Practice is the key to quick improvement on any musical instrument. But effective practice is not always intuitive. It is a skill that needs to be taught.

Practicing your instrument is not the same as playing your instrument. It is not mindlessly running scales, arpeggios or chord inversions. It is not what you do in rehearsal or performance. It is not aimless noodling and exploration. You are truly practicing your instrument only when you are working on something - a skill, a song -  you are not yet able to play. In other words, to practice is to enter a frame of mind where the brain is building new pathways. This is an uncomfortable feeling for most people, but you can learn to adjust your mindset so that practicing becomes a meditative and relaxing activity. You need to practice practicing.

1. One key to effective practice is consistency. We commonly overestimate what we are able to accomplish in one day, and underestimate what we can accomplish in one month. Practice at least a little bit every day of the week. Aim to improve one little thing every day, and take no days off. It is better to practice 15 minutes a day than to have a marathon practice session once a week.
2. A second key is to limit practice time to no more than one hour a day. The human brain only learns new things in small chunks. After about one hour of working on a new skill you will hit a wall. It is better to sleep on the problem and tackle it again the next day. If after your practice hour you want to continue playing your instrument for hours upon hours, then go for it!
3. Third, be KIND TO YOURSELF! Don’t allow yourself to become frustrated or angry when you make “mistakes” and are struggling with acquiring some skill. Your struggle is proof that you are strengthening what is weak and working on exactly what you need to be working on. Make a covenant with yourself that you will not feel disappointment when practicing. Always enter your practice time with a Zen-like mindset. When you feel the anger rising, take a five minute break to recover your tranquility. When you practice effectively you will feel your stress melt away.
4. Forth, practice in stages. For example: Step one - find the notes without regard to timing. Step two - get the timing right. Step three - work on the dynamics and get the song up to speed.
5. Fifth, isolate the difficulty and work on it. Don’t play through the entire song just to stumble at that one difficult section. Drill only the difficult section until it is no longer difficult. Invent or find exercises that work the same difficulty. Always begin slow, slow, slow and gradually bring it up to speed. For certain very fast “shred” licks you may need to go right from medium slow, to very fast, and then gradually bring the speed down.

If you follow these five practice habits you will progress rapidly and reach your musical goals.