How to practice effectively

Recently I found this really interesting video on Youtube and I shared it with my students but I also wanted to dedicate a post here on the Blog. It's about the positive effect that repeating an action produces in our brains when it comes to practicing and mastering a skill.

A few months ago I started practicing with a different approach than the last 14 years and it's not only giving me better results but it also changed completely my experience during my practice sessions. I used to practice basically trying to push my limits to get better, for example, in a hands workout routine I'd set a metronome at a tempo in which I wasn't comfortable playing and forced myself to push through and unlock that next level of playing but I always thought that it was quite frustrating trying to do something I can't control yet by just pushing through. You'll eventually get there but when you are constantly pushing the limit your whole body gets tense and it's really hard to focus on doing something the correct way when you can barely think in what you're doing because of all that tension.

Instead, with this new approach what I do is I practice at a tempo that allows me to play comfortable and repeat a specific stroke or motion while I'm focused on applying a good technique until my fingers, hands and arms get used to that motion, then it gets recorded into your brain and you start feeling comfortable with it. This is going to allow you to get through that limit without even trying. For example: 3 months ago I wasn't able to play 16th notes at 175 bpm (that's not much, but this finger technique that I learned long ago made me lazy to work on my wrists) but after working on my technique at 140-150 bpm for 20 minutes a day for two months now I can play 16th notes at 200 bpm. I expanded that limit without having to sweat my face off.

Just repeating an action using the right technique and focusing on each part of that motion will allow you to master any skill. You just need time and patience, there are no shortcuts, but practicing this way becomes way more fun and less frustrating.

The metronome mark you should practice on is quite personal, it should be slow enough for you to be able to concentrate on the motions of your body but at the same time it should be fast enough to represent a challenge, when you find that sweet spot you should stay there for hours, days, weeks and even months doing just small variations on the metronome marks by 1 or 2 bpm up and down around that sweet spot so you get used to playing at different tempos (as recommended by Dave Weckl).

How much should I practice? - It's not necessary that you spend several hours a day, in fact it's way better to be consistent and practice for 10 minutes every day than spending 2 hours one day and not touching you sticks again for one week (of course if you have the time to practice for 2 hours every day consistently, go for it!).

You'll find a better explanation for all this is on the video below, I strongly recommend you to take 5 minutes and watch it now.

"Repetition is the key to real learning". Be patient!

THANKS FOR SHARING. See you next time.

Cheers.