Measuring Your Music Talent

We go through life relatively quickly. It's easy to go through an entire day and not really remember what you've done. It's just as easy to accomplish quite a few things in a day and not realize it. It's the same with our musical progress. It's easy to just go day by day without figuring out exactly where we are, what we are doing, and what we'd like to accomplish.

We have a terrible sense of time. It's the same with a lot of areas of our life where we go with our gut feelings or some vague recollection. How many songs have you written? How many songs do you know? You may think that it may be a large number but until you sit down and actually calculate the exact number, you really don't know for sure.



Measuring Your Progress

How many scales do you know? How many songs do you know? Licks? Cliches? Chord progressions? You get the idea. I would venture to say that most musicians have no clue to most of these questions. The best thing to get an idea of where you are is to start writing things down. Start with a list of the basics. Chords, scales, songs written, songs learned, solos, etc. Make this list as comprehensive as possible. By making a list, you start to get an idea of where you are. Keep in mind though, that this isn't a list to try and put as many things on it as possible; it's just a guide. Knowing more scales doesn't make you a better player if you don't know how to use them. On close inspection, it becomes obvious what you've done. If you've thought that you've written a lot songs, but then see on your list that only a handful are actually completed, it may be a wake-up call. Initially, this list will be a work in progress. Don't worry about making a completed list right off the get go. Take some time and figure out where you are in each area. This will be our starting point.

What's The Point?

The point of all of this isn't to brag to your friends about knowing 1,000 chords. It's for you only. It's about seeing exactly where you are and what you need to do. The best use for me is a guide as to how many songs I know. I also use it to see how many songs I've written lately. It must be updated regularly but once a month should be enough. It's great as a review system too. A review should be done at least once a year, if not more. The review should include all of the things that you've been working on for the year. Reviewing is the best way of keeping the things you've learned in your head and on your fingertips.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat


Everything you learn, you want to remember and use. The best way we learn is through repetition. When you learn something new, the best way to remember it is to review it often. If you've gone to your lesson and learned some new skills, you should review what you've learned as soon as you get home. Try to put it into your own words. Go through the points that the teacher made and try to do the exercises on your instrument. This should be done the night of your lesson. Then, another review should be done the next day. Do the same things you did the night before. Spend some time going through the concepts in your mind. If you've done these two things, you're well on your way to retaining the lesson. Other reviews can be done but as long as the concepts where reviewed in the first place, the time between reviews can get longer.

For example:
1. review as soon as you can after the lesson
2. review the lesson again the next day
3. review once again within the next couple  of days
4. you can wait about a week before going over the material again.
5. review once at the end of the month
6. from here on out, once every couple of months and the concepts are yours for life

Once you've created your list, your going to want to put it in your practice workbook and update it regularly. I've talked about the importance of having a practice workbook here before. You may also want to keep other kinds of workbooks in helping with your learning and creativity. If you're having trouble keeping one updated, stop there. Try not to worry too much about these things. You don't need more things getting in the way of practicing and creating. But if you have tons of ideas running through your head and don't know what to do with them, the workbooks are the best idea. If you have tons of ideas and know that if one arises, you can write it down and place it in your journal, your great ideas will never get lost.

The Journal

Creating a journal is nothing new to artists. DaVinci was famous for his workbooks and journals. There are many different types of journals. There are the open ended, what's going on in my brain today type journals. There the goals and aspirations type. And there are the aforementioned DaVinci notes and ideas journal. Most artists keep journals to varying degrees. These vary as much as the artists do. For musicians, the lyric journals are popular but there are also the music ideas journals. Beethoven was famous for writing down tons of ideas and themes in workbooks. He would come back to them on a regular basis and review them, edit them, or add more. The key here is that not only would he keep the journal, he would return to them often. If it's not getting used, it's a waste of time..

Your Practice Workbook

This is the most important part of the equation. It's important to have a daily journal of what you've done. It's easy to guess that you've done this or that. Or to think that you've done more (or less) than you have. But when you have the practice workbook sitting in front of you, with all of your lists, notes on what you've done you no longer have to guess. It's all right there in front of you. You can see what you've done specifically so no matter what you may have thought, it's there in black and white. It's important that your workbook stays up to date. Make notes whenever you can. It's about a little at a time. I don't want you to lose sleep over this or use it as another thing getting in the way of your practice. If you do it regularly, it should only take a second. Whenever you do something in your practice sessions, make a note in your workbook. At the end of the month, just before the end of one of your practice sessions, take a quick look back at the past couple of weeks and make a note of what you've accomplished. If there are things that you wanted to get done but didn't, make a note. Put a star beside it if it bothers you and you want to make sure that this gets done next month.

Computer Stuff

Most of my writing these days is done on the computer. It's so easy to start writing something or try new ideas. You can save your work and come back to it later. Of course the most important part of that statement is 'come back to it later'. This is one of the main reasons for the workbook. It's all too easy to lose track of what you've done and what needs to get done. If you've got a hundred songs on your computer and none of them are done, you need to stop and get some of them to completion. Again, we come back to the workbook. Make a list of all of the songs you have on your computer and then make notes on each. Which ones are close to completion? Make separate notes on each such as what needs to be changed and what is good. Of course the list can be on your computer but make sure  you put it in it's own folder. Make a folder just for your workbook notes. I'm suggesting a folder instead of just a note taking program because you'll want to include other things  in there. I like to make mp3's of all of the songs I'm working at so I don't have to open my DAW just to hear what they sound like. I also keep pdf's and things I've copied  from the internet in there.

