The Fastest Way to Learn a Musical Instrument Guaranteed

One common trick used by organization experts can be helpful for musicians:
Keep everything in one place.
In everyday life, this concept helps people who are constantly losing personal items, such as their keys. The time spent searching for the lost items can never be recovered, and the search is always frustrating.
To rid people of this frustration, [...]

To obtain your musical goals, it helps to have a very specific desire. There is probably something that’s drawing you to pursue music in the first place. If you can put this desire into words, you will be much closer to achieving your goal.
Many musicians, especially beginners, are vague about their goals. [...]

When I’ve introduced my students to the concepts included in my recent blog Playing Music vs. Practicing Music, many of these students thought my ideas were, how can I say this, stupid.
They have told me that saying you’re “playing” instead of “practicing” doesn’t change anything in the real world.  You still have to put in [...]

One of the best ways to have convincing phrasing in your music is to create a story line that goes through the piece.  The drama of your narrative will be played out in your performance and help you establish the right feeling for each section.
The highs and lows of the story will be translated into changing dynamics, alterations [...]

Performing music successfully takes a number of skills.  You must master the technical demands of your instrument, learn music that is often challenging, and find a public venue where you can play.
One area that can easily be neglected is your stage presence.  The aura you portray on stage has a profound effect on your playing [...]

Your practice space or music room is most likely a comfortable place to play your instrument. It’s important to feel good while you play, and your practice area should make you feel at ease.
The trouble is, you’re unlikely to perform in your practice room, and you’ll need to feel comfortable wherever you play. You can [...]

Setting up a practice loop is one of the best ways to learn a song.  Rather than going through your piece from start to finish, you’ll need to work on small sections that need the majority of the work.
Creating and using a practice loop is the nitty gritty of the work itself.  Here’s a step-by-step [...]

When musicians need to learn some very difficult music, they turn to the technique of Slow Practice.  When playing slowly, you teach  your muscles to play the notes correctly.  Basically, your muscles learn a sequence that will eventually allow you to play through a section flawlessly.
Most musicians picture slow practice like this:
Set the metronome at about [...]

While mastering a musical instrument, you need to make sure that you’re ready for days when forward momentum is not obvious.  You need to trust the practice process and know that incremental changes are always happening. 
These small changes are leading you closer to your performance goals–but the changes may be too small to notice on [...]

A typical practice session for most musicians goes something like this:
You play through a song from start to finish.  You do it again.
It doesn’t sound any better than it did yesterday–or the day before that.  You’re having problems with the same few areas that have always caused you problems.  You question if you’re getting any [...]