The question of what to practice can be quite difficult to answer for anyone but if we attempt to put it in perspective we can come up with a solution that will hopefully provide the direction you need to realize your musical ambitions. I think the first step is to know what is is you want to do musically. Once you have a clear vision of what it is that you want to do it boils down to creating a plan to get from your current skill level to the level needed to fulfill your vision and committing yourself to putting in the work required to get to that skill level.
- Know what you want to do.
- Make a plan to get there from where you are.
- Execute your plan.
Those three steps seem simple enough and they apply to so many other things in life, not just music. Still, I'm sure it doesn't answer the question of "What should I practice?" but it gives you a formula to use to help you figure it out. First you have to know what you want to do. Do you want to be a great guitarist or singer? Do you want to be a performer? Do you want to write music? Do you want to be part of a group? Do you want to do it for your own pleasure or do you intend to make a career out of it? These are questions that only you can answer but in finding that answer you surely have some kind of image in your mind of yourself playing the music that appeals to you the most. This is the vision that is drawing you pursue your musical ambitions and the stronger it is the greater the chance you will take steps to move in that direction. If you see yourself playing guitar like Tosin Abasi or Steve Vai, or perhaps it's singing like Taylor Swift or Andrea Bocelli, whatever that inspiration or instrument is, it is the vision of seeing yourself doing it that pulls you and motivates you to spend hour after hour for months or years in an effort to attain that goal. For me, it was a desire to play keyboards like Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman and the pull to doing that is still as strong as ever.
So now you know what you want to do. How do you get there? You need to have some idea about where you are now and come up with a plan to build upon that foundation. In my opinion, the best and fastest way to get there is to get a good teacher. A good teacher will be able to assess your current abilities and determine what skills you need to develop to set you on the right path to achieving your vision. A good teacher will keep you from developing bad habits and will ensure that you have a good foundation on which to build more advanced skills. Finally, a good teacher will answer the question "What should I practice... next?" Unfortunately for many of us we can't find a good teacher, or we can't afford a good teacher, or we're too impatient to get where we want to be that we try to skip over the important things we should be learning on the journey. So how do we know what is the best course of action to take? I'm going to share a couple of things that happened on my journey and hope that it may provide you with some insight about what might be your best course of action.
When I was ten I had some very basic instruction in singing, ear training, reading treble clef music and the theory of intervals. At the time I wanted to play the organ but never had any keyboard lessons until I was eighteen. Due to a combination of factors, one of which was that I didn't think I was learning what I wanted to help me attain my goals, I stopped taking those piano lessons, choosing to work instead on what I though would bring me closer to my goal. It was six years before I realized that I had learned more about playing the piano in those four years than I had in the intervening six years prompting me to finally resume my lessons. If you're interested you can read the short version of my musical experience in my biographical summary posted on my personal website.
Despite those lessons in which I made a great deal of progress toward my goals I have only recently started to address issues I have had with maintaining a consistent rhythm which has been the greatest impediment my being able to play the way I have envisioned myself playing. The realization of this problem with rhythm became apparent in 2011 and that was when I started developing my plan to overcome this issue. I will likely describe the details of that plan in a future posting. While I still have some rhythmic problems, I am working with my teachers to resolve those problems and hopefully will soon be able to put them behind me for good.
What do you do if you are unable to find a good teacher? My advice would be to pay attention to the fundamentals. What are these fundamentals? In the most general sense, they are rhythm and pitch. Learn as much as you can about each. Learn to read music. Learn the theoretical foundations of harmony. Learn the fundamental techniques for your instrument. As I work my way through my program of study I will continue posting all I can about what I am learning but there are so many resources available on the internet today that you should be able to find something you should learn that can be used to help improve your playing, singing, or composing. Also, play with other people as much as you can. You can teach each other and practice together. I will continue this discussion at a later time and detail what I feel to be the specific fundamentals that one should study but I need to follow my own advice and move on step three of this process and execute my plan.
I hope this has helped you to get a better idea about what you should practice. I will soon post articles and some videos on techniques I have found useful for practicing fundamentals but until then, happy practicing.
Greg Shoemaker
