Hey music maker!
Fun thing for Super Bowl weekend: The Harmony Vault is pay-what-you-want for the next 3 days only.
It's 270 chord progressions in a searchable Notion database (usually $45). Over 200 creators already grabbed it. Through Wednesday, name your price.
Okay, Week 4...
Remember last week when I talked about narrowing my focus to just ghost notes on bass and strumming on guitar?
It's working. Really working.
But this week, I realized why it's working so well. And it has everything to do with something called meta-learning.
The experiment this week: Map out which specific skills I need on guitar and bass, and understand what each exercise is actually teaching me.
What is meta-learning?
Scott Young describes it in his book Ultralearning (Amazon) as "learning how to learn" - understanding how a subject is structured, which skills matter most, and which methods work best before you dive in.
He says it's like drawing a map before you walk the territory.
Just to be clear: meta-learning happens at the start of something big - a new course, a new skill, a multi-month goal. Not before every practice session. You make the map once, then follow it daily.
So this week, I noticed that meta-learning doesn't just help you plan your practice. It helps you see hidden lessons that exist in the music you're already practicing.
It's like reading a book's table of contents first. You see the whole structure, prime your brain for what's coming, and suddenly you're better at connecting what the author's saying. The same thing happens when you map out your practice.
Let me show you what I mean.
One passage, multiple lessons
I'm working on a guitar passage right now. Mixed note lengths - eighth notes in one section, then some quarter notes, then a half note rest. Repeat the same melodic idea three times, then vary it on the fourth.
On the surface, I'm learning timing. How to play different note lengths cleanly.
But meta-learning helped me see what else this passage is teaching: phrasing.
The repeat-three-times-then-vary pattern? That's a fundamental phrasing technique you hear everywhere in music. Blues, jazz, pop, classical. Play an idea, establish it, then resolve it differently.
One passage. Two skills.
I wouldn't have noticed the phrasing lesson if I'd just focused on "playing the notes right." Meta-learning gives you this microscopic view of what you're actually working on.
The principle overlap
Here's another insight that surprised me: practicing guitar and bass daily means I'm getting compounded practice on shared principles.
If I do 45 minutes on each instrument, that's potentially 1.5 hours of rhythm work. Not 45 minutes of guitar rhythm and 45 minutes of bass rhythm - actual, cumulative rhythm practice that transfers between both.
Same with timing. Same with phrasing. Same with feel.
The time you spend on an instrument is a certain number of minutes. But the time you spend on fundamental music principles? That's the combined time across instruments.
You can grow faster than you think when you recognize these overlaps.
Scott Young's framework
Meta-learning breaks down into three questions:
Why? - What outcome do you actually care about?
What? - Which specific skills do you need? (Young breaks these into concepts, facts, and procedures)
How? - Which methods and resources will get you there efficiently?
Young suggests spending about 10% of your total project time on meta-learning - building that map upfront so your practice time is focused and aligned with your real goals.
For my Practice Blueprint, that means taking time this week to map out:
The specific skills I want from intermediate guitar and bass
Which exercises teach which principles
How those principles overlap and compound
I'm working through this process right now, and I'll share what my actual meta-learning maps look like in next week's issue. You'll see exactly how I'm breaking down the skills and tracking which exercises teach what.
Creative time management
One more thing I'm figuring out: there are ways to get more practice time than you think you have.
This week, I did two 30-minute sessions (one per instrument). Then later that evening, I reviewed the material I worked on earlier - about 10 minutes of recall practice, plus a 5-minute rest after.
That's 45 minutes per instrument. And it didn't feel overwhelming because it was broken into digestible chunks.
The 10-minute review counts. The 5-minute rest counts (your brain consolidates during rest). When you start seeing practice as more than just "playing the instrument," you realize you have more time than you thought.
The adjustment: Map the territory. See what each passage is actually teaching. Recognize how principles overlap between instruments.
Meta-learning turns practice from "putting in hours" to "extracting maximum learning from the time you have."
I'll share more about my meta-learning process and skill inventory next week.
Quick question: Have you ever practiced something and realized later it was teaching you multiple things at once? What was it?
Hit reply - I'd love to hear what hidden lessons you've discovered in your practice.
P.S. Need a system for capturing and finding chord progressions? The Harmony Vault is pay-what-you-want for 3 more days. 270 progressions organized in Notion. Name your price through Wednesday.
P.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).
How did you like today's newsletter?
Also, the links in this newsletter are Amazon affiliate links. No extra cost to you.
