Do you use an iPhone or Android app? how do you manage your practice schedule?
I just use JG’s website picking whichever practice routine I am using at the time. Either that or my notebook.
No. I tend to feel when enough is enough, otherwise I just look at the clock on the wall to see for how long I’ve been doing something.
I used to take notes of the items I practiced when I started out but gave that up about 2 months in. The practice routine thing on the website feels way too complicated and not really necessary for me.
I used to use the practice features on the website, as it was interesting tracking my improvement in the things that were actually trackable. These days I don’t bother. I just practice whatever I feel I need to practice, for as long as I want to practice it.
I use justin’s practice assistant on the website. I do and hour of day practice in 5 minute chunks which you can do easily in the PA. It also is great to keep track of your total time practicing.
Hey Tom,
In this age of of endless apps and technology, some of which are tremendous, I’ve always managed my practice with a simple spreadsheet, written out each week in advance. I add relevant notes to each section as I practice. Each practice item is timed and specifically structured.
I find this increases focus, allows for quick reviews, and provides a consistent path.
Cheers, Shane
I sort of do a hybrid @alexisduprey - @sclay Without structure I would just be spending more time on the things I’m good at and not enough time on the things I need to work on.
I used Justin’s Practice Assistant for awhile, and I’ve used various spreadsheet tracking systems in the past, but I started a simple notebook system a couple of months ago, tracking half a month at a time on a page. I think it’s the simplest ‘system’ I’ve ever used. It makes it easy for me to visually see if I’m practicing the different things I want / need to practice, and so it gives me some motivation to do more than ‘just’ practice songs. I’ll confess though that the sample sheet below is the first page in my book. I have similar overall time for each page, but by the end of July I was practicing much more on the songs I wanted to play at the Open Mic, and much less on anything else!! Don’t need to share that lol
I also don’t beat myself up anymore about how much time I’m practicing. I’d love to be able to practice more, but for various reasons I’m happy for now if I average out at 30 minutes a day.
Started with a hand written notebook like Mari but soon adopted a spreadsheet and have been using it for years - obviously updating and adding new techniques as required. Tried MPA but could not get into it and not really a phone app type person. So good old XLS for me.
I use a plain text file and write practice info in markdown format. I like this because it’s plain text, so it can be easily read in the future by just about any computer/system/whatever, it’s not bound to a specific application, and it’s in markdown so it’s both human-readable as-is, but can also be easily converted to HTML or some other format if I need to do that.
I kind of use Justin’s practice assistant. But really only for about 25% of my practices, usually when I’m learning/embedding technique stuff. Mostly I don’t track practices.
@TheMadman_tobyjenner I find it a bit funny that I’ve gone ‘backward’ from spreadsheets and apps to a notebook. It’s working for me though
Maybe actually writing things out, helps makes a tangible connection of what you need to practice. That’s what I found with the spreadsheet, building up a 3-4 month schedule and noting specifics rather than generics. Whatever works at the end of the day.
I love Justin’s Practice Assistant on the website, it forces me to actually practice the stuff I can’t do (yet) instead of spending all my practice time playing songs I can already do, and it makes me accountable for how much time I spend on each practice item
OK now that I have received some ideas let me tell you that . It is extremely important you follow some rules, and schedules and have the discipline . I wasted a lot of my time and just recently started to have some schedules. I use Interval timer apps and am strictly following my plans
Do you plans include Justin’s practice schedule at the end of each Module ? That will certainly stop time wasting and are readily provided on the website. Simples.
Thanks I will have a look.
I use the practice schedule at the end of modules most of the time, although I tend to dip in and out of a number of the them at a time.