Practice Principles

Credit to Trey of The Talent House. Sound advice to share.

Step 1: Zoom in.

Instead of trying to learn a whole song, solo, or scale — pick one tiny piece:

• the first riff

• the first verse

• the first couple of strings

Start there and don't worry about anything else.

Step 2: Slow way down.

Play it way slower than you think you need to. Painfully slow.

Most people play things way too fast at first, and end up learning bad habits that are hard to break.

Don't even think about speed — that'll come on its own with enough clean reps. The only thing that matters right now is accuracy. Every note, every chord change — clean.

Step 3: Repeat it until you can't get it wrong.

This is where most people blow it.

They play something over and over until they finally get it right once — then move on. That's the exact opposite of what you should do. You just played it wrong ten times and right once. Your brain doesn't care which rep was "the good one." It learned whatever you repeated the most.

Reverse that.

I call it the 4x Rule: don't move on until you can play that section 4 times in a row with zero mistakes. Not one lucky take. If you mess up on the 4th one, start over. Four clean reps, back to back. That's how you know it's actually starting to stick.

Step 4: Move to the next section.

Take the next small part — by itself — and run it through the same process. Slow it down. Clean it up. Hit your 4x. Then move on to the next piece. And the next. One section at a time — piece by piece.

Step 5: Put it all together.

Once every section feels solid on its own, connect them and play through the whole thing.

Now you're putting together parts you already know how to play.

Pick one thing you're working on right now and run it through these five steps. Zoom in. Slow down. Use the 4x rule. Then put it together.