are a general indication of how much time to spend on each discipline within a 45 minute practice period. You would spend more time on specific areas when needed; before a big performance for example, the majority of the time would be spent on learning the pieces.

When

I'll be going into more detail about this in the weeks ahead but for now this is a basic outline to give you an idea of how you should approach your time practicing. For every different type of student the list will be slightly different but the idea is the same. Work in the areas that are the most important everyday. Take time out to evaluate what it is that you want to accomplish and then find all the material you can about it. Above is a list for learning a musical instrument; a songwriter's list would be slightly different. By having discipline and working everyday on the things that you know you should (generally your weakest areas) you will learn more and become better in a much shorter time. You will probably surprise yourself.

Optimizing Studio Time

So you’ve decided to go into the studio and get some tracks done. This could be a commercial studio, your friend’s studio, or your own home studio. These days there doesn’t seem to be much difference between some home studios and some of the commercial places. There are a few things that you should think about when taking this step.

The Plan
You would think that if you were going to do some work in your own studio that there wouldn’t be the need for any planning or preparation. It’s not like going into a commercial facility where you were paying by the hour and time was of the essence. The problem with thinking that you have all the time in the world to get things done is that you usually take all the time in the world. With this mindset, you may spend a lot of time playing around thinking that since it’s your home studio, it doesn’t have the urgency or even is as serious as something done at a professional facility. The problem arises when you go into the studio and spend a lot of time playing with the gear and experimenting without setting any goals or doing what you set out to do in the first place.

If you’re just starting out and are using the studio as a learning tool, then you can use that time to fool around and see how things work. But even this has its limits. There comes a time in the learning process when you have to get down to business and do things on a ‘need to do’ basis. That means doing projects as well as taking time out to learn specific disciplines and working on your craft. There is a huge learning curve when it comes to recording, mixing and professional audio that takes time and concentrated effort. To learn your craft, there is going to come a time when you’re going to have to stop experimenting and get down to getting things done.
There is always a level of experimentation in music that never goes away; the difference here is getting the essentials down so you can use time to experiment when you have it.
So let’s look at a couple of scenarios:

The Band

You’re in a band and decided that you’ve written a couple of songs that you’re really happy with and are ready to record. If you’re a band that has spent some time rehearsing, it’s a good idea to rehearse the songs that you are going to record until you all have a pretty good idea of what you want to accomplish when you go into the studio. Some bands just go right into the studio without even working on the material at all and figure that that’ll come later. It’s usually a better idea to work over the tunes in rehearsal because you end up getting really familiar with the songs and can work through a lot of ideas until you come up with something that you really love. After working through the song in rehearsal for a while, you may find that the song takes on a life of its own. Things may start to gel in a way that they can't when you're just laying down tracks quickly. Just jumping into the studio, you may get the entire recording done, and then realize later that you don’t like the sound or even the song. If you can, write a couple of songs together and see if you come up with a general sound that way. When you rehearse with the band, the sound will further be developed. The basic point here is to work through the songs until you come up with something that you really feel excited about instead of jumping into the studio and spending a lot of time creating recordings that you may not like or doesn’t really represent your sound.

Working on one thing at a time makes you focus on the songs first.

The Lone Gunman

What about if you’re a lone songwriter and are just working on material to demo or songs that you might want to play with a band at a later date? The same basic principle applies as far as working through the material and trying to find that sound that is yours. Too often, since we have the recording studio at our disposal, we’re all to eager to just write anything and get in there and start recording. If your main goal is to write great songs, this usually isn’t a good idea. Some guys will write a song and then start recording right away and work on the song that way. This may work for some people but the problems lies when you get caught up in the recording and arranging processes and lose sight of the song. How many times have you heard industry people complain that there very few great songs out there even though there are millions being recorded? The point is that if you’re determined to write great songs, then focus on that and make sure you have a great song before you spend tons of time and money making a demo, or even worse, a finished product. I’m not suggesting that you forgo the recording process entirely, just the opposite. I always write on the computer. The difference is that I always keep the arrangements bare bones until I have the song to where it can sit on it’s own without any fancy arrangements.

