One music-related tip that you think helps the learning process.

[16251]

Here, I'll start.

 

I search out YT videos on subjects I already understand. I would say the more perspectives, the better. 

[Montunoman 2]

Set specific goals with dates of completion.

 

mine for this week:

 

I will play the A section of Dexterity by ear along with the Charlie Parter recording set at half speed by May 21st, 2023. 

Write this down in your practice journal, which helps with accountability.If you don’t reach your goal, don’t beat yourself up, but rather reassess, make adjustments and keep at it! 

 

[JamPro]

My #1, #2, and #3 tips are RELAX.  Being relaxed is IMO very important to piano playing.  Being relaxed is my primary goal of pretty much all of my practicing, whether I am running scales and arpeggios, sight-reading, playing a classical piece, playing improvisationally, and even just listening to a recording.  I gauge my level of relaxation by paying attention to my breathing, paying attention for tightness and stiffness in my hands, arms, shoulders, and back, and paying attention to my body position.

 

Playing loud pop music (rock, blues, etc.) is for me a very difficult environment in which to be relaxed; even just hearing loud music tends to make me tighten up.  So I need to devote extra effort when playing in such a setting, and I often fail to be or remain relaxed.  Getting angry with myself is the opposite of being relaxed; rather than beat myself up, I simply have to return (without judgement) to my efforts to relax. 

[cphollis]

Don't read music, hear it in your head -- then play it!

[Docbop]

Realize most YT's aren't good for learning,  yes there are some good ones maybe 1 of every 100 or more.   

 

Most students don't do serious listening and listening is the best teacher, but listen to the details not only your instrument, but how it's fitting into the whole of the band and how it's playing off others.    Recording yourself is a great teacher.   Clap rhythms especially along with a record to get the groove into your gut.   Put down your instrument and sing parts or things you having trouble with.   Want to work on your improv again put down your instrument and sing.  Noodling on your instrument you tend to stick to familiar patterns or things you know are within your current technique, when you sing you can do anything.  Transcribe what you sang it will build the instrument, hand, brain connection and you might have work on your technique to  play what your sang.    Play with other as much as possible it helps everything. 

[David R]

10 minutes of focus is infinitely better than hours of banging your head against the wall. Especially in our formative years we romanticize the notion of practicing hours per day, but how much of those hours are real beneficial work?

 

Kenny Werner’s practice diamond changed everything for me: play effortlessly always, and then 2 of the following 3 — play the whole thing, play it at speed, play it perfectly.

[16251]

1 hour ago, Docbop said:

Realize most YT's aren't good for learning,  yes there are some good ones maybe 1 of every 100 or more.   

 

Most students don't do serious listening and listening is the best teacher, but listen to the details not only your instrument, but how it's fitting into the whole of the band and how it's playing off others.    Recording yourself is a great teacher.   Clap rhythms especially along with a record to get the groove into your gut.   Put down your instrument and sing parts or things you having trouble with.   Want to work on your improv again put down your instrument and sing.  Noodling on your instrument you tend to stick to familiar patterns or things you know are within your current technique, when you sing you can do anything.  Transcribe what you sang it will build the instrument, hand, brain connection and you might have work on your technique to  play what your sang.    Play with other as much as possible it helps everything. 

You certainly got nice Tips.  I don't agree with your 1 out of 100 as far good YT channels. I guess another good tip would be to search out who are the best teachers in your area and take lessons. Once you do that or in my case (have done,) then you will find many great YT channels. No offense but your fist statement "Realize..." makes it sound, IMHO, a way to say, don't waste your time.

[ElmerJFudd]

If you play it right once, play it 10 more times.  Motor memory is a big deal.  Then, like Dave says, go play it in every key. 10 more times in each.  

[GovernorSilver]

Learning stuff by ear is the #1 most helpful tip that was taught to me.

[timwat]

Commit to lessons for the long term.

 

And not just with any instructor, and not just any player who is amazing. Find a teacher who can effectively teach the genre you're interested in, including identifying what is good in your playing, identifying required areas of growth and change, and has a proven method to break down improvement into bite-sized chunks with focused practice.

