First, here are some basic principles that apply to all levels:
- You are your own best teacher. Only you can make yourself into a better and better player. You absolutely must understand this!
- Practicing should be fun. It’s fun to be good at something, and it’s fun to be constantly improving your skills.
- Practice with your brain turned on and you will learn twice as fast.
- Part of good practicing is developing your ability to concentrate. If you always try to focus to the best of your ability, you will actually get better at focusing!
- When you identify a problem spot in a piece, turn that spot into an exercise. Play it as slowly as necessary to eliminate the mistake, then gradually increase the tempo. A metronome can be useful for this.
- Practice being correct. When you are working on a difficult piece or section, don't try for a fast tempo until you are ready. If you try to play it too fast, you will make the same mistakes over and over, and you will get better at making those mistakes. You don’t want that!
- Try to practice every day, or nearly every day. Find a time of day that works for you, and stick to it.
- Find a place to practice where you can concentrate - no TV, or anything else bothering or distracting you.
- Be patient with yourself. Learning to play an instrument is a long-term project.
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