How to have a GREAT practice session!
- Tune your instrument! I recommend a KORG or the “Cleartune” ap.
- Warm up! Have an “always play” warm up song and start your practice with it every time. This should not be a challenging song - we want to ease in to more difficult stuff here.
- Maintain songs on your tune list. If it's on your list, you should be able to play it! You don't need to play every song every day but if you want to keep something in your repertoire it needs to be played. A really fun way to do this is playing along with recordings or strum machine.
- Working on a new tune? Remember to take it slow and practice it “phrase by phrase”, getting your notes right as well as phrasing, intonation, technique, and bowing. Once you are ready for the next step try playing it with a practice drone to work on intonation, or with a play along recording to work on phrasing, timing, and groove. I recommend playing with practice recordings as much as possible - they are the number one difference I see in students who progress quickly!
- Use Audacity or Audio Stretch app to adjust play along recordings to be the perfect tempo for where you are at right now. A good rule of thumb is play the song ten times at a comfortable tempo before moving it up by 5 or 10 percent.
Links to practice tools:
Tuners
KORG CA-2: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CA2--korg-ca-2-chromatic-tuner
Cleartune app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cleartune/id286799607
Play along tools
Strum Machine (website): https://strummachine.com/
Practice drones (youtube): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kHG9fAU_mcPFJcKzx2J2eNlWt9g5At7Lw
Audacity (desktop application): https://www.audacityteam.org/
Audio Stretch (app): https://www.audiostretch.com/
KORG CA-2: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CA2--korg-ca-2-chromatic-tuner
Cleartune app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cleartune/id286799607
Play along tools
Strum Machine (website): https://strummachine.com/
Practice drones (youtube): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kHG9fAU_mcPFJcKzx2J2eNlWt9g5At7Lw
Audacity (desktop application): https://www.audacityteam.org/
Audio Stretch (app): https://www.audiostretch.com/