This Is What I Know


If you've done everything that is listed here, you'll know exactly where you are. You can see that you have all of the pentatonics memorized but need to work on soloing in different keys. Your chord knowledge is going well but you need to work on chord progressions. You have 10 songs written but want to get more of that done. You haven't worked on your theory at all lately and want to learn more to apply it to your songwriting. You want to learn about film scoring but you know that you're just a beginner and need guidance in this area. Your not sure about how many songs you know and have to get that list together. It may not be an exact measurement of your musical talent but it really gives you a good idea of where you are.

The Data-Driven Musician

More and more it's becoming easier to measure our life. Where this is taking place in every other part of your life, it's now becoming part of your musical journey. There are better ways to learn and make sure you are accomplishing your dreams. By writing down what you've done and what you are doing, you know exactly where you are heading, where you've been and where you're going to end up.The best system is automatic and gets done with very little effort. Make a small effort everyday and you'll see exactly what you've done and where you want to go.

How to Apply Your Music Theory

When learning theory, most programs take a general approach at the beginning. You learn about scales, intervals, chords and so on. Eventually you'll get to point where what you're learning about in the classroom starts to apply to what you're doing on your instrument. When I teach, I try to apply the theory as soon as I can.

One of the things that I ask a student when they first start is what kind of music they listen to and what they want to accomplish on their instrument. You should ask yourself the same questions. Most students start out with the same basic exercises and theory and get into specifics later. Most students just want to learn songs but I encourage them to learn theory along with some improvisation and writing skills.  It helps with their playing, ear training, and takes away some of the mystery away from how music is created.

But Why?

Once you see how songs are created and some of the theory behind them, playing your instrument and learning songs becomes a lot easier. For instance, once you learn about the different forms in music, it becomes easier to a) figure out what you're listening to b) identify where you are in the song, c) memorize the separate parts. Once you learn about some basic chord progressions, it becomes easier a) to play them (since you've gone over them so many times), b) to recognize them (guitar players can usually tell when a D or G chord is being played), and c) easier to improvise or write your own songs (since you know the progressions in advance). Once you learn the theory behind playing solos, it becomes easier to a) learn solos off of CD's, b) extend or improvise on a given solo, and of course c) make up you own solos.

What Are Ya Into?

Beyond just learning theory, you must try and learn things that apply to your genre of music. Learning music isn't hard but it takes time, You want to use that time learning about what applies to your style of music first. After you've been playing a while, you may want to get into different styles. For example, after a while some players get into learning more complicated chords and scales. If you're into country or rock, learning 13th chords won't be of much use to you. Learning these chords are great if you've been playing a while and are starting to get into more complicated stuff. But if you're struggling to get the basic chords together, learning these chords won't be of any use to you at all. The truth of the matter is that there is a world of learning with the basic chords and if you don't know how to use these properly, the more difficult chords aren't going to help.

Country

If you're into country for example and want to learn how to pick like they do, you should spent most of your time on the basic major, minor and pentatonic theory. Also, except for some country swing, most country doesn't go beyond the basic triads (it does use 7ths on occasion). Country music likes to keep things simple; it uses these basic tools in a million of different ways. It's important that you know the basic theory behind the songs but them you have to get used to using those tools in many different ways. For example today's country uses rock scales and licks, major and minor scales, and some old school country & bluegrass idioms and chord progressions. That means not only learning songs, progressions and licks in country, but also some rock, pop and bluegrass. These all belong in today's country to varying degrees.

Rock

Rock music has a theory all it's own. It's mostly based upon blues theory (which the jury is still out on!), but also uses major and minor scales and in some cases (alternative, prog-rock) more extended harmonies and scales. Rock has been around a while, there are a lot of different styles so there are a couple of avenues to take here. You may want to start with some basic blues, some classic rock or come older metal. Within each of these you will see the roots of all of today's modern music. A lot of classic rock is based around the riff; a repeated figure that forms the basis of the harmony. Some classic rock uses variations of the 12 bar blues, while others will stick to the basic I IV V.

Just learning what a I IV V is isn't enough. You have to learn all of the various ways it's used. What chord does it start/end with? How many bars of each? What are the rhythms used most often? All music uses the basic I IV V, it's all about application.

Older metal (70's) was also based around blues chord progressions but extended into the minor scale (and model harmony) and chord progressions based around that. Today's rock uses all of these (sometimes within the same song). Modern metal is an example of taking the theories and mashing them together; riffs, modes, esoteric scales and arpeggios.

If you think there is no theory behind modern rock/metal/dance/hip-hop, you're wrong. A soon as music becomes a style, there is a theory behind it. Theory is simply an attempt to explain what's happening and the tools that are typically used. The fact that the musicians don't have a name for a certain scale or chord used is irrelevant.