 

Which means...keep searching and trying different teachers until you find one who fits this description for you.

[Docbop]

3 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

If you play it right once, play it 10 more times.  Motor memory is a big deal.  Then, like Dave says, go play it in every key. 10 more times in each.  

I've watched Nick Semrad and other do something similar they work on something in 12 keys, but they don't move to the next key until they've do the line, chord pattern, etc  five times in a row.  Make any mistake the count go back to zero, so some key you might get it in on first pass other keys might take awhile to get five times consecutively.   

[CowboyNQ]

These principles work well for me:

 

1.  Practice frequently.

2. Recognise when your practice session has gone on past the point of diminishing returns, and stop.

3. Have a practice plan going in.

4. Practice a song until you can play it at light speed.  At that point, practice it ridiculously slowly and make sure your muscle memory hasn’t erased the chords etc. from your mind.

5. I can always find someone who plays it better, I’m always open to new ideas.

6. It’s music.  Remember to enjoy the process.  When enjoyment tips over into frustration, give yourself a mental break and come back to it later.

7. Revisit the source material periodically to avoid “mission creep”.

 

I have exceeded the initial requirement by six, which brings me to my last principle.

 

8. You can always do more work on a song, even when you think you “know” it.

[David Emm]

"You're never on more intimate terms with a song than while you're writing it."

    ~ Tom Waits

 

If you are of a more free-form jazz mindset, then this one:

 

"Honor thy mistake as a hidden intention."

   ~ Brian Eno, Oblique Strategies

[Docbop]

2 minutes ago, David Emm said:

"You're never on more intimate terms with a song than while you're writing it."

    ~ Tom Waits

 

If you are of a more free-form jazz mindset, then this one:

 

"Honor thy mistake as a hidden intention."

   ~ Brian Eno, Oblique Strategies

I like Miles Davis comment... There are no mistakes just opportunities. 

[bill5]

56 minutes ago, Docbop said:

I like Miles Davis comment... There are no mistakes just opportunities. 

Stan Getz famously said if you screw up, do it again, so it sounds like you're doing in on purpose (words to that effect).

 

My tip is probably low-hanging fruit to you giggers but I'll throw it out there anyway: always play live "hungry" - that is, don't eat right before you're about to go on. 

[CEB]

My problem these days is knowing what to work on and stick to it instead of getting turned on by a bunch of cool stuff.   It's ends up being sessions of Spray and Pray.   For the previous 40+ years everything was song driven ... what I needed to do to get paid.  

[JazzPiano88]

Take time to master everything you know in several other keys.  

Doing so will make the sounds of all the chords comfortable to your muscle memory.

 

Then when you hear the chord coming up in your anticipating brain, your hands will be ready to play it in a comfort reaction.

 

This was a big breakthrough for me after experiencing the effect in getting ready for Hymns on Sunday mornings in all of the Hymn keys.

[IMMusicRulz]

Almost everybody I know who has reached out to me says that I need to get a good lawyer.

[D. Gauss]

Unless you wanna be a solo artist (which is fine), play live gigs (not rehearsals) with others often, and if possible, be the least talented person in that group of musicians.

[timwat]

I don't this has been mentioned yet:

 

As you get older, be generous and share the hard lessons you learned with younger cats. Help others' learning process (which is I suppose what this thread is about).

 

Just speaking as men (I have no experience otherwise), I see talented young guys all the time who have buckets of skill but are still wide eyed and naive about navigating their adult lives. 

 

Stuff like how to carry yourself with confidence (not arrogance), how to esteem yourself to care about details, how to treat our sisters on the bandstand with chivalry, how to be kind to those who aren't as far on the journey, how to handle the money without being greedy or naive, why you don't wear white socks to a black tie event, how to stop name-dropping and let your playing do all the bragging, stuff like that.

 

In other words, how to make that transition from young buck to grown a** man.

 

 

Postscript: I realize some of you may skeptically look at this and think, "How does that help MY learning process?". My response would be, "Start being that man, and see what happens." A few will look at this and say, "Shite, he's going off into generalized advice again, what a wanker." And my response would be the same as above.

