You must put in the effort and time to perform like a professional musician to make a living as a musician.
While it’s okay to make mistakes in the writing or recording process, you must ensure your musicianship is impeccable and that your stage presence is flawless.
No one is perfect, and no matter how long you have been playing your instrument, there are always ways to improve. These tips will help you improve your musicianship, whether you are looking to play like a professional or start to learn new techniques.
Ten Tips to Make a Great Musician
Practice techniques
Although this may seem obvious, the point is that playing an instrument is not the same thing as practising.
Professional musicians practise their instruments by going through scales or rudiments repeatedly. This helps them to improve their technique. To burn the scales in your mind, you should set aside a specific warm-up or practice routine for each day.
You should not only practise scales and exercises to keep your skills sharp, but you should also push yourself to learn something new every day.
Set goals
You should set realistic goals and work towards them every chance you get.
These could be short-term goals, such as learning a new song or practising 60 minutes each day. It could also be a long-term goal, such as performing a complete performance.
You’ll feel more accomplished when you achieve set goals. This will allow you to approach every practice session with a more productive mindset.
Patience
Patience is perhaps the most important quality for musicians trying to perfect their instrument, especially if they are just getting started. You will never become a master musician overnight. Don’t panic if you reach a brick wall. Just keep at it until you succeed. To be truly great, you need to put in a lot of effort and time.
Have fun
You must work on your scales and other boring techniques, but don’t forget about having fun with your practice sessions! To keep your instrument excited and fresh, learn your favourite songs and practice new material. A musician who finds playing a musical instrument a tedious chore is terrible.
Organise a jam session
Playing in a band can improve your technique, timing, and improvisational skills.
Playing with others can open you up to new ideas and methods. It is also a great way to get honest feedback about your playing style.
Find out what key you are in
As a follow-up to the previous point, you must identify the key you are playing at any given moment and adjust your approach accordingly.
Learning scales will help you stay in tune during jam sessions. Each musical ranking is based on a particular key, as experienced musicians will tell. The more musical scales you have, the easier it will be to stay in the right key, improvise on tracks, and make great music with other musicians.
Locate a teacher
Learning lessons is a great way to improve your musicianship, regardless of your level. A professional mentor can teach you new techniques or improve on old ones.
But, not everyone can afford lessons. There are many self-taught musicians. You can always ask your friend to help you learn, or you could watch one of the many thousands of YouTube videos that cover your instrument.
Get to know your gear.
Professional musicians should be able to understand their equipment and their techniques. If you don’t understand the limitations and capabilities of your equipment, you won’t be able to produce great sounds.
You don’t have to know everything. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on expensive instruments if you can get the same results with a more affordable option.
Online resources are available.
Many free resources are available for musicians who want to improve their skills or learn new songs. UltimateGuitar.com or 8notes.com provide access to thousands upon thousands of sheet music, chord charts, and tablatures. You can search online for chords, tabs, and notation if you want to learn a song or cover it.
Get out of your comfort zone as much as you can
While it’s tempting to stay with what you know, musicians should push themselves to be more creative and discover new playing methods. It can be frustrating and hard work, but the rewards of mastering a new skill are well worth it. You’ll be proud to look back in a year and see how far you have come.