Pop

Pop uses all of the above to varying degrees. Some pop uses rock idioms while some sticks to your basic major/minor harmonies.  Like rock and country, there are many variations on the basic chords. A lot of the theory is used over and over again but you have to learn the basic progressions, rhythms and forms used. Guitarists and pianists will take the same chord progression but play them in different ways. There aren't as many solos but there are a lot of things to learn about putting together parts to make an interesting arrangement. That includes chord embellishments, fills and various accompaniment styles.

So Why Though?

You may be asking yourself that if some of these musicians who are making the music don't know the theory, why should I? In fact, they do know the theory. Jimi Hendrix knew the theory. James Hetfield knows the theory. I know what you're thinking; James has said numerous times that he doesn't know any music theory. But he knows where to go when he plays chords. He knows where to go when he plays a solo. The fact that he doesn't know the name of scale or chord doesn't mean he doesn't know the theory. It was the same for Jimi Hendrix who many thought didn't know any theory. After playing with the Isley Brothers for an extended period, he said that he had every one of those songs and progressions ingrained in his head. If you stick to a certain style and have a discernable sound, there is a theory behind it.

Mimick, Learn, Apply

The fact is that all musicians learn the same way; through mimicking, memorization and application. Jimi had tons of progressions and licks at his fingertips every time he played. This was from practicing and playing these things over a period of years. James Hetfield has a sound in his head. He then searches on his instrument until he hears that sound. If you're a fan of the music, you'll notice a lot of ideas and progression are used often. If your know the theory, you can create within that style with accuracy. The same ideas are used over and over, that's why the music is its own style in the first place. If you take the time to learn the theory, the style will come quicker to you. It'll be easier to hear what's going on, know how to play it, and ultimately write and play it until it's your own.

The Art of Arrangement

One of the things that musicians don't usually think about 'practicing' is arranging. For some writers, it comes as an after-thought when recording a song. The band will write a song, practice it a couple of times, and then head into the studio. There's usually some discussion about what goes where, what to put in, and what to leave out. The parts will be put down, mixed, and that will be it. If there is time or inclination, an alternate mix may be put together.

A.K.A

In fact, arrangement is an exercise and art form of its own. In classical circles, the arranger is usually referred to as the orchestrator. In dance and popular music, it's called remixing. Jazz, big band and in formal band situations, they are referred to as arranger. Whatever they may be called, arrangement is not to be taken lightly. It is another skill that must be developed and cultivated. Some of the best producers have a knack for putting together great arrangements. 'Q' (Quincy Jones) immediately springs to mind.

Decisions, Decisions

How do you go about honing your arrangement skills? Like everything else, practice makes perfect. It's a matter of taking a song, piece or even a simple melody and creating different arrangements. They could be all in the same genre with different instrumentation (think string quartet verses symphony, or standard rock version verses acoustic version), different styles within a genre (pop-ballad verses dance/pop crossover, or punk verses alternative), or different genres altogether. You must decide on what you're going to do from the outset. Are you going to make some orchestrations based on a simple theme or are you going to turn a country song into a dance-floor hit? Arranging in the different styles and genres is an entire book in and of itself. Without getting into genres and specifics, lets look at some general things that you should be thinking about when starting a new arrangement:

1. Have a goal. I know you've heard this one a million times before but it really counts here. If you have a pop song, what are you going to arrange it in to? You must have a clear idea before you start because your goal will dictate a lot of your decisions. If you're going to make that pop song into a dance remix, you're going to make completely different decisions than if you were going to turn it into a ballad.

2. Decide on instrumentation. As soon as you figure out what kind of arrangement you're going to write, you're going to have to make a decision on the instrumentation. You might be thinking that this may be limiting you but in fact it's the opposite. By deciding on a set group of instruments, it makes you more creative in trying to stick with that group. Having too many choices in this area may be more of a deterrent to your creativity than an asset. Also, sticking with a set group of instruments say a basic drums, bass, guitar, makes it easier to stick with the genre that you've decided on from the outset.

3. Decide on tempo, feel. When you decide on what style your new arrangement is going to be, immediately there will be an inherent range of tempos that will suite the arrangement. Keep in mind that when deciding on the genre, it's also implied the feel of the song within that genre. For example, you don't just decide to do a jazz version but a jazz-ballad version. This automatically denotes a range of BPM that would be suitable for your arrangement. The same goes for dance, hip-hop, etc. For example if it was a hip-hop remix, a BPM above 130 would be unusual; the same goes for a dance remix below 100 BPM.

4. Decide on form. This is another decision that would be inherent in the style. For example, if you were doing a dance remix, the build and release of a dance song would be paramount to making your arrangement work. If you were doing a jazz arrangement, you would follow the AABA form and add a chorus for a solo. If it was a pop song, you would stick to the general forms using verse, chorus and bridge. There are tons written about form in the various genres. Classical music for example has tons of various forms that are essential to learn when composing for orchestra. While there are many variations of forms and many ways form can be manipulated, it's essential to know what you're doing and the reason why.

