👀 Before we jump in
Want progressions to flow out of you without song charts or mental strain? I recently published a 7-day method on YouTube that makes them stick permanently.
Hey music maker!
Hope you're having a good weekend so far.
This week, I figured out why my grooves felt stiff.
I was working on reggae rhythms and disco patterns on the bass. I was very comfortable with playing the notes and getting my hand in the proper position for each line.
But my playing felt mechanical, and that’s a major no-no on bass.
So naturally, I was a bit confused.
I danced in college, and I’ve been making music for years now, so I have rhythm. And my tempo wasn’t too fast.
Towards the end of my second session on Tuesday, I realized that the problem was my brain processing what to play next.
When your brain is managing patterns and timing, your body can't relax. Too many things at once.
To fix this, I committed to just one pattern and allowed that to go on autopilot.
I stopped thinking about which note came next and how to vary it up for interest.
And surprisingly, my subconscious started pulling information that I had stored from my childhood listening to reggae records that my mom would play on our road trips from Pennsylvania to South Carolina.
I found my groove once my brain had space to work in the background.
A jazz piano instructor I studied with taught me a practice method that should help explain this idea.
He split my practice into three blocks: melody, harmony, and timing.
Melody first, where I’m just focusing on single line notes using scales and interval patterns.
Then harmony, where I'm focusing on right-hand voicings, followed by left-hand voicings.
Then timing, where I’m focusing on playing one subdivision at a time, so 8th notes, then 16th notes, then triplets, before mixing them.
All of this on the same song, to a rhythm track.
Here's why that works:
When you practice everything at once, your brain manages too many things: melody, rhythm, harmony, hand position, tone.
That’s really too much when you’re trying to learn. Your brain can't handle it.
So the fix is to focus on one thing at a time and drill it. You can break these categories into 5-10 minute sessions if you’re short on time.
Easier said than done, right? Hopefully, these examples helped clarify that.
This applies to learning chord progressions as well.
Have you tried to study harmony away from your instrument?
Not while you're playing. Just learning patterns and progressions until your brain knows them when you sit back down.
Harmony GPS gets progressions in your head fast. Learn them once. Use them forever.
Not your thing right now? No worries.
🎯 Try this:
Pick one skill. Practice just that one thing.
Piano: With a metronome or drum groove, work on chords, with just whole and half notes at first. Then add some creative rhythm ideas when you’re comfortable.
Bass: Lock in the root notes while learning a tune, then shift to focusing on fills.
Notice what happens when your brain has one job.
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