It baffles me how so many people avoid practicing like the plague.  No matter if you’re a singer, musician, photographer, painter, poet, or whatever, there is something about practicing that most people don’t like.  Isn’t this odd?  If you enjoy your craft, practicing should be a good way for you to get to do it as often as you have time for.  Practicing is doing what you enjoy… but you don’t enjoy it?  I don’t understand.

I have normally been the weird one who enjoys practicing and looks forward to playing music whenever possible.  However, I have recently struggled with it a bit.  I think it’s because I started practicing more than I used to.  I have recently tried my best to play through my whole set every single day.  This is slowly becoming a little boring - same old, same old.  But I have realized that I forgot about an important aspect of practicing.  I forgot about something that is very connected to the core purpose of practicing (which is to improve your skill).  I had forgotten about the element of challenge.  I need to stretch my abilities by trying to do things that I can’t already do.  Even just adding a couple different things to my regular practice routine has made it much more enjoyable and beneficial.  I have started doing vocal scales, stretching both my low and high range.  And I have started learning new things on guitar, like some challenging fingerstyle songs.

Yesterday I tried something new.  I went outside to a nice grassy hill and just played guitar in the sunshine.  I didn’t stretch my ability much, but I lived in the moment of enjoying life and music.  It was beautiful.  So my challenge to you is to experiment with your practicing.  Whatever it is you do, try stretching youself, add new elements to your routine, and occasionally change your scenery.  Happy practicing everyone!