Let's take a look at the areas that you have to consider when working on your arrangement:
 
Rhythm/Groove

This one may seem obvious but there's always a lot of decisions that must be made here and they shouldn't be taken too lightly. The basic rhythms for each genre each have a set of rules and standards. Are the rhythms in strict time (like techno and club), a little more loose (like some alternative and folk), or more rubato (like classical and traditional folk music)? Some genres swing, some don't; the answer isn't always obvious. You might assume that swing is a jazz rhythm but it's used in other genres to varying effect. Blues also swings; as does rock, latin, pop and various forms of dance music. They all use it in different amounts and the application is different. Then there are the 16th note shuffle used in hip-hop and dance. There are different drum patterns and specific drum sounds for each genre. There are also different ways to phrase your melody based on the genre. Some genres play the melody straight where as others tend to make the melody more syncopated.  The instrumentation in the rhythm section would be another deciding factor. Is it a basic drum kit, Latin percussion, or an 808?

Form

Learning forms in music is another area where you would want to sit down and take some notes. You may already know the forms of some popular music that you are familiar with, but you shouldn't stop there. When listening to other styles of music, take note of the form. How many sections are there? How long is each section? What's the typical order of the different sections? What's the general feel of the different sections? If you're unfamiliar with a genre of music, it may be hard to tell where some sections end and others start (as in some classical forms). Every genre of music has forms that it uses over and over again. If you're new to writing in a certain style, start with one of these forms and go from there.

Harmony

What is the general harmony used in that particular style? Is it your basic triads as in pop, country and dance? Is the harmony a bit more involved like some house, alternative, metal, and latin? Or is the harmony a huge factor as in jazz and classical music? Are there progressions and harmonies that used more than others? If there are, memorize and get to know those first. Even beyond the basic harmony, there are idiosyncrasies that are prevalent to each style. An RnB keyboard player would play different voicings than a traditional jazz player. Are you going to change the harmony? Make it more complicated? Simpler? Change the tonality (major, minor, modal)? There are dos and don'ts to each genre. As soon as you change the harmony for a song or piece, you may unwittingly move it into another genre. If you change the harmony enough, it may become a jazz tune instead of a pop song.

A New Skill Set

As you can see within each of these decisions is a skill set of its own. Each must be taken into consideration when putting together an arrangement. There are general rules for each genre and style of arrangement that you write. These rules are never written in stone, but it's good to know them. It helps keep your arrangement genuine to the genre. As you get better at remixing and re-arranging, you may find yourself breaking a lot of the rules.  There are tons of books out there about arranging and remixing in various genres. There also tons of books on how to play the various styles on their perspective instruments. These are all useful when writing and arranging parts particular to the style. Pick up what you can, absorb and start writing.

Learning (and Using) Your Scales

It's all part of the program. You learn some new tunes, maybe some chords and some fingering exercises. Then, at one point you start to learn scales. But these scales seem to have nothing to do with the songs you're learning. They seem to be some extra-curricular activity that has nothing to do with actually making music. What the hell is the point? I mean sure, it's been explained to you that scales are the building blocks of popular music but since when has that meant anything. How many of you out there have taken the time to learn new scales only to practice them once in a while and then forget about them? What's the use anyway?

What Do I Do With This Thing?

The problem we usually have with scales is that the scale is learned but then there is no explanation of how to use it. Most musicians go through their scales once in a while and then forget about them and get to practicing 'real songs'. The fact is that as soon as you learn a new scale, it should be explained how to use that scale. There are many things to learn about how to use scales and how to make beautiful music, but it's not rocket science. It's an ongoing skill that must be developed. As soon as you learn a new scale, you should be making music using it immediately.

So What Now?

Say you've learned the A minor pentatonic scale. So what now? First off, make sure you've got the fingering under control. Second, pick a song in that key and start messing around with the scale. Start in the middle somewhere and just mess around. Yes, there's a lot more to it than that, but we don't care. We're going to start using it right now. Try repeating notes, jumping from a low note to a high note. Try repeating the same couple of notes in a row. Try different rhythms. Try playing a couple of notes, then repeat the same notes with a slight variation. That's it; you're making music with your newly learned scale. Sure it may not turn out to be greatest piece you've ever done but that's not the point. You're learning a new language and you're starting to use the language.

The Language Analogy

As you know, music is like it's own language. Like a language there are grammar and structure rules to learn. These don't always apply to all situations, they are mostly guidelines. Like a language, you must learn the structure of the language while memorizing common phrases and idiosyncrasies. That's what you're doing when you learn your scales, you're learning about the basic structure under the language. It's still up to you to use that structure to express yourself. This occurs when after getting familiar with the language; you become better at expressing yourself. You start using the correct grammar and complete thoughts, instead of rehashing common phrases.

Merry Melodies

The best way to start using scales is to try and create music and melodies right from the start. Continuing with our language analogy, music acts a lot like our speech. When we talk, we speak in phrases. We make a statement, stop, breathe, make another related statement, stop, and repeat. At the most basic level, music phrasing is the exact same thing. Have you ever heard somebody rambling on, over and over, with no stops in between? Annoying isn't it? Same for music. Try playing a couple of notes from your scale, one phrase at a time. Pick a couple of notes and play. Now, instead of just rambling on, stop, breathe, and then continue on with your next statement. Try and have the next statement relate to the first phrase that you played. What this means exactly is completely up to you. Everybody expresses themselves differently. As long as you have this in mind when you're playing, it'll start to come across in your playing.If you can, record yourself. You may be surprised and hear some hidden gems in there.

