The magic on the bandstand is created by many hours of preparation. So make sure your preparation is effective. Don’t waste time repeating the same mistakes. Learn how to get the most from your practice time.

Note: The instrumental at the beginning of the video is called “It’s Okay to Be Happy,” an original piece from my upcoming new album.

Struggling With Repeated Mistakes?

Have you ever tried to learn a new piece, but find yourself making the same mistakes over and over? Every time you come to that section, your fingers just won’t cooperate, even though you’ve practiced it many times.

All musicians have to deal with this issue, and so will you. When you learn how to practice effectively, you can learn the things you want to play much more efficiently.

So when you come that tricky part, and make that same mistake again, it’s time to Stop!

Apply the Three S’s to make your practice time effective, so you can nail those difficult passages and move on to the next challenge.

Stop. Slow Down. Start Over.

When you’re practicing and you make a mistake, whether it’s a melodic mistake, a rhythmic mistake, whatever, Stop. Slow down. Start over.

Most of us have an instinctive fear of freezing up, losing our place, forgetting the song. So when we’re practicing and we come to a rough patch, we tend to speed up, as if hurrying will somehow help. Nope!

Unfortunately, rushing through rough patches is the worst thing you can do during practice because you’re actually training yourself to make those mistakes every time. You need to break the cycle the moment it happens.

Most of your practice time should be just that, practice. Performing a whole piece at tempo comprises a very small amount of your practice time. Instead, use practice time to work on smaller sections at a variety of tempos.

When you make a mistake, your hands are telling you, hey, we need some additional work on this part. So turn on your metronome and slow it down as much as you need to in order to be able to play the section correctly.

When you’re able to play the section several times without a mistake, then you can increase the tempo (try 3 bpm increments) as you gradually speed it back up to normal tempo.

What If It Doesn’t Work?

If you’re still faltering, slow it down further. You may need to work on the section at 50 beats per minute, or even slower. The number doesn’t matter.

Relax, slow it down, and watch out for that negative self talk. Be patient with yourself and give yourself lots of encouragement and positive reinforcement.

What If It Still Doesn’t Work?

If you are still making mistakes at a very slow tempo, then the section you are working on is probably too long. Try working with shorter and shorter sections until you have a section that is short enough to play slowly without a mistake.

You might have a section as small as just two beats. Check your fingering and work on those two beats. Then work on the next two beats. Then put those four beats together.

Often slowing down reveals to you that you actually didn’t know the section very well. Slowing it down forces you to learn the material beat by beat.

If you’re still having trouble, ask your teacher for help. Often you can work on some exercises in addition to the piece you’re trying to learn.

Apply the Three S’s in Every Practice Session

The Three S’s is a very powerful tool set for turning difficult passages into showcases. Don’t let those sections make you fearful. Work on them using the Three S’s until you can nail them every time!

And remember, when you muscles get stiff or sore, shake ’em out. NEVER play through pain. Musicians do not train like weight lifters who build bulk with short set of reps at maximum intensity. Musicians train for agility and endurance as well as strength, so we can play for hours without repetitive stress damage.