If there is one practice tool you absolutely need, it's a metronome.
I use mine every single day. It's great for speeding up tempos. It's great for keeping you disciplined. And it's absolutely essential for smooth, consistent tone (as opposed to the “choppy playing” you often hear from beginners).
Now if you've already used a metronome, let me tell you. We're going to be covering a lot of different ways to use it. Ways you probably haven't used it before. So you'll still get a lot out of the video.
If you don't have a Metronome yet, you can get a Smartphone app to practice with. But I HIGHLY suggest getting a stand-alone one. You can get one for like $15 on Amazon.
How To Use Metronome Strategies
(note: this video course started out as a book, so that's why I refer to “the book” sometimes)
Key Points
- Get a “Stand Alone” Metronome (i.e. not a smartphone app) to cut down on distractions
- Start practicing at a slow tempo, and gradually ramp up the speed faster and faster
- Always play 2 to 4 times slowly at the end. That way, you’ll drill in accurate notes
Action Step
Alright, this Action Step is going to be a beast. But stay strong! I promise you by the time you're done with it, your scales will have significantly improved.
First thing's first. If you don't have a metronome, get one! They're like $15 on Amazon… but for now, feel free to use the smartphone app or this website.
Lets start speeding up our C Major Scale.
Step 1: Set the metronome to 40 bpm. And play your C Major scale, right hand alone, from Middle C up to the next C (fingering should be 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5) FOUR times. Each click should be a note.
This will feel OBNOXIOUSLY slow. It's supposed to. It'll give you a chance to 100% focus on each note and hit each note flawlessly.
Step 2: Bump the metronome up to 50 bpm, and play it again 4 times, one note per click.
Step 3: Bump the metronome up to 60 bpm, repeat again 4 times.
Now this is the point where people usually start losing focus. Be STRONG! Focus on each note like it were the most important note in the world.
Step 4: Keep bumping up the metronome between 6 and 15 bpm, and repeat each one 4 times. Keep doing this until the scale starts to feel sloppy (because the speed is out of your range).
Then, at the”sloppy” tempo, push yourself for 4 more reps. And really try to get it at that speed.
Step 5 IMPORTANT: Don't EVER skip this step. When you just played at the fastest tempo you could, you undoubtedly hit some wrong notes (if you didn't, keep bumping up to a faster tempo!).
If you stopped practicing right now, your brain will memorize those mistakes, and the next morning, you'll wake up with a sloppy scale. So this last step is very important.
Put the metronome back down to a slow tempo. It doesn't have to be all the way back to 40 bpm, but it has to be slow enough where you feel 100% confident you can hit the notes.
And play through it 4 more times, perfectly.
This'll make sure your brain drills it in correctly to end your practice session.
Caveats
Congratulations, you made it through a beast of a “piano workout”. This probably took you a long time to complete.
Now, in theory, you'd do this exact same process every time. But in reality, you'll often bump up tempos faster.
For example, if you did this drill again tomorrow, you might start at 40 bpm, then bump to 60 bpm, then 80 bpm, and let's say that's the point it starts feeling harder (not your “Max Tempo”, but a tempo where you really have to focus to get it right).
So now, you might bump only to 90 bpm, then 100 bpm, then 105 bpm, and lets say hit your Max Tempo at 120 bpm.
As you do this exercise over and over, you'll start to get a feel for how fast you can bump up the tempo.
That being said… err on the side of playing too slow. The common mistake is to start too fast, or bump up too fast to finish the exercise.
Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. Either way, as long as you make sure to do the final step of this exercise, it'll never hurt you. It can only increase your speed.
More Practice Strategies Like This
If this helped you, you can get access to my full array of practice strategies in my ebook, “Supercharge Your Piano Practice.” It includes the top strategies for cutting down practice time and getting really efficient results.
You can find out more about that here.
Also, the Bonuses Section is here; if you're within your first 7 days, you can get your 50% off.
See ya in the next lesson.
-Zach
“I am so pleased to see the “Supercharge Your Piano Practice ebook. Lots of info added in a youthful way with strategies and solutions. Love the spirit of it too! BRAVO!”
-Eli Kalman: Professional Pianist and Piano Professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.