JON HART

These essential tips and tricks are for all musicians working daily to improve, enhance and develop their musicianship and skills. All ten tips and tricks are for all abilities, so it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a pro …. they will help! If you’re a beginner, these tips will be a learning curve at first. For pros, these tips will be a stark reminder and will help keep things grounded. The best advice I can give you is to check out all the tips and tricks, take what you need (I often find there’s a golden nugget in everything I read as everyone has a different perspective) and apply wherever you can. So let's kick things off....

So, let’s get into it. Tip #1 is ‘Slow = Smooth = Fast’. I carry around a little formula everywhere to iron out those tricky parts that are causing buzz, dud notes, strange fingering or frustration. You may have tried something similar? Since 2010 I’ve gone through many hurdles carving out my style of music I call ‘Fingerstyle Singer-songwriter’ and it wasn’t until I paused my development 8 years ago, I realised where I was wrong with my weaknesses. Trying to develop anything at full throttle is not impossible but it makes everything a lot harder and creates a ton of frustration. The thought of slowing everything down made me feel negative and unmotivated - similar to that feeling of going back a step or heading back to square one. But after trial and testing, it had the complete opposite effect. 

Reducing the speed to snail pace will allow any player with any instrument to see everything in slow motion, which will help target those weak areas. Seeing and hearing everything slowed down will also relieve tension and allow you to spot the problem, enabling you to perfect, propel your playing and conquer any weakness - it’s similar to stepping back from a stressful situation and meditating. Try tapping your foot (your human metronome) at the slowest pace possible and play or sing along. As soon as you hesitate or make an error, make a mental note. Pause your playing and slow down that error even more. Once the weakness has been pinpointed the next step is to work out a way to make it smoother. 

I also call this an ‘ironing’ phase as it reminds me of ironing out creases in clothes etc. This could be a change of finger, finger positioning or thumb placement - a loss of grip or too much grip can create buzz. Try to make this as relaxing as possible as it can become very repetitive. I like to pop something on in the background such as my favourite song (via my phone) or the radio. You can even sit in front of the TV and do this if the thing you’re working on isn’t an audible weakness.  

Once you’ve ironed out the weakness and can complete 4 times in a row without making any mistakes, you should be able to speed it up to any speed. I do this every day and have been playing since 1992. If you know this already, ace, keep pushing! If you don't, grab your instrument and start conquering those weaknesses right away. This is tip #1 of my 10 tips & tricks go enhance your playing guide. Grab it below if you haven’t already!