Composer/Arranger

If you’re an instrumentalist or you’re working on writing better arrangements, or trying to write in different styles, then this takes a different approach. Yes, you’ll want to go into the studio right away and get going on recording but you’ll still have to take some time and decide what it is that you want to accomplish. You want to make sure that you’re working toward something and not just messing around with your gear. Messing around with your gear isn’t a bad thing; in fact it’s a really good idea. You do want to limit this to a certain amount of time or you’ll be messing around with your gear for years…without really getting anything done. For this approach you will want to decide which style and what kind of song you’re going to work with in the first place. Is an original, or is an arrangement of a standard, or a remix? You get the idea. The thing about doing exercises like this is it’s close to what happens in the real world. You get a call to write something in a specific style, like so-in-so artist with strings added, for example. Of course there are always deadlines and you should include this in your exercise. You’ll need some examples from the different artists mentioned or something in the general style and then work from there. The good thing about exercises like this is that you can take the results and add them to your portfolio that you can include in a demo reel or play to perspective clients.

Studio Wonderland

The studio itself can be a huge distraction to you actually getting to work. I know quite a few guys that have an impressive amount of great gear but never seem to get any work done. They preoccupy most of their time getting the gear and then messing around with the gear. These are the type of guys that make great techies and engineers but unless that’s your goal, you may not want to spend all of your time on this. The best thing to do when it comes to gear is to be really selective about the gear you get and then learn that piece of gear inside and out. There is a learning curve with any piece of new gear that’s going to take time away from your current project. Some pieces of gear are worth the effort to take time out and learn properly but be selective about this. In the end, the point is to make your results better and more professional; and that’s what this article is about…results.

Getting It Done...Regardless

Every once in a while I find it really hard to keep motivated. Even when it comes to music, something that I really love, I sometimes find it hard to get to work. Why is this? Let's take a look.

We’re Not Machines

There may be a lot of factors involved. There may be a lot of other things going on in your life, both good and bad that may be weighing on your mind. Even if you don’t think that these things are affecting you, they may be and you don’t know it. You also may have been working on music a bit too much lately and haven’t taken time out to take a break. Or, it may be a special time (like the holidays) and you really just want to be out having fun but still feel that you should be working. We may feel sometimes that we can go on everyday, working hard and getting things done but our minds and bodies don’t work that way.

The mind and body demands things from us even when we don’t want to accept it.

Like the athletic community knows all too well, our bodies operate in cycles and it’s in our best interest to acknowledge these cycles so we can take advantage of our peak periods. This is something musicians have yet to learn. Most musicians I know go at it everyday, without any consideration for their bodies or natural cycles; expecting peak performance day in, day out. There are times when you’re going to have more energy, greater creativity and be able to perform better; then there are the times when you’re not. Since we usually don’t have the privilege of working only at our peak times, we have to find some way to work with these cycles so we can get things done without burn out or injury. That means paying attention to what’s going on and making necessary adjustments.

Stop…and Go

When you’re finding it hard to get some work done, instead of fighting it or beating yourself up about it, you may want to take a moment and figure out if your body is trying to tell you something. If you’ve been working in the studio and doing a lot of writing and playing, your mind may need some rejuvenation time to ‘refill’ so to speak. There have been volumes written on all of the things that you can do to get the creative juices going by taking time out to recharge and get a fresh perspective. If you’re having a hard time getting to work, and it’s not just a one time thing but goes on for a couple of weeks, you may want to take a break and try working on something different. For example, if you’ve been doing a lot of writing and things just aren’t coming to you, take a break from writing and work in another area. Slow down the writing for a little while and use that time to work on your website, go to some industry events, work on some PR, or even try playing with some other people or somebody’s else’s stuff for a while. You may come back with renewed energy and a ton of new ideas. Keep in mind that new ideas need time to incubate so you may need some time to work through the ideas and it may seem like you’re getting worse for a while.