Don't Forget The Beat

Always try and have one ear on the rhythm. Play a couple of notes but try and make them fit into the rhythm of the song. Most songs are built from 8th notes. Try building your phrases using these to start. If you don't know what the basic beat of the song you are playing is, tap your foot. These will typically be quarter notes. Try a medium tempo. Try quarters to start if you're not sure about using 8ths. The rhythm is very important. Varying the rhythm on the same couple of notes has a huge effect on the outcome of the phrase.

Start Exploring Now

You will learn as you go that there are a lot of things to learn when creating melodies and phrases. It's an ongoing journey. As you explore, it'll become easier and easier to make statements that are pleasing and musical. Most of all, they will be your phrases, your personality. Along the way, you'll learn other solos, phrases and melodies. These, like phrases in our language, will become part of your musical vocabulary. But, if you've practiced your scales properly, it'll be easy to incorporate them into your own style. Try to create music from the very start; what will come out, will be uniquely you.

Managing Your Daily Practice

Every musician knows how important it is to practice. It's drilled into our brain from the first time we pick up the instrument. For good reason; we all know that the path to mastery is consistent, focused practice. Problems arise when you want to practice but somehow it just doesn't get done. Or, you may be putting in the hours, but not getting any results. In effect either you aren't practicing as much as you like, or you aren't practicing properly.

The What and How

We are all told how important it is to practice but nobody ever goes into the 'what and how'. It's important to keep on track of what we want to do and what we are actually achieving. Make notes on what what you want to achieve but also what you've done. It's important to make daily notes so that when you sit down to practice, you don't have to sit and think about what to work on. You can continue from what were working on last session. This helps maintain your focus and may do more for your progress than anything else. 

Ready, Set...

I try to have everything ready to go as soon as I sit down. Don't put your instrument away if you don't have to. Have a corner of your space just dedicated to your practice. Have all of the materials out on your music stand ready to go. Have all materials that you may need right there ready to use: your metronome (or drum machine), your computer (if you use it), extra parts, all reference materials and your practice schedule.

The List

I'm going to summarize with a list of things that you should be doing everyday. These exercises should only take a small amount of time. That way, even on your busiest day, there is the chance that you will still get in some quality practice time. I've listed the name of the exercise and the amount of time allotted to that particular exercise.

1. The warm-up (about 1 minute): warm ups are an extremely important part of your practice sessions but very few people do them consistently. Most vocalists know how important it is to warm up but instrumentalists are bad for not doing these. Warm ups should be simple. They should be something that is relatively easy to do (i.e. not complicated, too fast or involving really hard technique). They should be done slowly and deliberately. For example, if you're an instrumentalist, try exercises that include all of the fingers. Start at a point that is easy to execute and then gradually go higher or harder. It's all about warming up your fingers (or vocals) and getting focused. Like the beginning of a yoga session; you're trying to get into the right frame of mind. It's about shutting everything else down, forgetting about all of the days' problems and focusing on the music.
2. Technique (5 minutes): this would include any technical exercises written specifically for your instrument. This would include picking. bowing, tonguing and fingering exercises. It may also include working on your intervals (3rds, octaves), arpeggios, and awkward leaps. It may also include such things as articulations, dynamics and rhythms.
3. Chords (5 minutes): these are exercises that would include adding more chords to your repertoire or learning to use the ones you know more effectively. That means learning the new chord, different fingerings (or inversions) and and the theory behind it (it's function and uses). It would also include chord progressions. Learning chord progressions used in various musical styles but also how to play the chords in that style. An integral part of learning chords is learning to comp. This means different things in different styles. These exercises should be part of every players practice regimen, not just rhythm section players.
4. Scales (5 minutes): everybody know how important it is to learn your scales. It's important that you don't just 'go through the motions'; don't spend all of your time just going up and down through your scales. Learn how to use them. Go through different patterns and doing ear training to learn them inside and out. Learning how to effectively use a couple of scales (and chords) is much more important than learning a ton of scales (and chords) and not knowing what to do with them.
5. Improv/writing (10 minutes): I usually put improvisation and writing together when it comes to short practice sessions. I'll work on whatever is the most important at the time. This is what I call the application of theory. I use the chords, scales, licks, cliches or whatever I've learned that week and put it into actual practice. It's good to try ideas in a variety of keys, tempos, and styles. It easy to get carried away with this portion. If you're short on time, make sure  you go over the relevant material and not spend half an hour 'jamming'...which is wonderful when you have the extra time!
   
6. Song/repertoire (10 minutes): this is learning new songs/material and reviewing your song list. Too many musicians learn tunes but don't review them on a regular basis. Reviewing songs regularly gets them into your fingers and helps in improvising and writing because the changes and parts are pretty much ingrained into your psyche. By organizing the way you learn songs and memorize them (we'll go over this in a future post), your repertoire can grow in no time at all. If you're a jazz or session musician, having a huge repertoire is paramount.

