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Nationally recognized writer, publisher, teacher and performer, Riley Wilson is a true 21st century Renaissance man. A working professional guitarist/singer since 1972, he's worked over 5,000 gigs in solo, duo, trio and large format band gigs from North Carolina to California and most places in between. Since 1985, he's taught more than 7,000 guitar, bass and voice students coast to coast, in person as well as his ground breaking book, "Guitar Made Simpler," published in 2005. His writing has been a fixture in some of the world's most acclaimed publications, like "Electronic Musician," "Gig," "Guitar World," "Guitar School" and "Vintage Guitar," where he authored the popular "Gigmeister column from 1993-2006. He still teaches over 50 students per week, writes and plays gigs all over the region. Riley is also an acclaimed voice talent. Visit his webpage dedicated solely to voiceovers at www.wrileywilson.com

TIP OF THE MONTH How To Practice Correctly
Those of you who have been or are participating in a sports team know about regular practice sessions. A team may have one coach or several coaches, in a sport like football. Their job is to help team players understand and execute game fundamentals without mistakes. The coach supervises and in some cases, literally “hover over” a struggling player to ensure they master and can execute the basics perfectly every time.


I don't have that opportunity in a private music lesson. I have to send each of you home with specific directions of what to, how to do it, how often to do it and in what order. Then I trust that you will do your part by daily practicing what I give you to master. As I point out in my book, nothing can replace daily, systematic music practice. Here are the nuts and bolts on this subject.


First, set up your practice area. Gather your instrument, metronome, tuner, timer and practice materials- “Guitar Made Simpler” or other method book, other charts, drills, etc. Tune your guitar or bass before you begin. Then, begin at the beginning. For most of my students, that's a warm up, like our Accuracy drills. Set your timer for the amount of time specified in your Daily Practice Log and begin with that exercise. Play and count it aloud the first time, without a metronome. If you can play the drill and count aloud with no errors, then play it again with the metronome, beginning at 40 beats per minute. If you can play and count aloud with 2 or less mistakes at 40 beats per minute, then speed up gradually make more than two errors. That's your goal tempo for that day- write it down and try to go faster tomorrow. Keep going until you hit the goal tempo. Be sure you write these daily tempos down on the Daily Metronome Settings portion of your log. That way, I can track your progress each week.


Once the timer rings, beeps, or otherwise sounds, write the date you practiced on the Daily Practice Log and move to the next thing on our list. For my guitar students, that is usually chords. For my bass students, that will be reading out of your bass method book. Be as cautious with chords as you are single notes on the Accuracy drills. If you struggle with a chord or chord drill, then slow down! Early on, it will be difficult to play a drill in time, even at 40 beats per minute. However, if you insist on playing with no more than two errors and work on difficult things daily, eventually you will play the part in time. Enough correct practicing will allow you to play anything, even the most challenging piece of music. If you can't play something assigned on today's log, persevere and keep trying. Before long, you will be able to practice everything in the time I suggested on your personal log.


I strongly suggest practicing the same time each day and eliminating interruptions while you are engaged. Ask your family to hold your phone calls, don't surf the 'Net and focus 100% on practicing your instrument. A reward immediately after you complete your assignment is an excellent idea. Howard Roberts told us he kept chocolate chip cookies in his post WW-II Los Angeles apartment refrigerator. They didn't have A/C back then, and so he would practice for 45 minutes and then eat one cookie. He insisted he practice for another 45 minutes before he ate that second cookie. Howard worked hard and within a few years, he became the number one session player in the LA studios. And yes, the Daily Practice Log and Daily Metronome settings sheet were Howard's idea, one we used each day while at Musicians Institute. I have never seen a student use it regularly for more than six months that didn't make excellent progress in our lessons. If you aren't making the kind of progress you want, reread this essay and reapply yourself to these principles today. You'll notice a difference in just one week and so will I.


The use of the Daily Practice Log and Daily Metronome settings sheet will help you more than you can imagine- if you practice the way I just described. Most people have never experienced the kind of discipline I am suggesting here to accomplish anything worthwhile. Good things take time and nowhere is that more evident that in playing and eventually mastering the guitar.