Sometimes it’s a matter of energy, sometimes it’s a matter of creativity. A lot of the time, since these seem to go hand in hand, it’s feels like it’s both.

Creativity

If it’s creativity, a good thing to do is to try something new that makes your mind work in new ways. In music this might be learning a new instrument, learning a song in a genre that you’re not familiar with, or joining a group. Joining a group will force you to work with other people and you become part of a creative force where ideas are exchanged. Sometimes you get stuck in a certain way of thinking and being part of another creative group makes you start thinking in new ways. The other thing you may want to do when stuck is get the opinion of somebody you respect. This is just another version of the group idea above where you’re getting a fresh perspective. You can also try separating the various processes or doing the process in a new way. For example if you’re a songwriter, try writing the lyrics only or the melody only. Try writing on a different instrument even if (especially if) you can’t play the other instrument. Try writing with no instrument at all (an especially effective exercise because it makes you really focus on the melody). A great though, if you’re having trouble writing, is to set aside a time and just write without any judgment. Set a timer for about 10 or 15 minutes, pick up your instrument and your tools of choice and just start writing. The most important part of this is to dismiss any judgment. You’re just going to write for the time allotted and just let it flow. No idea is bad and no idea is thrown out. Just let it go. Once the time is up, stop. Let it sit for a while and come back to it later. See what comes up. You’ll be surprised how many great ideas come up when that judgmental part of our brain is completely shut off.

Energy

If it’s a lack of energy, and you just have to get the work done, try some of these ideas: Take a quick walk before starting. Walking seems to clear the mind and it gets the heart and blood flowing without going into a full on workout. A light stretch will have the same results. One thing that works really well for me is the half hour appointment. If I’m having a hard time getting to work, I just tell myself that I’ll just work for half and hour and ‘see how it goes’. Sometimes, the half hour passes and it becomes obvious that it just isn’t working today and I try working on something else. Most of the time though, the simple act of starting and keeping with it for a short time is enough to get a flow going and a couple of hours pass before I realize it. One other thing to keep in mind when it comes to energy is to take breaks. Get up once an hour and walk around, or leave the room. Five minutes is usually long enough to get refreshed and not lose your flow. This gets the mind and blood flowing and it may save you some injury from sitting in the same position for an extended period of time. Sometimes we get so involved in what we're doing, we forget about things like posture, stiff muscles or even how we’re feeling. Getting up once an hour for a stretch is a good way to keep the body loose and keep us from sitting in the same position for an extended period. Moving also has an effect on our minds because sometimes just getting up from where we’re sitting, gives us a ‘different perspective’. For example, listening to a mix from a different position or even another room is valuable in giving us an overall view of the song. Sometimes you get so involved in tweaking a certain sound that you lose perspective of the big picture. The last important aspect is to know when to stop. Since we’re involved in a creative art, we can't really 'cram' like in certain other activities. There comes a time when you’ve been working too long and you either start to make some bad decisions, you lose perspective of what you were trying to accomplish in the first place, or your mind starts to wonder and you lose that creative space and the work suffers. I know that sometimes when I’m working on a mix for too long, my ears get tired without me realizing it and I start tweaking sounds to some horrible results. In the arts, there is the point of diminishing returns and you simply have to stop for the day.

We’re not machines; we’re artists. Whether we like it or not, we can’t keep the wheels grinding day after day without taking time out to take a break or switch gears. It’s important to take note of the times when our mind and bodies are telling us that they just don’t want to do it today. It’s best to acknowledge these times and take a break or work on something else. If that’s not an option, we have to find some way of getting the work done while respecting what our bodies are trying to tell ourselves so we’re healthy enough to work and create another day.