If you only have time for a short session, then these are good guidelines to get it all done in about half an hour. If you have more time, you can spend more time on the individual exercises. If you're learning a new tune for example, you may want to spend a whole session just going through the chord changes. Then you can use the next session going through the melody or bass line.

Pace Yourself

It's better to not spend too much time on one exercise or one practice session. There is a point of diminishing returns when you've repeatedly gone over the same material. It's better to spend less time and be completely focused. If you have extra time, try breaking up your practice schedule into smaller sessions*. This gives your brain some time to assimilate all of the information that you've thrown at it.  

*There are exceptions to this...one being getting ready for a show. To prepare you want to go through the entire set in one session to make sure that everything flows.


Just Do It

Try to get it into your brain that your practice sessions don't have to be a long drawn out affair. It's great when you have the time to sit down and get right into it but don't put off practicing just because you don't have a spare hour. If you have a spare 15 or 20, that may be enough to get in a great practice. Remember to have the list in front of you and go through all of the exercises. Don't spend too much time on any one exercise. Sure it's more fun to get right into each exercise but you may not always have that time. This way you can still get something done. It takes away an excuse and allows you to keep motivated and on course without stressing about losing days. It makes it easier to remember what you've done, what  you're supposed to work on, and what needs work. Most of all, you'll see better results because you are practicing more often, you're working on essential skills everyday, and you're staying focused.

Master your instrument, master the music, and then forget all that crap and just play. - Charlie Parker

Stress Management for Musicians

One of the scariest things that can occur in a musician's career is an injury.  The saddest part of injuries are they are almost always self inflicted, take forever to heal, and are usually preventable!

It's the Stress

Injuries usually occur is because of problems with technique, how the instrument is held, or how the musician practices. The root of all of these problems are stress. Today we're going to talk specifically about stress management for musicians but not in the typical way. We're going to talk about stress that musicians put on their bodies, arms and hands when practicing their instrument.

Relax

We all talk about getting stress out of our lives by taking time out, learning to relax and making sure that we don't try to do too much at one time. All of these ideas also apply to musicians and their instrument. Stress comes from not taking time to relax (ignoring it), not taking the time to learn why the stress is there (awareness), and by trying to do too much at the same time (over-compensation). Musicians have to be aware of what is happening when they play their instrument. They have to be careful that there's not more going on there than what's needed. Most of all, they have to take time to make sure that there's no undo stress on your system. Relaxation is paramount.

Feel the Burn

Most stress problems arise from awareness; or lack of awareness. Sometimes musicians can feel the pain and damage on their system and continue to practice anyway. Stress and pain are not natural occurrances when playing any instrument and it's important to take time as asses and see if there is any pain. And, if there is, it's important that the musician takes time to erradicate that problem as soon as possible. It's important that this is taken care of and not just swept under the rug and left to take of itself.

Not 'Uncomfortable'


When just starting to play an instrument, there is usually some 'dis-comfort' because of the newness of the activity. I'm not talking about pain here, I just talking about the fact that holding the instrument properly or playing it may not feel completely natural. Much like learning a golf swing, there are times when learning a new skill feels completely awkward. At least this is how if felt for me the first time I was told how to swing a gold club properly. After a while we may become insensitive to these feelings and categorize then as inconsequential and something that will go away. We may have the attitude of just 'playing through the pain'. Pain, no matter how small and inconsequential, is wrong when playing an instrument. Remember I'm talking about pain here and not simply feeling uncomfortable or unnatural because for example, you may want to slouch and your teacher is making sure you sit properly. There are ways to hold instruments properly and it may not be something that feels completely natural at first. This isn't to say that there should be any pain. Most of all, if there is some pain, it's important that it's addressed right away. Alot of teachers will take the time to make sure that the student is holding the instrument properly. All people are different. There are going to be microscopic movements and small adjustments that are going to be completely your own. It's important that you take the time, find the problem, and determine how to fix it.

Check, Check

Here are some areas to check when playing. These should be addressed every couple of months just to check and see you haven't developed any bad habits. If you practice a lot and don't have any teachers or outside help, it's easy to get into bad patterns and not realize it. In our society it's usual for people to have tons of built up stress and not notice. It's part of our culture to ignore pain. The only way to combat this is to take time periodically and check to see there are not problems.

1. Numbness. This may seem like a huge indicator but a lot people won't notice this. Remember to put your focus and awareness on your body and notice if there are any problem areas. Numbness can be tricky because if you're not paying attention, it's easy to go by completely unnoticed.

2. Shoulder/neck and back pain. These are almost universal these days. People in general will put stress into one of these areas on a regular basis. Unfortunately, if you're getting pain in these areas after your practice, you may be putting even more there. Your practice sessions may not be the stress relief you thought. Violin players usually have a lot of troubles in this area because of the problems holding the instrument correctly. In general, musicians like to crouch over their instrument like they're deep into the performance. While that may help with interpretation, it's extremely hard on the body for extended periods.

3. Pain after extended period of play. This is the most common occurrence. These reason for this is because your body (particularly the hands) will usually take a lot of abuse before they complain. If by the end of your practice you have to discontinue because of pain, there is something wrong. That is not normal. That shouldn't be happening. You are doing some thing wrong or you are putting pain/stress on your body. Don't just 'let this go'.

