12 Tips for practicing music (Part 9): Get started

9. What you start with matters.

Are you having a great day where things are fun and flowing?

These are the times where you need to challenge yourself, so, after your warm-up, go straight to the difficult part of the song that needs work and get stuck into it while you have the mental energy.  Don’t start at the beginning of the song (save that for later).  After this, give your brain a break and practice something you find easy/repetitive.

Or have you had a less-than-stellar day where things have been stressful and you’re feeling tired?

Start with the easy stuff, such as warm-ups, repetitive exercises or things you already know.  Then move on to something more challenging that requires focus and new skill development, but don’t overdo it.

The aim usually isn’t to end up like this!

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