 

[RalphF]

Here are my practice tips

---I scan the new song that I’m learning and download it to the kindle. Then I red line the 1-2 measures that I’m working on right now.  I take my kitchen timer and set it for 5 minutes.  I concentrate on those 1-2 measures until I know them cold. Repeat as necessary

--I use Jerry Seinfeld’s “don’t break the chain calendar”. I created an excel spreadsheet with 12 columns and 31 lines. Every day that I practice, I put an X on that date. So far in 2023 family obligations have made me miss 2 days. The point is that I practice on days when I otherwise wouldn’t want to practice because I …. Don’t want to break the chain 😉

--Montunoman already advised to use a practice journal. I started that this year and I’ve found it helpful. Examples of my practice journal are….

01-02-23--page 1, bar 1, measures 1-2

01-03-23--page 1, bar 1 measures 3-4

 

Hope this helps.

[timwat]

Here's a more narrow, technical one:

 

Return periodically to Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart in doses you can stomach. For those of us who had childhood classical lessons (but no longer play a lot of classical), this may awaken old memories before you were 10 years old, and many of those memories will be rich and pleasant. 

 

Nevertheless, working up old student tunes slowly, with an eye toward an even touch, control of dynamics, and proper fingering.

 

No, you'll probably never whip out the 1st movement of Beethoven's Pathetique on a gig. But if I don't know of a better repertoire to build touch and control, which pays dividends not matter what your main squeeze is.

[16251]

I'm befuddled as to the pushback about YouTube as a helpful resource. It must be a great feeling to be confident of your knowledge base; I, on the other hand need help from smarter-than-me ppl and I enjoy hearing their thoughts on subjects I think about a lot.

 

As far as tips, I personally like them in small morsels. I just want to add (and keep adding these, which I wouldn't know about if it wasn't for YT.

 

Here's a Barry Harris tip that, yes a YouTuber hipped me to.  (Sorry in advance if I get something wrong.)

 

Barry Harris Chromatic scale.  An example would be start on C. C to D play C#. D to E play D#. E to F there isn't a half step so Barry says to add the next highest chord tone, so you would play E to F and play G between. Continuing F to G play f#, G to A add G#, A to B add A# and B to C add D between.

 

Here is whole scale going up C C# D D# E G F F# G G# A A# B D C.  Going down would be C D B Bb A Ab G Gb F G E Eb D Db C

 

You can use this concept on any chord scale. I dig this concept, thanks YT!

[CyberGene]

“If you can play it slowly, you can play it quickly” 😀

 

As much as that’s been used for humorous purposes, there’s no better advice IMO. 

[timwat]

17 minutes ago, 16251 said:

I'm befuddled as to the pushback about YouTube as a helpful resource. It must be a great feeling to be confident of your knowledge base; I, on the other hand need help from smarter-than-me ppl and I enjoy hearing their thoughts on subjects I think about a lot.

I wasn't one who pushed back, but as a (non-music) instructor I might suggest:

 

The weakness of instructional videos of any kind is there is no dynamic interaction.

 

Thus, while the video may wax poetic on particular concepts, elements, etc., it can never interact with your personal questions, actual playing challenges, and specifically how this concept applies to your playing on the B section of Ipanema (or, Livin' on a Prayer). Not to mention there is no personal observation of your playing, and thus the ability to identify blind spots (which, by definition, I'm not going to see on my own).

 

Also, because short videos selected by the pupil will typically not form an organized, systematic sequence which 1) lays a foundation, then, 2) intelligently builds upon that groundwork, often watching a bunch of videos that all have some manner of attraction to me don't coalesce into building up my playing into repeatable improvement that I can apply across a host of practical situations. At least, that's been my experience.

 

I do think videos can be a great asset for narrow explanation of very specific topics. That presumes you know exactly what you're lacking, and also know how to apply the stuff in the video through organized practice to build it correctly into your own playing. 

 

And there's a lot of If's in that sentence, as they say.

