Top Tips for Practicing Music at Home

Practicing at home is something that I have come to cherish because it's time for me to truly enjoy my instrument.

When it comes to practicing at home you have to consider that your home is a place of comfort, which can make it slightly more distracting and thus ineffective when you practice.

Here I'll be laying down some tips that will help you tune in and practice perfectly:

1. Make it feel like a practice space

As a drummer, I'm loud. I've set up DIY sound paneling to cover my windows and walls to make my home space feel and sound like a practice room. This is a great video for cheap and effective DIY sound paneling -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pABvTWSxOes&t=367s.

Another great way to get you into the practice mood is to create a mosaic wallpaper of music posters that you'll be facing as quick reference and inspiration as you play.

In the end, make your space comfortable and simple. Clean space helps focus the mind.

2. Get a solid pair of sound-canceling headphones that have audio input. Vic Firth makes a great pair.

I truly believe I have grown the most as a groove drummer simply by playing to songs I like and discover. Sound-canceling headphones levels can be adjusted to hear your sound perfectly balanced with the song of your choice. Playing to songs helps you naturally get a feel for various song structures and greatly improves your ability to play with other musicians.

3. Improvise to tracks

Get weird here. You have no constraints when you’re practicing by yourself. Let your mind and hands wander with the headphone track. All your tools will still be there when you’re ready to come back from creativity.

4. Steal (or “Recycle,” if you don't like “stealing”)

All great drummers have inspiration. Stealing cool fills and rhythms from tracks and drummers that you admire expands your bag of tricks.

5. Perfect practice makes perfect

Don't short yourself when it doesn't matter. Pay attention to your technique and make sure your form is always the best it can be. Your practice integrity will translate beautifully when the pressure's on.

6. Start slow

All good things take good time. When you’re trying something new or speeding up something old, it's best to start slow. If you can play it right slowly then all you have to worry about later is speeding up. I teach rudiment practice in an open-close-open fashion. This means perfectly slow to perfectly fast back to slow. Your mind might not feel it but this way of rudiment practice is muscle memory gold. By working the entire spectrum of tempos, your muscles will familiarize with almost any tempo your jam sessions demand.

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