4. Correct posture/technique. There are better ways to hold and play your instrument. Some people learn simply by doing. It's important that if you're one of the DIY people out there, that you take the time to reassess your technique every couple of months. It's easy to get into bad habits and not even realize it. If you have bad habits, it may not be obvious and you may realize the problem only after some major problems have occurred. Are you sitting/standing properly or are you slouching? Are your hands relaxed and you're making sure there are not problems areas? Are you making sure you have good technique when learning a new piece or are you just plowing through it? It's important you ask yourself these questions in your practice sessions.

Stop, What's That Sound


When any of these happen, take a step back. Try and figure out what part is the most painful. What particular exercise causes the pain? You may notice that when playing chords, your arms feel great but as soon as you try some arpeggios or extended intervals, you feel pain. Are you trying too hard in this one exercise? Are you putting pain in an area so that the exercise sounds right? If so, you will have to go back to the troubling exercise and start over. But this time, instead of focusing on getting the right sound or the right rhythm, play the exercise and focus only on the problem area of your body. Can you make the pain go away just by relaxing the area while you do the exercise. If it's a shoulder problem, you will have to examine hold you hold the instrument. Are you square or is your back twisted? If you're a horn player, there may be problems with your embouchure. There's one famous story of a jazz musician who had to take a couple of years off after discovering (after quite a few painful experiences) that his technique was all wrong. It's amazing how many of these problems arise from us putting too much stress in these areas without even realizing it.

Be Aware

If you're at the point where you spend a lot of time practicing, you may find some problems creeping up more often. This may be because of the increased workload, but it may be because the problem was always there, it just took an increased workload to bring it out.

Everybody's body is different. You're going to have some problems that are special to you. That means you will have to make sure that when fixing these problems that we take stress into consideration. We try to fix the problem but being sensitive about where the pain is, what may be causing the pain, and how we can fix the problem. Simply being aware of the problem and checking for stress is one of the best measures you can take to make sure that there aren't any problems.

Composing On The Run

They say that the desktop is going to be obsolete in a couple of years. I'm personally not buying it since I know a lot of musicians (including myself) who love their powerful machines and dual monitors. But more and more musicians are using laptops for most of their musical activity. It has almost all of the advantages of a desktop plus of course the portability. For the purpose of this article we're going to look into composing on the laptop away from the studio; composing on the road

The Bare Necessities

There are a couple of things that we have to take into consideration right off the bat. When composing on the road we won't have all of the toys of a regular studio. That includes a full size MIDI keyboard, a mixer, outboard gear, or any other peripherals (aside from the ubiquitous mouse). We're going to look at it from a minimal point of view and see how much we can get done. 

The Most Important Device

Aside from the computer and software the most important piece of gear is going to be your audio interface. While laptops have some built in audio capability, you will want to spend extra money on a quality unit. Some of these units have pretty good preamps and instrument DI built right in. You never know when one of those 'demo tracks' will end up on the final track. It's important that if you choose to work on the road that you choose a piece of gear suited to traveling. Thankfully, there are tons of choices out there. It all comes down to price and features but you want to consider these carefully. For example, how many inputs do you really need? This is usually a big consideration because more inputs can hike up the price considerably. It also keeps the size of the unit at a minimum since more inputs take up more space. I only have four inputs and that's enough for my needs. If you're a guitar (or bass) player make sure there's a high impedance input so you can record guitar parts right into your DAW. Other considerations are MIDI input/output/thru, phantom power and (hopefully) more than one headphone jack. Some of the higher end models have tons of mixing functions built into their software which makes different headphone mixes possible (e.g. if you're recording vocals). Remember if you use propriety software like Pro Tools, you’ll need a supported device or the software won’t work.

No Input

As a multi-instrumentalist, one of the things I hate about working on a laptop is the lack of any musical input device. I've never been much of a manual input guy. For some composers (Ableton Live users and electronic musicians for example) this doesn't pose much of a problem but for most it does.  There are two solutions a) you can try and find a manageable and portable input device, and b) make due with the limitations of the software and make the most of it. I usually go with b) because most portable keyboards are only an octave or two (for the portability of course) and that usually isn't enough for me; though there are some great choices out there if you don’t mind carting around another device.

If you're like me and love using a traditional keyboard there are tons of choices out there. Now dubbed USB controllers, these go beyond the traditional keyboard. Some units put together the keyboard, audio inputs/outputs and tons of tactile buttons and knobs. If you're so inclined to take one of these on the road, they're great for use as a master controller. These also interact well with the loop and beat programs mentioned. Keep in mind that even though they are portable, they are another piece of gear that has to be carted around.

Built Right In

If you're used to writing on a musical instrument and find yourself lacking when on the road, you may find some usable workarounds in your DAW and some VST instruments. For example there are tons of drum machines that have built in beats and patterns that can be used as song starters. There are also some VST guitar instruments that include built in strumming patterns and chord progressions. I've actually never left these in the final track but found them great for starting songs and working through arrangements. The same goes for keyboard parts and bass lines. The great thing about these instruments is that it's incredibly easy to change the tempo or key at any given time. I use these in the studio all the time. They become invaluable when working with vocalists when we may need experiment with different keys and tempos.

