My Formula for Effective Practicing...

Want to know the main problem most people have with practicing music?

It’s not getting distracted.

And it’s not working on the wrong thing.

The real issue is trying to lift too much weight in the gym.

Let me explain…

When you go to the gym to work out, you don’t try to bench press 300 pounds when you can barely budge the bar by itself.

But for some reason, musicians repeatedly waste precious practice time by working on exercises that aren’t calibrated appropriately for their skill level.

The key word here is calibration. No matter what you’re working on, it’s essential that you have the right amount of challenge baked into the exercises. Too much challenge and you’ll end up just practicing mistakes; too little challenge and you’ll never grow your skills.

It’s just like lifting weights. You want to find the amount of resistance and reps that will push you hard but without causing injury.

So, how do you calibrate whatever it is that you’re working on in the shed?

Sounds like a difficult question to answer being that there are so many things to practice and so many ways of practicing them.

Well, you’re in luck…

I have a formula for you that will help you calibrate any exercise so that it aligns with your level of skill.

Here it is:

If you need to make something easier, give yourself more time to think and less to think about.

If you need to make something harder, give yourself less time to think and more to think about.

Let’s break it down.

There are two parts to each of these statements.

The first part is about time and the second part is about quantity of information.

The simplest way to give yourself more time is by slowing down the tempo of whatever it is you’re working on.

Now, lessening the quantity of information can be interpreted in a myriad of ways. It could mean 

• Focusing on a four-measure section instead of the whole tune

• Improvising with only chord tones instead of entire scales

• Playing with only a select few chord tones instead of all four

Get the idea?

It’s important that you reduce the amount of information your brain has to process in order to work through a problem efficiently and effectively.

If you don’t calibrate, you’re likely wasting your time.

The takeaway?

Don’t lift too much weight. And don’t lift too little.

Find your comfort zone and then push beyond it…gradually, or else you’ll pull a muscle.

Now, all of this skill-level alignment talk is exactly why I created the Sick Licks series, in which the lines are organized by level of difficulty.

The Level 1 books are great for beginners, and the Level 2 books are intended for intermediate and advanced players.

But here’s the most important thing…all of the licks are solo-worthy – not just the Level 2 lines.

You see, I get so annoyed when music written for more beginner level musicians sounds lame. So, I made sure that both the easy and the hard lines in the Sick Licks series sound super hip.

Check ‘em out at the link below and be sure to take advantage of the savings you get with the bundles.

Click here to learn more about Sick Licks and listen to a whole bunch of demos.

Happy Shedding!

Jeff