Practice daily: For best results, try to make practicing an everyday habit. I recommend at least 4-5 days a week. Try to schedule your practice sessions around the same time each day. Even if you can only fit in 5 minutes, practicing daily will yield much better results than trying to cram in a longer session before your lesson. 

Practice slowly: It may be tempting to start learning music at the speed you’re used to hearing it, especially if it’s something you’ve heard before, or are excited about playing. I highly recommend taking your time and playing slowly at the start. Only when you feel completely comfortable with the slower speed should you start to gradually increase it. This can prevent a lot of frustration, and applies to all levels of study.

Practice focusing on one aspect of music at a time: Aspects can refer to musical pitches, their rhythm, how loud or how soft we play them, how we articulate them (are they played short or long, connected or separate, lightly or heavily), and the overall feeling of the music. I’ll often have my students focus mainly on intonation one week, then refine the rhythms the following week, then gradually address the more advanced concepts, such as phrasing and musicality.

Practice with a metronome: Using a metronome is critical for developing rhythm and learning how to keep a steady beat - all essential for both solo and group playing in any genre or style! Be sure to keep that metronome handy.

Practicing is filled with peaks and valleys: Some days, practicing might feel very frustrating. Other days may feel more confident than ever. Maybe you’ll come back to a tough section of music and find it’s much easier than before! Perhaps a few days later, it’ll feel like you’ve hardly improved at all. These experiences are all completely normal, and I’ve shared them plenty of times. Ups and downs are a natural part of life, and as part of the musical journey. That being said, you do get better EVERY single time you play, truly! So, keep it up! :)