3 Essential Ingredients of an Effective Practice Session (Brainjo Bite) 

Thank you. I really enjoy hearing your knowledge applied to music, especially the banjo. I am reading your Brainjo book, and it is encouraging me in my pursuit of banjo learning. I have wanted to play the banjo for over 40 years, and have run into the problems you mention in your book over and over, which stopped me from continuing. I am hoping the knowledge you are providing, will push me through. Thanks again.

You are such a good teacher. A lot of great information. Delivered in a logical and clear manner. You are credible, yet humble. Great job. I could listen to you teach me about anything.

I read your article on Quality Practice in your website about 3 years ago, when I was just beginning my journey with banjo and it helped me a lot. But what I wanted to talk about is the third point: Feedback. I haven't played my banjo in a while, as I'm trying to learn the electric guitar and decided that I should train my ear if I want to actually learn songs without relying on others or making simple backup arrangements. The banjo is a bit too flexible, even for covers. With the electric guitar, I should almost always play the same riff as the original song. So it helps me keep the focus on training my ear. And on the first day I did this, I was totally frustrated after over 1h of practice (which is more than I usually have). I wasn't frustrated because I couldn't figure the riff of my choice by ear (a very simple one at that), but because I didn't even know if I played it right or not. It sounded right to me, but that may be because I played my version of the riff too many times and got used to it. I considered giving up, but remembered advice from more experienced musicians. That couldn't be end. I'd have to headbutt the wall a couple times first. I also remembered your lessons on how the brain will learn as I sleep. Moving to the next day, I picked up the guitar and said "here goes nothing...". Well, turns out I was already doing a lot better. I could at least tell I was playing most parts wrong. That's from one day to the next. Now I can at least have the feedback 90% of the time and it really is essential to improve during practice. Lacking feedback on that first session was devastating. Even negative feedback is better than none. I'm glad I did not give up.

Yet another well presented and comprehensible discourse on your approach to learning the Banjo. I am far from arriving at my goal musically however I have greatly benefitted from your video's on RU-vid. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and insights with the hordes of Banjo enthusiasts out there. Thank you so much !!

I just received "The Laws of Brainjo" today. I read the first couple of chapters and know this will prove to be quite valuable to as I deep-dive into flatpicking guitar. Thanks, Josh!!

Thanks so much. You are reaffirmed what I have read in your book. Clarity of what to practice and the use if a metronome is some of the points I need to keep in mind Your gifts help me share my gifts!

At work we call this "PDCA" - Plan, Do, Check, Act. Thanks for this video series and the Brainjo book!!

great lesson! thanks!

great info!

I have been practicing like this since I read laws of Brainjo, and it is working great for me. Thank's Dr Josh.

Thanks. That's simple and obvious but I haven't thought about it and made mistakes again and again

Love your Banjo Bites. This hits on the mark for me. My tendencies I have IS trying to do too much AND trying to get to my goal so I can play the tune I'm focusing on. I definitely find myself wondering how long "professionals" work on a specie piece before it's ready to play publicly. I'm starting to think its much longer then I want. Any advice will be helpful, And I'm really looking forward to your next lecture on addressing stage fright. I keep asking others how they've dealt with it, but not gotten a clear, direct, and dare I say easy answer.

Cheers for yet another amazing video! Can you make one about banjo-related injuries (such as tendonitis etc)? I don't know if clawhammer is as taxing on the hands - especially the right hand - as Bluegrass ( the style I am currently studying), but I am sure there might be some overlap! :-)

I like the way you broke that down

There's an old saying, if you can't solve problem sleep on it and the next day you may do so - which reflects on your message of training the brain..

Cool

I enjoy your brainjo bites. I am a longtime musician and music teacher myself and have worked with the concepts you have discussed over years. I am curious about your thoughts on "handedness" as well. Over the years I have had numerous guitar students who were left-hand dominant in many activities, but have begun to play with right-hand strung guitars. I have read many articles about handedness over the years, and whether there are advantages/disadvantages for a left-hander to play a right-hand guitar, in other words, strumming or finger picking with the right hand and fretting with the left, or dominant hand. I have wondered wheher the "handedness" issue could be a legitimate issue for some, or is it just another restriction or limitation some players add to their thinking to limit their progress? We can point to many great left-handers who played right-handed guitars (e.g., Glen Campbell, Mark Knopfler, Steve Morse, George Van Eps, Richard Smith,, Ted Greene, etc.), but is their progress an exception to what could be a limitation in some, or is it an indication that "handedness" is a false issue or limitation or, on the other hand, an advantage? Have you reviewed this issue in context of banjo or generally and, if so, do you have any thoughts/opinions re. same?

So I have 3 hrs a day to practice. So with clarity, is trying to learn 4 new tunes in the same session ok? And I expect it may take several weeks to a month to learn these before moving on.

I want to get the most out of my practices, I was born with adhd, and am now dissabled because of it, but I can only practice for about 5 to 10 minutes at a time . Im home all day so I practice many times all day long, whats yhe best advice for this .

I’m curios why this isn’t the first lesson in your course material…

a) Where am I? b) Where am I going? c) How am I going to get there? I guess that covers everything.