Ugh. Practice.

That’s probably what comes to mind when you think of sitting down with an instrument to work on scales or technique. Most people experience very little joy when practicing those things. It’s a chore. There’s no creativity involved, no familiar tune to ignite your soul. It’s just you, your instrument, and a limitation of your skill set that you are trying to improve. Although striving for improvement is probably your driving force, improvement usually takes time. And, many practice sessions are probably required before improvement is obvious. But, without practice improvement is rarely possible.

It’s a strange dichotomy in music: to improve at this activity that brings so much joy, one has to sacrifice lots of time practicing boring things. If music is so much fun, why is practice so mind-numbingly monotonous? Well, it doesn’t have to be.

How do you make practicing fun? How do you turn these boring exercises into an activity that you actually look forward to instead of dread? It’s easy, if you have a song writer’s mentality, a will to create and to express yourself musically. The key is to play the exercise (the scale or the technique you are working on) a few times slowly to get your fingers somewhat familiar with this skill set. But instead of just executing that skill set over and over, at various tempos, you should engage your creativity. Don’t wait until you’ve mastered the technique to start thinking about how you’d actually use this skill within the context of a song. To make practicing more fun, start thinking about this early in the process well before you’ve mastered the skill. Thinking in this way will engage your mind, something that wasn’t happening with just straight, rote exercises. And before you know it, you’ll actually be sitting there practicing this new skill within the context of a song idea!

If you’ve played around with song writing before, you know the excitement of finding something really cool sounding that you can center a song around. This is one of the joys of song writing. So why not pursue this at the same time you are working on your technique? What better way to get motivated to master this new skill than to immediately starting using that skill in your song writing? Sure, it’s possible that you’ll write something you can barely play. But who cares? As you “practice” this new song that contains this new skill you’re working on, what better motivation could you have for wanting to work with and master that skill? All of a sudden, the work required to master this new skill has taken on a whole new urgency, with much more motivation and enthusiasm than one would normally approach an exercise.

I have been playing instruments and writing songs for over 30 years now. And there are still skills that I’m learning and working on. I suspect (and hope) it will always be that way. I like learning new things and applying them to my song writing. And with the bands that I play in, there are usually times that require me to diligently practice my technique, like the weeks prior to going into a recording studio. I obviously want my skills to be their sharpest when my playing is being recorded. So, those are the times that I buckle down the hardest and practice my scales and techniques the most diligently. I mention this so that you understand practice is not a just beginner thing. It’s something that all musicians, regardless of experience and level of musicianship, should engage in on a regular basis. For performance or recording the payoff is obvious. But for the creativity in song writing, the payoff of practicing is just as rewarding!

Just this week I was practicing guitar, working on my sweep arpeggios, trying to improve my speed and accuracy when I play them. And, sure enough, after about 5 minutes I was bored to tears. But it was because I was playing the same notes over and over again. Then I remembered to not just work on my technique, but to apply my creativity in the use of this technique within a song. Immediately, I started playing these sweep arpeggios in different positions, just like I was changing chords within a song. All of a sudden the music was brought to life. It no longer sounded like practicing. It sounded like a song emerging. My mind was quickly engaged, and before I knew it, another 20 minutes had flown by as I “practiced” this skill in the context of a new song. By the time I had finished “practicing” I realized that I was playing sweep arpeggios better than I’ve ever played them before, with more speed and more accuracy. I also realized I had a great start on a new song. And it was so much more satisfying that just running through exercises.

The idea here is to not shut off your creativity when you sit down to practice your scales and your technique. You can work on your skills and exercise your creativity at the same time. In doing so, you’ll find practice is actually fun. You’ll be more motivated to practice. And the result will be a more rewarding and a more productive practice session. Your skills will improve and at the same time, you’ll probably have new song ideas emerging. So don’t shut off your creativity when you sit down to practice….engage it!

Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins