Each day this week, we’ll be sharing a practice tip from Scott Malyszka, a songwriter, fiddler, and founder of New Trail Coaching, a coaching service for artistic and creative people: http://www.newtrailcoaching.com
Tip #5: Get Outside Your Head
Making music means that eventually someone has to listen to all this racket you are making. So what do you actually sound like, in the real world outside your head? Record yourself, that’s how you know. Recording your practice will help you play better music. If you listen honestly, you’ll hear the mistakes and weak spots from an audience’s perspective. Recording yourself regularly also helps you learn about mike placement, setting levels, mixing a group sound, and other stuff that will improve your live performances and studio work.
Listening back to recordings of your band practice can be a revelation. You might be surprised how much arguing, lecturing,talking, one-upping, swearing, interrupting, and noodling there is. If you can get your band to sit down for half an hour and listen to themselves recorded, it might point out how much room there is for improvement at future practice sessions. Even if you’re the only one who listens to the recordings, that will be one more person in the group who has a clearer perspective on the band’s sound and rehearsal habits. See what happens when you step outside of your own head and listen like the proverbial fly on the wall.
Great Practice Sessions
Great Practice Sessions – Tip #1: Put Down Your Instrument
Great Practice Sessions – Tip #2: You Are the Gear
Great Practice Sessions – Tip #3: Practice is Performance
Great Practice Sessions – Tip #4: Step Away from the Woodshed
Great Practice Sessions – Tip #5: Get Outside Your Head
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Photo of the band Youthbitch used by their kind permission. Check out their latest single HERE.