PRACTICING FOR AN ‘While listening back to my practice session the second time around, I took out a stopwatch and added up the moments when I worked on the Chili Peppers groove. I didn’t count the silence, anger fills, water breaks, ‘gear adjustments, emotional outbursts of frustration, loud cursing, or the playing, which in this case meant breaking into other stuff that wasnt related to what I'd wanted to practice in the frst place. ‘he results blew my mind. Of the 74 minutes that were recorded, Td practiced the Chili Peppers groove for—ready? A grand total of 7 minutes! Forall you statistics lovers, that is less than 10 percent of the total practice time. [Ac first this was a rough one for me to swallow, because I was confronted ‘with the fact that what I shought I was doing and what Twas actually doing were worlds apart. Tonly realized later how liberating this realization can be. For the irs time, was able to evaluate myself fairly and end a decade of misjudgment. You see, for a 74-minute session, my progress wasnt good. But for a 7-minute session, it was pretty OK. Quite frankly, between all the starting and stopping, hardly even playing it, and being spread out over more than an hour, I was surprised that I'd managed to make any progress at all! Ieseasy to doubt our talents when laboring under the false impression that we've worked on something for months and it hasnt gotten any better. You might catch yourself thinking, “I've been practicing jazz independence for half a year—I guess it's just not my thing.” However in reality, you logged maybe three afternoons of solid practicing on the clock. During those sessions you were truly focused for perhaps half the time, which adds up co—well, a few hours at best. Nor even the ‘most talented musician on earth would feel confident in jazz independence after that short amount of time. So why not examine the way we practice first, instead of underestimating our own potential? ‘We start by separating playing and practicing, WHAT IS PRACTICING? Practicing is a step-by-step process designed to acquire a certain desired behavior, skill, or mental state through a cycle of execution, evaluation, and adjustment. Put another way: First I choose a worthwhile goal, then I take action toward reaching the goal (this is the actual “doing it’ part), then T assess my progress, and finally I determine what changes I should make before doing it again. WHAT IS PLAYING? Playing is—well, playing! This can encompass many things, as long as it doesn't involve searching for mistakes, self-criticism, and constant evaluation. For example, I often enjoy playing along to my favorite songs. You can spend time with material you already know, using techniques you've already mastered. ‘This is when you allow yourself to have fun, improvise, explore, get carried away... all of that. No judgment or guilt about what you “should” be practicing here. ‘Set aside time for playing to be an enjoyable experience on its own, instead of just squeezing in two minutes here and there to divert your attention from a challenging practice. Give playing its own space, to be appreciated ‘on its own terms, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BLEND THEM TOGETHER? ‘As my Chili Peppers practice session revealed, when you insert playing into your practicing, you lose out on the chance to objectively evaluate your progress. You also become less efficient, because it requites more time