Practice new ideas

This might sound obvious, but I think it’s incredibly useful to get yourself out of the habit of always practicing the same things in the same ways.

New ideas might give you some extra inspiration and some new material to play around with.

It’ll also give you more dynamic playing because you’ll be able to play more different things, rather than only playing the same old ideas.

Where can you get these ideas?

Listen to music that you don’t normally listen to. If you mostly listen to rock music, listen to some jazz or funk or hip-hop. If you mostly listen to jazz, listen to rock music or hip-hop music.

It’ll also make your playing sound more well rounded. Being able to play multiple styles of music, even just a little, means that you know enough about that style to get the basic sound. It also means you understand how that style is different in terms of note choice and rhythm than other styles of music.

ISJ