7 Key Tips to Become a Better Musician Today

If you want to establish your career as a musician, you need to put in the time and effort it takes to play like a professional. It’s totally okay to make mistakes during the writing and recording process, but when it comes to performing live, you need to make sure your musicianship and stage presence is on point every single time.

Whether you’ve been playing your chosen instrument for years, or you’re just getting started, no one is perfect and everyone can get better. Here are 7 key tips to help you become a better musician today.

Set Better Practice Techniques

Set yourself a dedicated practice or warm-up regime for each day. Are there any passages of the music that you have trouble playing? Practicing just that eight bars that you have trouble with for an hour are more productive and effective than practicing the entire song over and over and getting that eight bars wrong every time you hit that section of music. Many musicians also challenge themselves to master something new or more difficult as often as possible. So, get out of your comfort zone as often as possible!

Create Goals by Week, Month, and Year

If you have a desire to become a better musician, you need to dig deeper to ask why and how. Do you want to perform live? Do you want to earn a living with your music? Do you want to get good enough on your instrument to join a band? 

Each of these goals is completely different. These goals need to be broken down into smaller targets in order to be worked towards. By creating super-specific musical goals by week, month, and year, you’re building a detailed plan to follow in order to enhance your skills and gain visibility. This exercise will give your music practice structure, direction, and purpose. 

The actions you take today to become a better musician will push you in the direction you need to go. Doing things like practicing every day at a specific time and mastering one music theory concept every month might sound boring, but they’ll end up making monumental impacts on your life as a musician over time.

Turn Concerts Into a Learning Experience

There’s a ton you can learn while you perform and have fun. Try to get a close spot so you can really see how the band is doing. What is it about those certain performances that make the audience (that’s you) the most excited and engaged? Which songs have people staring down at their phones or heading to the bar? What’s their banter like in between songs? What visual elements make a huge impact on the experience?

By paying attention to live shows as both a fan and a musician, you’ll take away so much more from it. Take notes on how the band commands the stage and what specifically made the show great so that you can try to incorporate those elements into your next show.

Find a Teacher or Mentor for Extra Help

Taking lessons from a teacher, mentor or pro is one of the most effective ways to become a better musician, no matter what your skill level. There’s always something new to learn, and a professional mentor can help you develop new techniques and improve old ones.

However, paying for lessons isn’t necessarily for everyone and there are plenty of self-taught musicians out there. If you’re strapped for cash, you could always ask a musician friend to help develop your musicianship or watch and learn from one of the thousands of YouTube videos.

Watch Footage of Your Practice Sessions

Beyond just recording your practices to listen back to where you need improvement, it's also helpful to film them. Prop your phone up, film your practice, and when you have downtime, watch it. You'll be able to analyze the audio and takes notes on where you need to improve, but you'll also be able to see the way you perform. Maybe you’re too stiff and you want to loosen up, or you jump around just a little too much and need to relax a bit. Look back and see what you like best and where you can make improvements in order to deliver the best performance you can at your next gig.

Analyze Music as You Listen to It

As trained musicians, it's nearly impossible to just listen to music without thinking about it from a technical perspective ("That key change saved the song," "This rhythm is off," "The singer is great, but his technique is going to ruin his voice"). You know how it goes.

But beyond just listening with a musician's ear, really dissect what you're listening to. Carry a pair of headphones on you so you're always ready to analyze and learn from new music. Take notes while you listen, and really dig deep into what it is you like about the music or what makes it sound professional so that you can apply it to your own music.

Take Breaks

Studies have shown that the most effective practice sessions happen in 45 minutes with a 15-minute break before the next 45 minutes of practicing. Your brain needs a rest, so make sure you give it one. If you push yourself too hard, practicing can turn into a real chore and negative (even wasteful) experience. So, when you hit a brick wall – stop and take a break, it may do you good after a short break.

Conclusion
We can all be better musicians. It doesn’t matter if we’ve been musically active for a couple of months or multiple decades when it comes to finding areas that need improvement in our musical lives. Making real progress towards big goals like learning how to play an instrument or starting work on a new album can be challenging if you’re musically inexperienced or find yourself years into your music career and losing steam. Doing any one of these 7 things will help you become a better musician right now and get you closer to hitting your targets in the future!