Hey music makers!
The Practice Blueprint started this week, and within the first session, I realized something.
I needed to go backwards. All the way back to beginner lessons.
Now here's what happened:
I sat down for my first guitar session, knowing my strumming was lousy. I've known for a while, actually. And I caught myself about to brush it off again with the false belief that "pick technique is just difficult," when the truth is simpler: I've never given it proper attention.
So this time I didn’t brush it off. I went back to fix it properly.
The experiment this week: Meadowmount-style slow practice and beginner material. No ego.
Let me explain Meadowmount practice, because it's not just "play at 65 BPM instead of 80." It's absurdly slow.
The idea comes from the Meadowmount School of Music, where founder Ivan Galamian developed this intensive method with one clear rule: if someone walking by your practice room can recognize what you're playing, you're going too fast.
Think Flash Slothmore from Zootopia. That slow.
The philosophy is simple: practice so slowly that perfect execution is guaranteed every single time. Break pieces into tiny segments (sometimes just a few notes), repeat them until they're flawless, then gradually zoom out.
This stuff works…the school is known to produce a year's progress in seven weeks.
Daniel Coyle talks about this in "The Little Book of Talent" (Tip #26). He describes how learners have this built-in urge to speed up as soon as something starts clicking. We want to show ourselves we've got it. But going faster too soon actually undermines the learning.
The Meadowmount style of slow practice will have you practicing at a crawl, but it’s very effective because it reveals mistakes you can't see at normal speed.
And it’s used in so many disciplines. Coyle gives the example of golfer Ben Hogan, whose swing mechanics are still studied today. Hogan would practice movements so slowly that the ball would only move by about an inch.
As Coyle puts it: "It's not how fast you can do it. It's how slowly you can do it correctly."
For this super slow practice, I didn't use a metronome. Just focused on installing one correct movement at a time.
What I noticed was that, at that pace, my brain has space to think about everything simultaneously. Finger placement, tone, raking technique, and the right notes. At normal tempos, I'm playing sloppily. At sloth-pace, I'm building good habits.
On bass, I worked tiny sections of a Cissy Strut-inspired line. Practiced in slow motion, then gradually sped up. As I reintroduced the metronome, I got sloppy at 80 BPM, so I dropped back down and focused on the 1/16th note patterns that were giving me trouble.
Some unexpected things: I noticed that taking 5-10 minute breaks between practice blocks made things feel easier when I returned. Like my brain was organizing things in the background. (This is hinting at an experiment I'm testing next week.)
I'm also realizing I haven't been challenging myself enough. I use recall with learning progressions, but I tend to avoid recall on practice material even though I know it works. I also skip transposition, playing the practice material in multiple keys, because it feels hard.
Reading "Make It Stick" alongside this challenge keeps reminding me: struggle is the point. Desirable difficulty is where learning happens.
The adjustment: Slow practice for the rest of January. No rushing to feel impressive. Just clean fundamentals, even if it means beginner territory longer than my ego wants.
It's humbling. But honestly? Kind of fun to be a beginner again. It’s like rereading a book or rewatching a movie. With my new context, I’m noticing things that I missed before.
Have you ever gone back to beginner material? If so, how did it feel? Hit reply. I'd love to hear.
P.S. If the Practice Blueprint isn't for you, no worries. You can opt out here
You'll still get the regular Music Maker's Journal (harmony breakdowns, song analysis, all the usual stuff).
