I once heard a recording engineer, who is also a musician, comment on another musician’s organization. He said that the young man was very talented and if he could get himself organized he would be very successful. I recently had someone ask me if I practice regularly and if I was particularly disciplined about it. I’m going to go with yes on that one. And here’s why.
I practice quite regularly. Almost daily. Almost. I like to practice. I don’t see it as a burden or a chore. Practice is how I learn. When I practice, I usually have an idea or plan, of what 
I want to accomplish with my time. Some days I get 30 minutes to practice, others I might get 3 or 4 hours if I want it. If I start out with an idea of what I want to come out of that time then it’s easier to stay focused on whatever I’m working on and actually make progress regardless of how much time I have. I know I saw this when I set about learning the pentatonic patterns. I sat down to learn them and within a week I knew them all. Because I was focused on learning them. And learning how they fit together. The next step was to learn how to find them in the different keys.I’m still working on this one. For that, at least once a week I will spend a significant part of a practice session working on just that. Playing all the patterns in different keys.
Focused practice is what allows me to learn a new song or two in between the jams. I will focus primarily on the new songs. And then I will play some of the songs I already know and then come back to the new songs. By doing this I make sure I’m learning the new song, not just cramming it. What’s the difference? Well cramming it is figuring it out just long enough to use it in the short term. For me, if I’m doing this then, if I do something else in between the time I’ve crammed something and the time I use it, I’ll completely forget it. Sometimes I forget it or part of it anyway but if I cram something it’s pretty guaranteed that under the pressure to perform it, I’ll mess up.
I recently took the advice of a co-worker and started using Google Sheets to help me keep track of the songs I know and have practiced and if I have practiced them recently or not. I use Sheets instead of Excel because it’s free and I can access it from the laptop in the music room or my desktop or where ever. I’ve made a list of the songs I know or I am working on and the date that I last practiced them. I update it as I practice.
I try to play each song at least once a week to keep them fresh. Though, since I started keeping track I have found there are a few songs that I have not been doing that with. Sometimes it’s because my last experience with the song was frustrating. Maybe I played it at a jam and it didn’t go so well. Or maybe it’s just been frustrating to learn and I got tired of fighting it. Or maybe I forgot I had started working on it and it just got lost in the mix. By having the spreadsheet, I can go back to those things that have been neglected and try them again. Sometimes I find that with all the other practice I’ve been doing I’ve learned something that makes things work again, or finally.
With all that it sounds like I don’t ever just play and enjoy myself. This is far from the case.
I do a little of this at every practice session. Either at the beginning or the end of my focused practice time I will play through songs that I have learned just because I like them. They are songs that I play for myself. They have nothing to do with a blues jam or anything anyone has asked me to learn. I play them because I enjoy them. I’ve also been known to sprinkle one or two of these songs throughout my practice time. I find it refreshing and a nice break.
I also have practice time that is more spent just trying things out. Like when I got the new Gretsch. While I was practicing songs, I was trying out different settings and combinations to find sounds I like and how to get to them as I want them. I have also had sessions where part of the time was dedicated to finding the right length for my strap or finding the right pick, or how to get the capo in just the right spot. Small things, sure, but things that might take a little repetition to get down so they aren’t a delay at a jam or in a group setting. Of course, if there is a new tool involved, like a new pedal, then there will be time spent getting familiar with that. And lets not forget the time spent experimenting with new techniques. This is very important. This is how you grow your skills. But as much as this falls under the trying things out practice time, I also work it into my focused practice time. Like with learning the scale patterns.
Practicing is important. Repetition really is the only way to develop the muscle memory that lets things come automatically when you need them. It’s what makes it easier to get up and perform a song when your legs are shaking and you can’t believe you’re doing this. It’s what makes it possible to relax and enjoy the moment because when you practice and when you do that over and over it becomes a part of you and then it can be used to express what it is you want to say.
I’ve spent many years knowing how to play guitar. Most of those years I have not spent in focused practice. Once I learned the basics, without direction or focus, I quit making progress. Most of those years that I have known how to play guitar I have spent just learning this song or that song. And that is fine if that is all you want. I love to play guitar. I love to sing with it. I practice because I love to play and I want to be able to play more things, more songs, more styles of songs. I practice because I love to play with other 
people. I practice because I want more out of my music experience. If I practice with some level of focus, discipline, organization, whatever you would like to call it, then I get that. I get to play new songs, and new styles of songs, I get to play with other people, I get more from my music experience. Otherwise, I’m just doing what I’ve always done and you don’t get anything different or anything more that way.
So what’s all this got to do with that disorganized young musician? Well, not much directly. Except that it made an impression. Here I am more than ten years later sharing it with you. It probably plays a part in why I approach much of my practice time now with focus and discipline of a sort.
And by the way. I got the last of the videos from the most recent jam on 5/20/2018 posted so you can have a look at them. That last set was a lot of fun.