Micro Practicing: The Art of Breaking Things Down

By: Joe Pinnavaia

One of the most overlooked aspects of practicing any instrument is what I would call “micro-practicing,” which is the practice of isolating a small passage of a musical piece or technique that may contain a challenging element. This single, challenging element is what we’ll focus on when we micro-practice. The entire solo, riff, lick or composition is not repeated over and over again, only the area that may contain whatever it is that we find challenging, and thus prevents us from performing at our optimum level.

Why use Micro practicing? Plain and simple, it saves you time and keeps you focused on the real issue that is causing you to make mistakes or compromising your consistency. While I was attending the University at Buffalo studying classical guitar, Joanne Castellani had me use this technique during my lessons, and it was very intensive study to say the least.

I walked out of those lessons energized and ready for further study. I didn’t internalize this idea of practicing on my own, outside of our lessons, and soon found myself involved for hours on one piece of music, while never really feeling comfortable or confident that I could perform it without making “stupid” mistakes.

As I would find out later on, these mistakes were not “stupid” but developed from a weakness in an element in my playing such as a slide, hand shift, barring with the left hand or synchronization of the both the left and right hands. It wasn’t all of these issues at once, but simply one or two at a time that were the main culprits!

During my lessons, Joanne had me focus on one or two elements and that was the whole hour lesson. I would remember her saying: “Work on this shift here. Good now do it again, and again, now 10 times without making a mistake and if you do, start over.” At times I may have thought this was a form of cruel torture, but I was still not fully grasping the concept. Now, many years later, I’ve been using this style of focused practicing and seeing huge results.

Applying the idea of micro-practicing is very simple. Take anything on your instrument that you’ve been working on, and play through it completely from beginning to end, noting the areas where you were stumbling, fumbling or just not playing up to par. Note any weak areas or even a feeling of a lack of confidence.

Now go back to those areas and take your metronome out (I know everyone has one and should use it ALL the time!) and set it to 40 or 45 bpms. Painfully slow right! Good! Take each area and, in time, loop your trouble spots while paying close attention to what each hand is doing.

With the metronome this slow your brain has a chance to fully map what each hand is doing, and in essence you give yourself a chance to play it in time and learn it the correct way. Repeat each area 10 times – PERFECTLY (If not then start over!), then move the metronome up a notch or two and repeat the process. Once the neuromuscular pathway is strengthened, this area is no longer a weakness but will become a strong point. You’ll build your confidence, learn quicker and become a better player in less time.

Even if you practiced for only 15 minutes to a half hour a day, you would see faster results than if you were to try and force yourself to play from beginning to end and hope that the mistakes will just go away.

So keep practicing and I wish you well on your road to excellence with whatever instrument it is that you play!

This is just one of many techniques I use with my own students to help get them the results that they want faster! If you live in the Western New York area and wish to pursue guitar instruction with me, please visit my website and fill out the Guitar Lessons Evaluation form to help give me a better understanding of where you are in you musical venture.

Let’s start defining your strengths, weaknesses and goals today, so that we may find solutions tomorrow!

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