What if you don't have something pressing to force you into laser-focusing your practice habits? How do you manage your time without a deadline to hold you accountable?
If you're reading this article, you're a self-motivated person who wants to improve. Excellent. Give yourself goals that are achievable and quantifiable to stay motivated and track your progress. Rather than a goal like “Get better at soloing" select something like “Transcribe solo on [name a specific song]" as your first weekly goal. Then, build upon those goals by using that material to achieve another objective. Small steps add up to big changes and give you the focus you need to establish good practice habits.
Preproduction
Using this soloing goal as an example, find ways to practice outside of the practice room so you can maximize time with your instrument. If you're trying to cop a solo, learn it by heart before you sit down to play it. Sing along with it over and over again to the point where you can sing it without the recording. Here's an exercise to try: Record yourself playing the chord changes and then sing melodic ideas over it. You can do so much work in advance of heading to the woodshed. And if you're a busy person, preproduction is the key to success.
Lightning Round!
Turn off notifications on your phone. When you have precious little time, an errant tweet notification can derail the 30 minutes you have set aside. Jason Isbell has been responsible for nearly as much social media worm-holing as he has musical inspiration for me. Dude's a Twitter genius. You've been warned.
Organize your practice space. You don't want to be searching for stuff when you're under the gun. I have notebooks, Sharpies, pens, and pencils at the ready along with headphones and adaptors. Take this tip from Rachel Hoffman's home organization masterwork Unf*ck Your Habitat: “A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place." If you have a place for everything, you're never looking for your stuff. And you also don't leave crap everywhere, thereby potentially annoying other people you need as allies.
Maximize good brain time. Is there a time of day that's better for your unique brain function to practice? Take advantage if you can! I'm a night owl so practicing after the baby is asleep works well for me, thankfully.
Sing! You can save yourself hours of time by singing along with parts you're trying to learn outside of your practice space. Do it while driving, while doing the dishes, while exercising, any opportunity you have to listen to music. This is how I learn all bass lines. If you can sing it, you can play it. When you sit down to learn it, you'll know it in your bones—literally. You will immediately hear when you make a mistake and be able to find the note you're looking for by singing the pitch you know you're supposed to hear. It's remarkable how well it works, especially for the students who say “But I can't sing!"
Do a little each day. Like exercise, a healthy diet, and meditation, practicing a smaller amount each day is more beneficial than one big cram session every now and then. Productivity timer cubes are super helpful as a means stay focused for small blocks of time. Even 15 highly concentrated minutes a day will pay dividends and create consistency in your practice and playing.
Take lessons. A teacher is a great way to stay accountable on your musical journey. An objective third party taking inventory of areas where you could improve and giving you homework is a surefire way to ensure you spend time with your instrument each week. Can't afford a ton of lessons? Make a commitment to learn a new technique by watching videos on the subject or treat yourself to a one-time or monthly evaluation by a musician you admire and have them map out some goals for you.
Include your loved ones. When something's important to you, you should share it and celebrate it with your loved ones. Music is the ultimate tool for shared celebration and finding ways to include your people in your practice endears them to your commitment, rather than viewing it as something that takes away from your time together.
My students always amaze me with how they get loved ones on board with their musical pursuits. One student's girlfriend loves karaoke, so he has committed to learning to play and sing a song for karaoke nights. She's excited for him to practice, knowing that they will spend special time together because of it. Another student has his wife help with interval training, playing intervals on the piano so he can guess what he's hearing. His wife loves to tease him about it, and they have a blast with it. Several of my students ask their friends and family what songs they'd like to hear. It's great fodder for learning new material and it gets the people you care about to be invested on a whole new level. And that rocks.
Now I'll consolidate all the info above into a real-world situation and share my practice plan for that 60-song, three-part livestream I mentioned…
Preproduction
I had to do as much prep work ahead of time as possible so I could capitalize on the time I would have to leave my baby with another willing and helpful adult. There are several steps I always take before I sit down to practice new songs. Here are the highlights:
Organize the Music and Listen
Listen to the music you're working on as much as possible. I listen while driving, pushing the baby in her stroller, in headphones next to her while she's napping, etc… Consolidate songs into a playlist in a medium that's easy to access while driving so you're not fumbling with your phone. You don't want some stuff in Dropbox, some stuff on YouTube, and some stuff in Spotify. Organizing your material upfront will save you lots of time later on.
Write Charts
I wrote my charts largely in the car in parking lots while running errands and while the baby was napping. (I write charts by ear and you can too! See my article on The Nashville Number System for more tips.) You can also ask for charts from fellow musicians on the gig (tactfully, please, and return the favor when someone asks you) or source them online if it's a cover gig.
Practice in Your Head
I know myself well enough to recognize when I truly know a song. I can visualize my hands on the fretboard while listening to it and if I get to a spot where the image doesn't come quickly, I know it'll need some attention. I then listen through the songs while reading the charts I wrote in those Nashville parking lots and highlight the trouble spots and anything else that surfaces as questionable.
