 The idea behind this practice session is to create a template
from which you can develop your own daily routine. I've always
considered
practicing to be about two things; 1) practicing music and, 2)
practicing to become more proficient on your instrument. Practicing
music to me is about learning tunes, working on chord changes,
improvising, and even performing. All very important. But what's
also important is to play your instrument as well as you possibly
can.
The more we practice things that will improve our technique
and the ability to control what we play the better we're going
to sound. Think about a marathon runner. He or she can know all
there is about their equipment, the course, how to stay hydrated
and everything else they need to know about running a marathon.
But if they don't put in the hours of training to prepare themselves
for the race they don't stand a chance of finishing. We practice
exercises on our instruments to gain control of our sound, pitch,
breathe, articulation, you name it.
I've taken excerpts from my book "Comprehensive
Jazz Studies and Exercises" and
created a practice routine designed to take roughly 2 hours to
complete. (Coincidentally,
there's a link
on my Merch Page were you can go to order this book as well as
other books, videos and CD's!) How fast you get through the routine
will of course depend on how fast you play through them.
However,
every player I've ever talked to about practicing who's playing
I really admire has said the same thing. The way to become a great
player is not to practice to gain speed but rather to practice
to gain control. With each exercise I've recommended a range of
BPM's (beats per minute) or metronome markings.
ALWAYS practice
these exercises with a metronome. You'll realize quickly how much
more control you'll have of your instrument if you practice this
way. Check this page often because I'll change the routine periodically.
There are 2 things I like to do to begin every practice session, "long
tones" and "chromatics". Each of the following
practice sessions should begin with these 2 "warm-ups".
Let's begin:
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