David Seah recently posted on his Web site about a guitar practice form created by Lori Linstruth. As David mentions, Lori has some fairly simple advice for gradually getting better on a musical instrument:
…it seems logical that the keys to gradual, steady improvement on a musical instrument are simple:
1) Decide what you want to play,
2) practice until you can do it, and
3) repeat as necessary.*(*Preferably regularly and at increasing levels of challenge.)
It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
Lori has created a practice form she calls the ShredTracker that you can use to track your practice progress on a daily basis. The form contains a spot for 5 days worth of practice, and you simply fill in notes about your practice that day. This allows you to track your progress over time, which can help motivate and inspire you to continue.
She has created both a pink and blue version, as well as a filled out form to illustrate how she uses it. You can download all of the forms from her Lorinator blog.
David’s post provides a short video of Lori playing an arpeggio sequence, where you can see why people were asking her how she got so good!