We get these questions often. And while each person is different, when you’re trying to learn music, the idea is to just start playing. Is that practice? Of course it is. Although practicing is often associated with pulling out your music book and reading the sheet music you learned at your last lesson, let’s face it, that is not fun! Just as clothes come in all different sizes, practicing can be done in many different ways.
Steps For Making Practicing Fun
- There are NO rules to practicing. Do what you enjoy doing! If your teacher makes practice feel like homework, then your days playing an instrument are numbered.
- Next, ask yourself what you’re in the mood to play. Is it a song you just learned? A solo you’re thinking of playing? Or maybe a song you want to write?
- Once you’ve decided what you want to play, the next step is to Google the chords.
- Start playing those chords or refresh your memory from a previous lesson on how to play them. You’ll see that in only a minute or two you’ll be playing your favorite song by learning just a few chords.
Many people underestimate the importance of playing something you enjoy — like your favorite song — when you’re trying to learn music. In fact, at Rock Out Loud, we would argue that playing what you enjoy is so much better than going over the sheet music you were given. Let’s face it, sheet music is not inspirational to most beginners. However, if reading music is something you enjoy, that’s great, but it is certainly not for everyone!
Play Something You Love
When you pick up your instrument or sit down to a piano and begin playing your favorite song, here is what is really happening:
- You’re training your ear. If you begin to strum the chords and they are wrong, you’re going to hear that immediately. So, let’s begin with the practice of ear training.
- You’re playing in time. At Rock Out Loud we send backing tracks (recorded mp3’s to play along with, just like your own backup band). Backing tracks help our students play (or should we say, “practice”) what they’ve learned by putting it to music. These backing tracks help the student play in perfect time. This is a much more fun and effective way to learn music than just playing with a metronome!
- And lastly, by learning and playing your favorite song, you’re learning the songwriting process. Here’s a fun fact: Many hit songs today are actually “ghosted.” A ghosted song is one where someone takes a hit song, copies the formula (in other words, the chord patterns and arrangement,) and then changes the melody slightly.
You see, while the majority of today’s music schools make practicing a chore, we do the opposite. We make it fun while also reinforcing the lessons you’ve learned in the past (e.g. chords.)
Resources
If you’d like to learn your favorite song by removing the guitar, bass, piano, or drums, allowing you to be the musician in the band, try Karaoke Backing Tracks. Or, if you have an Alexa, you can enable our FREE Alexa RockOutLoud Skill where you can simply ask Alexa to name all of the chords in your favorite song so you can start playing in no time.
If you want to learn music, RockOutLoud can show you how to make it fun. Whether you’re interested in learning to play piano, drums, guitar, or you’re more into singing, or even hip-hop, we like to do music differently. Check out our website or give us a call to learn more about our programs.
Now, go play and have some FUN!