Get the Setlist
If possible, get the setlist in advance. Then grab a couple pieces of hardy card stock paper and two different colored Sharpies. Write the songs in order in alternating, high contrast colors. This way your eye can find your notes quickly on the floor.
Now to execute a practice plan and juggle a small human…
I had 60 songs to learn that were divided over three 90-minute sets of roughly 20 songs each with about a week between each performance.
I focused on the shows in chronological order and spent all my time listening to those 20 songs, over and over for three or four days before touching an instrument.
My practice time was divided into two 90-minute sessions per day over the course of the two days before each show. One was in the morning when someone could watch the baby and one in the evening after she was asleep.
First Day Practice Sessions
I split the setlist in half and tackled 10 songs at the morning session and the remaining 10 at the evening session. Ninety minutes is about what I need to run 10 songs I've never played (but on which I have done proper preproduction). Some songs I'll only need to run once to get them under my hands, some might need a couple of run-throughs.
I play through each song, focusing on trouble spots, running those sections a few times.
I notate (usually with a highlighter or an asterisk) any trouble spots on my chart I didn't catch during the critical listening and charting pre-practice phase.
Second Day Practice Sessions
I redo the same approach, only this time I try not to look at my charts. As I play along, I take note when I find myself asking “How does that bridge go?" or “Am I in at the top of the song?" I write those notes down in Sharpie next to the song title on my setlist.
And now I present my setlist for the final livestream, which ended up being 16 songs in length. This is written using the Nashville Number System and is a peek into my process. Thanks to my husband and mother-in-law for working with me to make my practice time a reality and best of luck to all of you busy folks out there looking to get the most out of your precious time.
To quote the author Harvey Mackay:
Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it.
You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can
never get it back.
Make the most of it, friends!
As musicians, we are sound. Everything we hear influences us, but the way we collect sounds can resemble how we might collect receipts for tax purposes: They’re just scattered all over the place. If that’s the case, when April comes around you suddenly wish you had a system for finding your receipts, organized by category, in one central location.
Our musical minds are similar to our households at tax time. You hear so many musical ideas but they’re completely unorganized. I started thinking about how to categorize my favorite musical ideas because I wanted to collect and record what I found influential. This led me to musical journaling.
The Musical Journal
My musical journal is a notebook where I write down musical ideas that I find appealing. I don’t make full song transcriptions. Instead, I highlight small phrases, a progression, or other details about a song. I make notes about how they work and what I like about them.
It’s less a personal Real Book and more of a recipe book. When most musicians transcribe, they often notate much longer sections or ideas. My musical journals are filled with smaller snapshots.
The Goal
My goal is to have a physical reference of ideas that inspire and appeal to me. I consult the journal when I need to play a certain style of music or jump-start some creativity. Musical styles tend to have specific elements and if you want to get deep into a style, you must get good at recognizing its traits.
For instance, I have a journal on punk music. It includes notes on my favorite punk songs from the Buzzcocks, the Clash, the Ramones, the Germs, the Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, and Black Flag, to name just a few. When I need to play a punk gig or session, or want to compose in that style, I’ll go through my punk journal to see what progressions or chord shapes are common. Punk music uses a lot of full barre chords. If you play the right punk chords with the wrong voicings, it won’t sound like punk.
Different Journals
Back to organization. I keep a different journal for each style of music I’m researching. I have one for funk that includes songs by the Meters, Funkadelic, and Sly Stone. I have another for blues with research on Howlin’ Wolf, Mississippi John Hurt, Bukka White, Muddy Waters, and others.
Because I listen to and am asked to play different styles of music, my research tends to be broad. Although I would encourage you to listen to many different types of music, it’s not necessary to journal about everything you hear.
Here are just a few examples of things I like to include in my journals.
Song Tempo
Many musicians don’t make notes on song tempos, yet the tempo is incredibly important to the feel of a song. Changing a tempo by merely 2 bpm can greatly alter its sound and feel. If you study a specific style of music, you may also notice that a lot of it lives in a tempo neighborhood. Being aware of this can deepen your playing. In Fig. 1, you can see a page out of my journal about a song called “Western Dream.”
Chord Cycles
When researching styles of music, you will find similar chord cycles. Musical styles are like families, and chord progressions typically have a direct relationship to other songs in that genre. You’ll see a lot of I–IV–V progressions in the blues, for example.
Riffs
Guitar riffs also tend to get recycled. As with chord progressions, it might not be the identical riff, but it may sit in a similar position and use a closely related collection of notes.
Understanding these riff positions or collections is important. For instance, I’ve seen a lot of guitarists who study blues play the correct notes, but in the wrong position. Why does this matter? For one thing, the note’s timbre can be different, depending on what string it’s played on. For another, the position and fingering give you access to certain expressions like bends, hammer-ons, and pull-offs.
