Practise Tips 4: utilising downtime

Everyone gets busy from time to time so how do we maintain practise while still managing to live our busy lives?

In my opinion the key is to utilise downtime. For example; if you need to travel somewhere then maybe the train is a good option? You could play your guitar and run something like scales, arpeggios, chord shapes etc while on the train. These are things that might be impossible on the bus and most definitely impossible while driving a car. Ha.

Another thing you could try is to leave your guitar on a stand while at home, rather than in the case. That way if you have 5-10 minutes downtime to spare while waiting for someone to arrive you could quickly grab that guitar and practise something. Anything. And the guitar is staring at you all the time saying... PLAY ME!

I consider listening to music to be an integral part of my practise. When I say listening, I mean really listening: not just having music on in the background when cleaning up etc. I often try to grab a few minutes here and there to listen to tunes. iPhones make this a breeze these days. If I can find 5-10 minutes spare that could potentially be 1-2 tunes I could absorb. At the moment I am trying to fill my ears with the new Scott Henderson record - Vibe Station. It's excellent. Check it out here. 

Another idea that might work is to get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning to practise. I remember hearing that Frank Gamble used to do this. For some people this works. For me, not so much. I am most definitely a night person. So, I do the same thing but at the opposite end of the day.


All these small moments during the day add up. It is totally possible for most people to find an hour per day if made up of little 5-10 minute segments. The real question is, how badly do you want it?


The reality of my life is I have to utilise downtime. People think that being a professional musician I just sits round practising all day then do gigs at night - I wish: this is most definitely not the case. I do get to play the guitar a lot. More than most people ever do and I feel fortune for this.

Sometimes practise just doesn't happen for a variety of reasons. If this is the case and you can honestly say that you are utilising your downtime effectively, then maybe you really do not have the time to be a musician. Thats ok, it's not for everyone. Or maybe you don't have the motivation. What to do then? Maybe listening to new music might help? ...or going out to check out bands might help (you should do this anyway!!). Jamming with other musicians might help? Having a practise buddy might help, in the same way people pair up to exercise? All worth a try.

There is a great video of Steve Vai talking about how to be successful on YouTube. It is a bit cheesy in style, but the message is good and applicable to this. Check it out here. The key point in this video is how Vai talks about making time to focus on your goal. Vai talks about how you first have to decide what you want to do then make time to do that. I would say if you want to be a musician then practise is a necessity, so why not make it a priority in your life - if you can.

I wish you all the best for your practise. Let me know how it's going!

Keep in touch:

Website: www.nickgranville.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/nickgranny

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickgranvillemusic

What to try when uninspired to practise.

Photo by Ben McNicoll

We all feel a lack of motivation to practise from time to time. This can happen for many reasons. Sometimes it is just we have lots of other things occupying our time and energy. Sometimes it is just tiredness, sometimes it can be a lack of knowing what to practise. There can be many reasons for this but I find it best not to focus on these, rather to focus on finding ways to work around them.

Here is a few things to try when you feel uninspired:

1. Go to www.YouTube.com and search for new artists.  I do this by searching for people I already know and like and then look at the suggested videos. Often YouTube will suggest artists who are similar in style to what you are viewing and if I see someone I have heard of, or who has a big view count, I will check out their video. Occasionally I just watch videos that look interesting. As a general rule I give each video a minute of my time and if it has not grabbed me by then, it probably won't. If I hear something I like then I check out further videos of this artist. What often happens as a result is my own playing is lead in new directions.

2. Listen to a favourite CD / MP3 that you have not listened to in a while but that you remember being a source of inspiration at some point.  This can lead to concepts that you might have lost sight of. A few that consistently work for me are - Pat Metheny: Question and Answer, John Scofield: Meant To Be and Wes Montgomery: Willow Weap for Me.

3. Try playing a different instrument. I find every instrument makes me play differently - for example if I reach for my 12 string guitar I am going to play differently that my electric guitars. Nylon string acoustic guitar often inspires different musical output.

Photo during Penny Black movie sessions

4. Take a long walk and evaluate what is important to you. I often find life gets in the way of what really matters. You know, doing stuff we have to do rather than whats really important towards reaching our potential e.g. emails etc. Leave the lawns for another day and grab that guitar and work on something that will make you better. I find just getting some time to myself can be really important and is something I need to schedule into my days.

5. Attend a jam night. There is no substitute for playing with other musicians. Good or bad, jam nights can inspire practise. I have attended a few jam and open mic nights where I have played terribly and it has been a wake up call. I have also attended others where for any number of reasons the playing has reached another level and I've really felt inspired to practise for a weeks afterwards. Both can have a positive effect if you think about it in this way.

6. The other alternative is to give up music. Thats right, give up. If you give up there is nothing to feel bad about. Ha.

All the best for your musical journey. I hope this has been useful.

Keep in touch:

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/nickgranny

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickgranvillemusic

... and you can download my latest album from:  nickgranville.bandcamp.com/album/home

The music books that had the most significance influence on my musical development

1. The Advancing Guitarist - By Mick Goodrick. This book is a gem. Mick Goodrick has taught many great players including Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Mike Stern and continues to teach at the Berklee School of Music. This book is not a method book, rather designed to inspire practise and potentially change the way musicians think about practise and music. Yes, it is a guitar book but I would recommend it to any instrumentalist as a considerable amount of the information is universal. 

2. Effortless Mastery - By Kenny Werner. This book was an eye opener for me. This book is a documentation of Kenny's approaches to learning and music. I have owned three copies of this book over the years and each have been loaned to people who did not returned it. I guess that speaks volumes about how great this book is. A must for all serious musicians. 

3. Total Guitar Magazine - multiple contributors. Thats right,  not one book but a magazine. For a while I subscribed to this magazine and would religiously learn to play everything contained in the magazines. This meant I learnt a broad range of musical styles and approaches as often the contributors to these magazines are a cross section of musicians. Also, I learnt a lot about the equipment used by the professionals via this magazine. Now days I really like Premier Guitar Magazine among others and try to learn as many things as I can from this - both lessons and about gear etc. 

4. The Encyclopaedia of Reading Rhythms - By Gary Hess. Many years ago during my studies at music school I was introduced to a book of etudes designed for drummers by Joel Rothman. It was designed to teach you rhythm via snare drum playing (I clapped) of rhythms and learning to read. I found this book useful. I was discussing this book with Lance Philip (excellent Wellington drummer & educator) as I had lost my copy and he mentioned the Encyclopaedia of Reading Rhythms book as a similar resource. I checked it out and found this to be exactly what I wanted and quite frankly a better book than the one I had. I worked on this book extensively, and continue to when I get the time. It is well organised and I really like the check lists. 

5. 14 Jazz and Funk Etudes - By Bob Mintzer. This book is a collection of tunes with solos and a play-along by saxophonist Bob Mintzer. It is available for most instruments. The thing I love about this book is the solos contain a lot of jazz vocabulary and the playalong CD is of a very high standard - featuring jazz greats. Many of the tunes are jazz standards or classic styles (such as blues, funk etc) so are useful for practising anything else that you might be working on in addition to the material presented in the book. Much of the material in this book is difficult but there are easier editions that are similar to this book. 

6. A Modern Method for Guitar - By William Leavitt. I have found this book invaluable for teaching. Many times when students come for a masterclass lesson I ask them what they work on. Often they mention this book as a good on to work on their reading. This is only part of what this book is good for. It has lots of scale, arpeggios, rhythm guitar stuff and more and is laid out in a logical way. 

                                                                            Keep in touch:

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/nickgranny

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickgranvillemusic

... and you can download my latest album from:  nickgranville.bandcamp.com/album/home