 

 

[Docbop]

2 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

“If you can play it slowly, you can play it quickly” 😀

 

As much as that’s been used for humorous purposes, there’s no better advice IMO. 

 

Or the variation....   If you can't play it slow you won't be able to play it fast.      Or the If you want to play fast practice slow. 

 

But too many rely on.....  Any note works if you play it fast enough.   

[Docbop]

35 minutes ago, 16251 said:

I'm befuddled as to the pushback about YouTube as a helpful resource. It must be a great feeling to be confident of your knowledge base; I, on the other hand need help from smarter-than-me ppl and I enjoy hearing their thoughts on subjects I think about a lot.

 

As far as tips, I personally like them in small morsels. I just want to add (and keep adding these, which I wouldn't know about if it wasn't for YT.

 

Here's a Barry Harris tip that, yes a YouTuber hipped me to.  (Sorry in advance if I get something wrong.)

 

Barry Harris Chromatic scale.  An example would be start on C. C to D play C#. D to E play D#. E to F there isn't a half step so Barry says to add the next highest chord tone, so you would play E to F and play G between. Continuing F to G play f#, G to A add G#, A to B add A# and B to C add D between.

 

Here is whole scale going up C C# D D# E G F F# G G# A A# B D C.  Going down would be C D B Bb A Ab G Gb F G E Eb D Db C

 

You can use this concept on any chord scale. I dig this concept, thanks YT!

Based on how you explained I'm not sure you realize you learned the BH major chromatic scale in Key of C.   Play that scale over and over until you get the sound in your ears.   Now pick a different key and play the BH major chromatic scale in that key.  Did that other video you watch say it was in a certain key?

 

So many YT's just give a quick 10,000 foot view of a nugget of data and don't talk about the sound, use, and other details. 

[16251]

25 minutes ago, timwat said:

I wasn't one who pushed back, but as a (non-music) instructor I might suggest:

 

The weakness of instructional videos of any kind is there is no dynamic interaction.

 

Thus, while the video may wax poetic on particular concepts, elements, etc., it can never interact with your personal questions, actual playing challenges, and specifically how this concept applies to your playing on the B section of Ipanema (or, Livin' on a Prayer). Not to mention there is no personal observation of your playing, and thus the ability to identify blind spots (which, by definition, I'm not going to see on my own).

 

Also, because short videos selected by the pupil will typically not form an organized, systematic sequence which 1) lays a foundation, then, 2) intelligently builds upon that groundwork, often watching a bunch of videos that all have some manner of attraction to me don't coalesce into building up my playing into repeatable improvement that I can apply across a host of practical situations. At least, that's been my experience.

 

I do think videos can be a great asset for narrow explanation of very specific topics. That presumes you know exactly what you're lacking, and also know how to apply the stuff in the video through organized practice to build it correctly into your own playing. 

 

And there's a lot of If's in that sentence, as they say.

 

 

I guess I'll say it again. I agree on every reason you say to have one on one teaching.  After Berklee (dropped out after five months,) I took lessons from some of Boston's best who are known around the world but no name dropping. At 66, I'm confident that I have enough teacher interaction to last me a lifetime, but as great as those teachers were, YT is nicely filling in the gaps along with my daily extensive listening of my favorite 20 albums, all my written transcriptions of piano, sax, tpt, and reading transcriptions I find on YT, and continuing to transcribe but without writing them down (my new favorite exercise.)

[16251]

1 minute ago, Docbop said:

Based on how you explained I'm not sure you realize you learned the BH major chromatic scale in Key of C.   Play that scale over and over until you get the sound in your ears.   Now pick a different key and play the BH major chromatic scale in that key.  Did that other video you watch say it was in a certain key?

 

So many YT's just give a quick 10,000 foot view of a nugget of data and don't talk about the sound, use, and other details. 

Didn't I say that in my post "Barry Harris Chromatic scale. "  I used C for easy explanation but as I also said it can be used on any scale.

[Docbop]

Just now, 16251 said:

Didn't I say that in my post "Barry Harris Chromatic scale. "  I used C for easy explanation but as I also said it can be used on any scale.

Any scale or any key???