January 14, 2014
Lets face it, the social media and sharing world is far and beyond upon us. Everything we do on stage as performers and artist will be captured and shared with the world. Don’t feel bad, we all make mistakes especially me! The focus of this article is not to prevent mistakes but to improve practicing habits.
Most of us are touring musicians playing professional gigs every week. Although playing and performing as much as you can is important for development and keeping up with your chops, it is very different than concentrated practice. Granted, many of us tour so much that there really doesn’t seem to be time for practicing. In my opinion this couldn’t be farther from the truth!
The definition of practicing aka shedding, is not four, five, or six hours a day,,,which scares musicians away. On the contrary, a continued ten to twenty minutes everyday day can work miracles on your chops. Trust me on this.
My 2 pennies worth of advice: 
Make it a priority to spend at least 10 to 20 minutes a day shedding on your vocals or musical instrument. During these sessions, try to practice something that feels awkward or uncomfortable. Do this after completing no more than five minutes of your basic warm-ups.
Nothing stifles development more than practicing the same thing you play at all your gigs. When those awkward things become more natural, move on to something else uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable. The idea here is to keep challenging yourself. The pay off will be great and you’ll soon notice you’re getting better faster.
During your practice sessions try and remember to BE UNCOMFORTABLE!
Thats my 2 cents. I hope it helped.
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I think this is great advise. I will apply it.
Great Advice Jackiem! So many of us forget the need to tighten up on our skill level
Any practice routine ideas for sax?
I agree with the method of practicing what is uncomfortable , Its been a method I have been using all my life, I used to get frustrated but now I feel good about it , because I know that its going to be something that comes out during a recording session or a performance.
one other practice method is to listen to chops from other accomplished guitarists and work on the ones I want to add to my arsenal, Its no secret that we listen to each other work and when we hear a lick that we like, we quickly add it to the gotta work on that one list.
You are exactly right ,I often have to force myself away from the routine runs that feel good and that I’m familiar with ,but don’t really serve has a growth tool, Thanks for the info
You’re right Jackiem, playing only the songs that you know is a sure way to keep yourself from growing as a musician. I find that, if you ask yourself the question,”what is it that I don’t know or haven’t learned yet?”, other questions will come up, like, “do I know all 12 major scales”…, “do I know my arpeggios”…, do I know how to put my lines together to form good solos. Once we find out what it is that we don’t know, I think most of us would agree that there’s plenty to learn.