When I’m journaling, I note the position the riff is played in (Fig. 2). And it may vary considerably from where I play a similar riff in a different genre.
Melody
I know I just talked about positions and fingering, but I think too many guitarists look at music as a matter of positions on the fretboard. I can’t stress enough the importance of melody. One of my favorite things to do with students is to study the melody line of a song. It’s great for building good soloing skills.
Melody lines often give you everything you need to create a tasteful solo. Sometimes I’ll journal a melody line to a verse or chorus (Fig. 3). Then I’ll make notes about the melody’s relationship to the chords. Does it start on the 3 of the chord? Are there any interesting color notes in there that stick out to you?
It’s a great idea to take note of these things. These are sounds you might like to use in a different song. Understanding the melody’s relationship to the chord is vital: Don’t look at notes and positions in isolation, but rather in a melodic context.
You only truly understand the flavor of a note when it’s set against another note or a chord. These are like flavor pairings. Just as some pair white wine with fish, you may pair an E note in a melody with a C chord.
Form
Another corner guitarists paint themselves into relates to understanding song form. Many players start by learning sections of songs, but if you’re not looking at the whole form of a song, you’re seeing an incomplete picture.
Form dictates many musical decisions. You can’t fully understand why some of these decisions were made unless you look at the song as a whole. I mentioned not transcribing full songs in my journal, but I do mark out the form for reference and make mention of songs that have an unusual layout.
Consider “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones. It modulates up a whole-step after the first chorus. This is an interesting move—not many songs modulate that early.
Tools
There are several ways you can approach journaling. For instance, you can use a traditional notebook. I used to pursue journaling like an arts-and-crafts project. I had blank sheets of music paper and a wire-bound notebook. I’d notate a musical idea on the sheet music, cut it out, tape it into the notebook, and then write my notes around it.
I found this somewhat meditative. It forced me to take time to write it, cut it out, and tape it. I’d think about the music more before moving onto something else. Each entry wasn’t a brief moment, but rather a process to be experienced.
And although I liked it, it was a little difficult to do consistently on tour. I needed to have a book bag with several notebooks, scissors, tape, and blank music paper. I’d sit in my hotel room and research music and make a mess.
To reduce what I needed to carry around, I moved to an iPad. There is a wonderful app for the iPad called GoodNotes. It includes templates for sheet music, tabs, and ruled paper. It allows me to have a collection of journals, just as I would with a notebook. I can create a transcription and cut and paste it in my journal. I can write notes in different colors and highlight them.
Memory Man
I’ve always been fascinated with music, but my memory isn’t always the best. I can remember songs on tour and during a session, but fishing a song or idea out of my memory archives can be a little time-consuming. That’s why I always have my research with me: If I’m on a session and ask to play a reggae-like single-note line, I can open up my notes on reggae and check out my Max Romeo research.
Reading Music
You don’t have to read music to keep an effective music journal. It doesn’t matter so much how you make your notes as long, as they are well-documented and clear, and make sense to you.
I personally like reading music and understanding music theory. Which isn’t a surprise, since I wrote a book on the subject called Practice Makes Progress. It helps me understand and recall things more quickly. I can spot similarities and apply them to other situations more effectively. I don’t use theory to create music, just to connect a few dots.
Sounds
It’s also a great idea to include a song’s sounds in your journal notes. Is there a wah? A specific fuzz tone? A particular guitar or pickup position? I write down these tone recipes for future reference.
Gig Journal
On the subject of sounds, I also journal about guitar rigs for the various gigs I do. Taking pictures of pedalboards, amp settings, and guitars can really help you get back up to speed on a gig you haven’t played in a bit. Guitarists tend to be a tweaky bunch. We’re always trying new pedals and messing with settings, but sometimes we need to turn back the clock.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember what I used two gigs ago, let alone four or five. I play with a lot of artists and do a wide variety of sessions. Each of these gigs has very specific tone collection and I don’t use the same gear for every gig. I can either scratch my head for an hour or take one minute and look at my notes. I will also include notes on what presets I used for which song. If you haven’t been gigging regularly with a particular artist or band, don’t expect you’ll remember preset six for the fourth song in the set in eight months ago.
Fig. 4 is a page from my journal for Amy Helm. I tour with Amy a lot, but sometimes we have a few weeks off. During this hiatus, I’m likely to change pedals and do different gigs. Even if I know what pedals I used on an Amy’ gig, I still might not remember the exact settings on my Vick Audio ’73 Rams Head. Tracking down a photo in my photo library can also be tricky.
In the break from the last Amy Helm tour I played a gig with songwriter Abby Ahmad (who also happens to be my wife). They may share a few pedals, but it’s a very different sound and approach (Fig. 5). Having some assistance with gig recall allows you to make more music, more confidently.
Okay, now I think you have some work to do.