There’s nothing more impressive than a skilled and competent musician.  Whether it’s on the stage, at a festival or simply at home, playing a musical instrument is not only a total joy, but it’s an incredible accomplishment too.  However, you won’t get good at music overnight.  Did you know it takes at least 10,000 hours of hard graft to go from an absolute beginner to a grade 8 musician?  That’s a lot of work!

Learning a musical instrument is undoubtedly a discipline.  It times time, patience, concentration and dedication to get good at music.  Plus, becoming a good musician is so much more than just reading and playing the notes.  It’s about interpreting what the composer is trying to tell you through his / her music.  It’s about things such as dynamics (so playing loud, quiet etc) and articulation (the tiny nuances of detail such as staccato notes, legato phrases, accents etc). It’s about adopting and developing your own unique playing style – which is something examiners love to see.  And it’s about understanding how making simple and often minute changes to your hand shaping (for piano, keyboard, guitar) or embouchure (for wind instruments) can transform the sound you are trying to achieve.

So, how do you get from an absolute beginner to a grade 8 musician?  Well, practice, practice and, guess what, more practice.  But it’s often not the hours you put in that count the most.  It’s more the quality of the practice you commit.

It’s one thing going for a weekly music lesson, but listening to what your teacher is telling you and putting it into practice at home is crucial if you want to see progress.  Structured practicing is essential if you want to develop your knowledge, ability and style.  But how do you go about practicing in a structured way – especially when demands of life are trying to distract you?  Here are our top tips on getting good at music with structured practice:

1.     Get into a routine.  The most important thing you can do is to get into a routine.  So start by thinking of the most suitable time each and every day, and make a note in your diary so you are more likely to stick to it.  At the lower grade levels about 30 to 40 minutes is ample.  However, as you inch closer to the advanced grades (so grades 6, 7 and 8) then this naturally needs to increase to around 1.5 to 2 hours every day.  Yep, that’s what we mean when we say it’s a commitment!

2.     Now you have your daily practice diarised, make every minute count and manage your practice time effectively.  Don’t always start at the beginning of a piece of music – if there’s a tricky section and it’s halfway through then start there and go over it until you feel you are improving.  Also, avoid the temptation to just practice your favourite pieces – challenge yourself by learning new ones in different keys or with different time signatures that push you beyond your comfort zone.

3.     Scales, arpeggios, broken chords, chromatic scales, contrary motion, diminished sevenths, dominant sevenths… they are all a really necessary evil.  They divide opinion as some students love them and others hate them.  Whatever your views, they are absolutely essential and need to form a big part of your daily practice.  And again, start with the difficult ones first rather than heading to C major time and time again.

4.     Sight reading forms a part of every graded music exam and doing plenty at home is a guaranteed way to get good at music.  Practice your sight reading daily – you can either buy a graded sight reading book or why not download some music you enjoy playing and challenge yourself to sight read different sections of it.  Also, flash cards are a great way to improve quick recognition of where notes sit in both the treble and bass clefs.

5.     Not only do you need to be patient in terms of long-term learning, but you also need to slow down and be patient when playing pieces.  Don’t rush just because you want to get your practice done as this forms bad habits.  Instead, take your time and do a small section rather than whizzing through the whole piece and making mistakes.

6.     Never stop challenging yourself and always strive to achieve your goals.  So play for fun as well as for your exams as you’ll feel as though you are getting further, quicker.  And make sure you throw in a mix of classical music, jazz, contemporary, pop, rock… anything and everything!  Being a diverse musician and playing a wide array of styles will help you to develop at a more rapid rate.

7.     And finally, play in public.  From pianos in pubs and hotel receptions, to busking on the street with your guitar.  Any opportunity to showcase your talent counts as structured practice as, let’s face it, there’s no such thing as bad practice after all.  But it is worth bearing in mind that there’s good practice and great practice, and great practice is structured and well thought out.

To find out more about getting good at music or taking up an instrument, contact Guitar School get in touch by visiting our CONTACT page.