How often should you practice your banjo and how long should each practice session last? If you are serious about learning to play the five string banjo, you have to ask yourself these questions.
Practicing is not about how much time you spend, practice is all about moving forward and being productive with your time. A good practice session has a specific goal, maybe you are trying to learn a roll or a new chord: you have to know what your goal is.
Of course, the more time you spend practicing, the better you will get, but be realistic. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to practice an hour a day if you can’t afford that amount of time - be reasonable. If you set goals that you can’t reach you will become discouraged and frustrated, so set up a practice schedule that you can handle. If you can practice fifteen minutes a day that’s great, if you can practice a hour on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday that will work too. Just make sure you find some time for your banjo, some practice is always better than none.
Now that we have some time set aside for banjo practice, there are a few simple practice rules to get us started:
- Play your exercises slowly and methodically.
- Practice each exercise repeatedly, until you can play it with ease.
- Count as you play.
- Have fun.
These four rules are pretty straight forward, but they are also very important to remember. By taking your time and making sure you have a solid grasp of each exercise, you will be able to steadily build your banjo skills and not get frustrated learning new techniques. The biggest mistake made by beginning banjo players is trying to learn too fast, playing an instrument well takes time - that’s a fact.
The fourth rule is the most important, if you are not enjoying yourself then you are not going to be very productive, so if you are NOT having fun - take a break. As soon as you get frustrated with an exercise, and you will get frustrated - take a deep breath, clear your mind and try again. If you are absolutely stuck and can’t get an exercise: don’t worry about it, just try it again during your next practice session and eventually you will master it.
Practice as often as you can and practice productively and you WILL learn how to play the banjo.
What you should Know.
- The four basic rules of practicing the banjo.
- When and how long to practice.
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