We all know that a daily practice session on our instrument is essential – it goes without saying; however, it’s not the most natural thing to do in fact its one of the things that many musicians, myself included, find a struggle.
In my experience, the hardest part isn’t practising it’s starting to do the practice – once I get into a practice session, it’s often much harder to stop. However, it’s the process of commencing a practice that can be the most difficult for me.
Now people who know me, know I obsessively research things until I get answers. So that’s what I did. Here are just a few of the practice resources I use every day to help keep me motivated to practice!
Daily Practice Graph
I’ve been using a chart made by Gerald Klickstein. It is an excellent way to visualise the way you’ve been practising. You can either mark it up as how much time you’ve been spending per practice session or an alternative is a rating on how productive your practice session was.
My first attempt with this resource was brilliant I stuck it up in my living room (when I’m not in my studio I’m in the living room), and this gives me a little poke into picking up my guitar (which I always have one in my living room)
That leads me to my next suggestion reduce the amount of effort required to start practising – Keep your guitar out on a stand nearby to where you sit. If you have it nearby “looking” at you. It’ll make it easier just to pick it up and start playing.
I’ve heard other musicians who struggle with practice solely because it took so long to get the instrument out. It might sound lazy, but it makes a lot of difference – if you’re efficient with preparing for practice your brain won’t have to think about it so it can become an automated process.
Evernote:
Some Changes have been made since this screenshot (but the idea is still the same)
This is a tool I use on a daily basis, not just for practising; I also use it to run my entire teaching business. It saves on a ton of paper and makes life easier for everyone involved.
Regarding practice, I use it to record the current BPM’s of each exercise in my practice; however, this is just one way I keep information about my guitar practice. If you’re not someone who likes writing or typing this might not be beneficial for you, However, by organizing your practice in sections that you’re working on you’ll ensure that you can get the most out of your practice session.
Zoom H4N Pro
This is one of the more expensive resources I use on a daily basis. My Zoom H4N Pro. It’s a great little recorder, originally brought to create sound effects for Video Game Music I write. I now primarily use this practice resource to help me record what I’m doing in my sessions, which I then combine with Evernote to be able to hear how far I’ve progressed. – This helps keep my motivation up and also helps me to be more honest about how much the practice achieved.
Although this is a slightly more expense resource – you could easily use a Smartphone to create recordings of yourself, and you can even do this within Evernote with audio notes (which when I forget my Zoom I use my phone!).
These are just a few of the practice resources I use on a daily basis, to help keep me motivated in practice. There are alternatives to each of these resources and it’s important to work out what works best for you! So give it a go, and let me know what tools you use! 🙂
Did you know there are benefits to learning guitar? You can find out more about it here. Also if you’re a parent or guardian looking for tips on motivating your young musicians to practice take a look here.