Band Stuff

Then there are software programs that have tons of built in songs to start. Band in the Box has tons of built in songs, progressions and styles. While some of the styles are better than others, these work great as song starters and idea generators. It's incredibly easy to input your own chords into a given style and output it to your DAW. It's also possible to change the style of separate parts of the arrangement. The best thing is that can easily be done anywhere and there is no extra gear needed. You can even output it to .wav and email it off to your writing partners.  

Be careful when sending out unfinished tracks. Not everybody may understand the meaning of the word 'demo'!! Getting unfinished material into the wrong hands may not do your credibility much good.

Reason for Loops
 
If you're more of a dance, hip hop or electronica producer, Band in the Box may not be your thing. There are other programs that you may want to use that are 'better' at this type of music. There are a ton of loop, beat and virtual studio programs that are great for producing beats and dance music. Propellerheads Reason and Fruity Loops are great programs for this type of music. They have a virtual rack of drum machines, loop players and synths. You can start from nothing and create original beats and songs. These usually tend to be better for (but not limited to) electronic and dance producers because of their layout (pattern based) and the quality of their drum machines and synths. Keep in mind Reason is a virtual rack only as there is no wave recording facility. You need Propellerheads other product Record or your own DAW for that. Other programs like Ableton Live and Sony Acid are great for manipulating loops and putting together arrangements. These programs also have the ability to record and input your own tracks. These programs also used the Rewire feature so your arrangement can be used with your favorite DAW. Some artists have forgone the traditional DAW altogether in favor of these programs.

What's The Rush?

If I'm on the road and just trying to get ideas down, I just rush and try to get them down. I'm more worried about getting the idea than the performance. This means that I use any method available to get the basic idea there and worry about the intricacies and performance later. This is usually the best method for me. For example, I'll use a lot of presets and utilities built into the software. I'll also use 'fake' guitars and horns (and whatever) to get the idea down. That way when I come back to record the tracks in the studio, I have an idea of what to do and build from there.

Even though it's possible to create finished masters in these programs, I use them mostly for ideas and putting together arrangements. They're perfect for trying tons of different ideas, arrangements without ever going beyond your laptop and mouse. The greatest thing is that they may open up new ideas that you would have never thought of when writing in the traditional approach.

The Melody

This is usually the toughest part of writing on the road. I usually come up with my melodies by belting it out into a mic. This of course isn't the best solution when sitting in a hotel room. It’s usually a matter of a) doing your best to get the idea down without belting it out b) doing your recording in the middle of the day (when there usually isn’t much going on as far as people sleeping) or c) finding another location to record besides your hotel room. The other way I like to write is by playing the melody and chords on the piano. They usually come together so that’s why I like the full size keyboard over the smaller, portable versions. I do find the smaller keyboards suitable for writing synth and basslines though.

The Mic/Preamp

When I travel, I always bring a good mic with me. These don't take up too much space and are great if the opportunity to work with a great vocalist comes up. I also use them for acoustic guitar tracks and any other recording I have to do. I also bring along a good preamp. For some this might be overkill when working on demo tracks but I find that sometimes, the demo tracks are irreplaceable. Having them recorded as well as possible always leaves up the option to use them in the final mix without any hesitation.

Guitar Parts

Not only do I like to write most of my material on the guitar, I use it for inspiration for other parts as well. If you do have a guitar on the road, make sure your audio interface has an instrument input so you can record your electric guitar parts directly. This gives you the option to re-amp the tracks later if you really love your tracks. If you're more an acoustic player, make sure you always bring a good mic.

Putting It Together

One caveat of using all of these methods for putting together demos, trying ideas and getting work done on the road is transferring and backing it all up. There are a couple of ways that these audio companies are trying to make transfer of audio from one program to the other a bit easier but the process is still full of problems. The best method of backing up any material is to simply convert all of your tracks to audio. Even though this is by far not the easiest method, it is the most foolproof. When backing up songs on your own system, you may upgrade your DAW in the future and not all of your settings are going to migrate properly. The best way is to save audio files of your tracks. That way you can transfer the most important parts to any other system. I'm still old skool and actually like to keep written notes on songs as well as lyrics.

What’s the Big Idea?

I usually like to sit down and schedule writing and recording times. It usually takes a while to ‘warm up’ and get into it. With a laptop, your sessions can be done almost anywhere. Sometimes we get into thinking patterns that stop us from getting work done. For example, you may think that you need to be in the studio, working for a couple of hours at a time, to get work done. In fact, writing can be done almost anywhere these days. Even without a studio, there’s no reason why not to schedule some writing time. Use what you have in front of you. The ideas will come. As long as we’re talking about capturing ideas, there is no substitute (in terms of efficiency and portability) as the portable recorder. Any device will do as long as it’s portable and available e.g. cell phones, smart phones, mp3 players, or a dedicated device. If an idea comes to you at any time, try to have one of these available to capture your idea right then and there. Don’t wait; the idea probably won’t be back.