So you’ve managed to carve out time in your day to get behind the kit to practice. Awesome! Congratulations, you are now on your way. What now? You sit behind the kit and not a moment passes before you begin to play your drums. Ah yes that groove, or song you love to play. You are in the zone, before you know it, it’s an hour later. You haven’t even started to practice. You forget what you planned to go over. You might continue to play some more, or put the sticks to rest and call it a day. That my friends is the cycle of ineffective practice. It happens to us all. No one wants to waste time. We want to be more effective. So what can you do about it?
1.) What you need to do is have a plan. Write it down. The day before you plan to practice, write some ideas down of what you’d like to go over in your practice session. It doesn’t have to be super structured, but it should contain some general notes for yourself which you can reference back to when you getting ready to practice. It really is a natural phenomena that happens when we sit behind the drums, all we think about is playing them and forget what we were there to do. Having a plan is how you can get over this. You can even jot some things down right before you go into practice. Depending on the amount of time you have available to practice, write down 2 to 3 concepts you’d like to work on. For example, independence, Groove, etc.
2.) The second thing you should do is time your practice. We all wish we had all day to play drums, but the reality is not a lot of us do. We need to make the best use of the time we have. Along with writing out what you will practice before sitting down behind the kit, set aside the amount of time you will give yourself to practice each concept. Use a timer. Most if not all our smartphones have them a timer. Without having a time reference there really is no way for you to know how long you’ve actually practiced. Knowing how much time you have available helps you remain focused and on track.
3.) Last but not least, video record your practice. Don’t get hung up on the audio or video quality of what you have available. This practice tip is extremely important. It is important for a couple different reasons. First of all, by having video of what you’re practicing you have a reference point of where you are now. A month down the line you can reference back and see how much progress you’ve made. A great way to continue to stay motivated. Having video is also the ultimate form of accountability. You can look over your practice and see how effective you actually were. Did you use tips 1 and 2 throughout your practice session or did you veer off and start playing sometime you’re already good at for an hour? It is a constant battle, I feel your pain, but you can do it!
You’ve done the hard part already, you found the time to practice. Why not get the best out of it. Have a plan, write out what you will practice the day before. Time your practice, it will help you stay focused on the task at hand. Hold yourself accountable. Video record your practice. See your progress first hand which will help you stay motivated. Ultimately have fun with your practice. Having a structured practice session doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Give these tips a try, what do you have to lose? You have everything to gain. Take your practice to the next level. Let me know how it goes!
Have any tips to share? Don’t forget to comment and share.
[…] lack motivation, I remind myself why I play drums in the first place. The motivation to continue to practice and push forward follows. So ask yourself, why are you a […]