How should I practise an instrument so I actually improve?

Most people practise by playing their pieces from the beginning until they hit the hard part, stumbling, and carrying on. That rehearses the beginning, which is already fine, and rehearses the mistake, which is not. Effective practice is uncomfortable precisely because it consists almost entirely of the parts you cannot do.

Step by step

1. Start each session by deciding what you are working on.One or two specific things. Without a target, a session becomes playing through familiar material, which is enjoyable and is rehearsal rather than practice.
2. Find the smallest unit that contains the problem.Not the piece, not the section — the two beats where your hand goes wrong. Isolating it is most of the work, and it feels like it should not be necessary.
3. Slow down below the speed of error.Slow enough that you do not make the mistake at all, even once. If you are still making it, you are not slow enough. Repetition trains whatever you actually do, so practising a mistake makes it more permanent.
4. Repeat correctly, then speed up in small steps.Several clean repetitions at a slow tempo, then a small increment on the metronome, then several more. Back off the moment errors appear. This is how the speed arrives, and it arrives faster this way than by trying to play fast.
5. Use a metronome for anything rhythmic.It exposes the unevenness you cannot hear in your own playing — almost everybody speeds up in easy passages and slows down in hard ones. Start slow, and increase in small increments rather than jumps.
6. Practise hands or parts separately.On piano, each hand alone before together. On guitar, the fretting pattern alone before adding the strumming. On wind, the fingering alone before adding tonguing. Combining two things you can each do is far easier than learning both at once.
7. Practise the transitions, not just the sections.The join between two passages is where most performances break down and it is the part nobody practises, because they always stop at the end of a section. Practise the last bar of one section plus the first bar of the next as its own unit.
8. Keep sessions short and frequent.Fifteen to twenty minutes daily beats two hours once a week substantially. Motor skills consolidate during rest and sleep between sessions, so the number of sessions matters more than the total time.
9. Record yourself regularly.It is uncomfortable and it is the most honest feedback available. Playing feels different from how it sounds, and a recording finds the timing and tone problems you cannot hear while concentrating on your hands.
10. Finish by playing something you enjoy.Practice is mostly failure by design, and ending a session on something that sounds good is what makes you come back tomorrow. Consistency is the whole game.

Tips

• Keep a practice note — the tempo you reached on a passage, what you worked on. It removes the sensation of not improving, which is the main reason adults stop.
• A plateau usually means practising what you can already do. Deliberately choosing the uncomfortable material breaks it, and that is what plateaus are for.
• Practising away from the instrument works. Mentally rehearsing a passage, or tapping a rhythm, genuinely consolidates it, which is useful on a commute or when the house is asleep.

Common mistakes

• Playing pieces through from the start — It rehearses the opening, which you can already play, and rehearses the mistake in the middle every time. It is enjoyable and it is not practice.
• Practising at performance speed — Errors at speed are reinforced by every repetition. Slowing below the speed of error and building up is not a detour — it is the fastest available route.
• Long sessions once or twice a week — Skill consolidates between sessions, so five short sessions produce more improvement than one long one of the same total length, and they are far easier to sustain.
• Never using a metronome — Unevenness is inaudible to the player. Almost everyone accelerates through easy passages and hesitates before hard ones, and a metronome is the only thing that shows it.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask