This Practice Strategy CHANGED MY LIFE! The Science of Variable Practice

[@louismaiden8360]

All of the videos I've in the past week or so since discovering your channel have been fantastic. Showing the exact process step by step (with mistakes, reversions back to constant practice, etc) is so helpful for beginners and really all levels IMO as we're so much more likely to actually apply the material rather than if you just explained it. Thank you Diego!

[@yoshemitzu]

This really plays into the idea of "embracing errors" from your vid a few months ago. You touched on it a bit with letting the errors guide your variation, but it's worth repeating: our favorite greats are not just, like, perfect, machine-line virtuosi who never make mistakes. They've just practiced enough that they've developed the ability to not be *derailed* by mistakes, and better yet, respond and incorporate the errors into their playing as just the next variation. Thanks, Diego! I discovered you last week and really appreciate you bringing the science into the conversation around music.

[@musicbee1234]

Hi Diego thank you so much for sharing your knowledge on scientific practice and learning strategies. The way that you deliver complex concepts/ information and make it easy to understand is a true gift. 🙏

[@EricMartinPercussion]

Great info as always. I’ve been telling my students about that bean bag study for years, so it’s great you had some newer examples. I’ll definitely pick up that book too.

[@DileepaRanawake]

Incredible video. Should be taught everywhere. Thanks for making thos

[@javierrodriguez4218]

I've been doing some variable practice, but on each repetition I think of a different mental representation. For example, I would play and think of finger numbers, then I would play again but think of chord scale numbers, then again and name the notes out loud, one more time while counting out loud and so on. It really sticks much more than just plain repeating.

[@Boriskoper]

Another top lesson, thank you Diego

[@JonFairhurst]

Great philosophy! I now realize that I use variable practice at times, but not systematically. I also realize that my constant practice sessions are just a blur, but I remember some challenging variations in practice years later. For me, the most effective variation is dynamic voicing. With your example, you could go with loud thumb and quiet index finger, etc. Where I find this to be especially helpful is in voicing chords and bass quietly, but playing the melody ridiculously loud. Don’t worry about it sounding good; just focus on creating big differences. After that, independent voicing becomes much easier. For some reason, my exaggerated voicing sessions stick in my memory for years.

[@bjm2762]

Love your explanations and exercises.

[@RobRaptor49]

Thank you Diego! I'm cooking and listening today, and I had to stop cooking to take notes! 😂 I feel like you're giving us the keys to become good players - can't tell you how much I appreciate you!

[@CalvinLimSH-ld5le]

Thanks for sharing and exploring, the science of constant to variable practices to improve your daily guitar practice by executing it correctly. E.g. playing related variations (tempos, tones, dynamics, rhythm, postures, articulation, etc) should you employed when playing some parts of the difficult classical guitar pieces over and over again (repetitions) until you have perfected it.

[@GaZonk100]

I often switch metres - like go from cut-time to a shuffle and so on. . .seems to work well with a few measures at a time

[@xaibana]

Hey Diego, your videos have been pivotal in exponentially increasing progress and breaking through plateaus. I've adopted all your tips/advice in your videos in my practice. As an up and coming professional musician, I've definitely been walking a similar path that you did early on and you're literally saving me YEARS of time from poor/inefficient practice. For example, this summer I worked on Etude No5 Op48 for 3 months straight not being able to get pass 300 bpm. When I found your channel and drank from the firehose, literally in 5 days my finger picking increased to 420 bpm!!!! Thank you infinitely for sharing your wisdom and creating this channel. I haven't found another like it. The Bullet Proof musician has also been a holy grail of knowledge. Great job with your content creation and beautiful background. Lastly, if you have information/knowledge on self hypnosis for becoming a better musician, that would be incredibly valuable too.

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Hi! Thank you so much for such a wonderful comment! I’m so happy to hear that my videos have been helpful to you. 🙏🏽❤️ There is a self hypnosis app that is science based called Reveri. It is not specifically for musicians, but I think it may be helpful. I have used it many times and have found it very helpful in terms of helping me train in relaxation into my playing.

[@mihajlom4576]

Every video of yours is really usefull and well explained. Did you done some video about how to hold guitar, i got really used to holding guitar on right leg and when i recently tried classical position i felt like i lost alot of tension in right hand. guitar feels more stabile in classical position and i dont have to pressure with right hand to prevent guitar from slipping of my leg. Is there way to hold guitar on right leg without getting that excess tension in right arm and making guitar stabile. I would like to not need to relearn guitar in diferent position but i feel like classical position offers me more potential.

[@Photoshop729]

The problem with variable practice is they “feel” like they are failing despite being better than the control. In short you feel like you “suck” even when you are improving. So there is that to consider.

[@RickyPLopezMusic]

What made me subscribe is that you didn't edit out your mistakes during the demonstration. Added so much realism and relatability. One question I do have, is it perhaps possible that variable practice could have diminishing returns if you allow it to turn into constant practice? So if you always practice a phrase starting quiet ending loudly, etc as an attempt to introduce variableness, then that may have the potential of becoming cyclical/constant. Which would imply the need to make sure that you're constantly mixing it up, no pun intended

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Hi! Thanks so much for commenting. Great question! What I have seen in the research on variable practice (and what I have seen in my own experience) is that as long as you are trying to make corrections and are ending your repetitions with more positive than negative reps, you should be OK. That said, there seems to be an upper limit for how many repetitions you should do in general. I made another video on science based repetition strategies that could help answer this question even more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpvGZat5lJaLnJIsi=PT0wiGAmhDeGFDba Thanks again!

[@RickyPLopezMusic]

@@DiegoAlonsoMusic thanks for the response and video suggestion! That's interesting how this concept converges with science of repetition. I haven't watched that one yet but now it's on my list!

[@TheMinorFallTheMajorLift]

One of the most important videos on learning a passage that I have ever seen - and I’ve seen hundreds over the years. Diego, you varied a number of aspects in the playing of that figure, but am I correct in saying that the actual notes were always the same?

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Hi! Thank you so much for your comment! Yes, the notes are all the same for every repetition. 🙏🏽

[@igorperic5232]

Efficient chord change would be between 60-90 chord changes in a minute between two shapes. Would that be a good target when expanding chord vocabulary from basic open and barre chords?

[@endah08]

Doesn't sound too early intermediate to me!

[@theelodgeovkeku]

for real 🤯

[@Dang...]

Agreed!!!

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

😂 Flamenco is a bit funny that way. There are really no “beginner” pieces out there like there are in classical. Most of the “easiest” flamenco pieces tend to start at around an early intermediate level (with few exceptions).

[@kerrytyk111]

@@DiegoAlonsoMusicin this case what grade of classical guitar would this be?

[@DiegoAlonsoMusic]

Hi! I’d probably place it around an early grade 4. Still intermediate. Thanks for commenting!