These 10 musical habits to adopt in 2022 can help transform your level as a musician.
As the new year kicks off, it’s customary to look to the future with a renewed sense of purpose. The beginning of the year is also a time when many tend to adopt new habits to better themselves.
To start you on the right foot, we’ve got not only habits but a great tool that can help you with your progress. Roadie Coach offers personalized feedback and exercises to help you improve, as well as a great recording feature. It could be your ideal partner to track your progress and help in your journey to become a great musician. Without further ado, here are the 10 musical habits to adopt in 2022.
Practice smart
Practicing is the cornerstone of becoming a good musician. Without it, growth cannot be attained. Make sure you’re practicing every day, with complete focus and concentration. Take the time to work on things that you cannot currently play. Go slow, but steady. It’s the only way.
Keep learning new things
It is important to keep up with the things you already know. Being able to play scales, arpeggios, chord voicings, etc, requires maintenance practice. However, to keep growing, you need to learn new things. Usually this involves some frustration. The key is to keep going at it and never give up.
Use music theory
Music theory is a part of absolutely everything in music. Even if you’re just learning your very first chord, there is music theory involved there. You don’t have to make it complicated. Start with basic concepts such as how chords are constructed and so on. Understanding and using music theory will make you a much more complete musician.
Playing with other people
Make it a habit of playing with other musicians regularly. Ideally, there you should be playing with at least one musician that is more experienced and skilled than you. This is a great way of learning and being inspired. Playing music with people will give you a unique experience that cannot be found on books, records or the internet.
Pay attention to detail
Develop a mindset of attention to detail. Make it a habit to be able to play something well before moving on. For instance, make sure you can play the C major scale well, before moving on to the harmonic minor scale. That means that you are secure on the fingering, and can play it at a good speed.
Listen to music deliberately
A very powerful habit! It is a great practice to listen to music exclusively. Instead of just listening when you’re driving, doing laundry, etc. it is great to devote your entire attention to just listening. Take the time to do this, and really try to hear what is going on at every level. This will make you a better musician and further develop your criteria.
Pay close attention to the masters
If you’re a guitar player, you need to study the masters. Listen to the greatest guitar players across several genres, learn their history, find out what the world was like when they lived etc. Doing this will give you perspective and can be very inspirational as well.
Be patient
Practice patience with everything you do. There is no shortcut to learning music, and if you want to be good there is a lot of effort involved. You will be frustrated at times, and that is just fine. Learn to deal with frustration in a constructive way by being patient with yourself and the process of learning music.
Seek inspiration
Seeking inspiration will help you get through tough times. It will also give you perspective and strength to keep going. This applies to professional musicians as well as amateurs. Playing music is not easy, but you are likely to enjoy it more if you are inspired often.
Have fun
Get in the habit of having fun with music. You can do it by playing with friends, jamming along to your favorite records or simply enjoying a quiet evening with the instrument. Remember to have fun with the process.
These 10 musical habits to adopt in 2022 will inject new life into your journey in music. Remember, it takes 21 days to adopt a new habit. So keep at it and don’t give up. Feel free to share what habits work for you in the comment section below.
