March 19, 2020: I don't want you to think that you have to practice 6 hours a day mentioned in my previous blog. But, you do need to come up with a good length of time to devote to daily practice. For an early beginner, that might be 15 minutes a day. After a few months, that should be lengthened to 30 minutes a day, every day. If you skip a day, you are actually backtracking. You've probably heard the phrase, "Drop, and give me 20." Back in my basic training days, that referred to the drill sergeant demanding that you begin "pushing earth." Drop down and begin 20 push ups. So, you drop to the ground and start your push-ups; "one, drill sergeant; two, drill sergeant..." Now, if you make a mistake on one of the push-ups, the drill sergeant would ask, "what's the count?" That would mean you begin back at, "one, drill sergeant, two..." So that's how it is with practicing. When you skip a day, it's almost like starting over on what you're practicing. Not quite, but you do backtrack. I also believe that music is very much like sports. Have you seen your favorite pro quarterback have a not-so-good day after missing a day or two of practice? Same thing with music. Miss a day or two, and your just missing more notes. Now, what if you've never had consistent practicing? If you miss a day, it's no big deal, because you've skipped quite a few days here and there anyway. If you are doing this, your level of musicianship is not really rising very far. You can always change that, though. You have the power to do what you want! Remember the navy musician who I wrote about previously? At the age of 16, he made the decision to practice 6 hours a day. It became a HABIT. After that, he had to do it everyday because it was a habit. WHAT YOU ACCOMPLISH IN LIFE IS LARGELY DUE TO HABITS THAT YOU CREATE!