What is the best way to practice?

We recommend that our students split their practice session into 3 equal parts that can be distributed throughout the day (sometimes that helps with motivating practice!)

The first part should always be scales, arpeggios and chords. Always practice scales with 2 octaves using 4th finger on the 7th (or 8th) fret. Don't skimp! Practice different picking patterns with each scale (we recommend quarter notes, 8th notes, triplets, tremolo). That part should at least be 12 minutes, maybe more if there's time, but at least 12 minutes.

The second part should always be new material. Whether you're learning bluegrass or roots/folk music or classical, new material is what stimulates our minds and makes us hunger for more. We recommend practicing the tunes note by note initially, using a pencil to make notes on the sheet - pencil is great because you can erase it later. For example, take Red Haired Boy: the first measure is 2 quarter notes and 4 eighth notes. Go slowly and sound out the notes you don't know. Once you can play that measure easily, move on to the next measure. Repeat.

The last part of the practice should always be review of known material. You should put tabs in the books you use to easily find old tunes you've learned, or photocopy them and make your own 3 ring binder of tunes. Either way, the faster you can get to those old tunes, the better/more successful your practice will be. In addition to using this time to review old tunes, we recommend using it to sight read new tunes (if you're learning by ear, this doesn't apply to you).

Finally, we encourage you to play as often as you can with family members and friends who also play instruments. No matter how "simple" the music is, there is an exponential benefit to playing music with other people, especially with adults. If you'd like to learn more about this, check out "Why Do People Sing" by Joseph Jordania.