No matter what instrument you’re learning, the goal is to learn as much and as fast as possible to be able to create music. Taking in all the information of new theory, chords, scales, concepts, and technique can be overwhelming, and you might sometimes feel like your brain cannot handle any more information for the day and therefore feel frustrated.

To avoid getting to this stage, here are some tips on how to learn music faster:

Understand what you’re playing
When learning music, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what you’re doing and why it works. This means not simply learning things by heart. While remembering off-hand can be useful at times, there is always a chance that something will happen and you might need to rely on your actual knowledge of your instrument and music theory to be able to get through it.

Repeat, repeat, and repeat again
The brain thrives with repetition when it comes to trying to learn something new. Rather than trying to learn a lot at once, focus on one thing, perfect it, and slowly build up. You can do this through repetition and disturbed practice, meaning that you will keep repeating something until you’re comfortable with it, but instead of doing that for a long period of time, you’d take short breaks in between and go back to it after a few minutes. Build this up slowly and soon you will have a nice big chunk of new things that you’ve learned and perfected.

Test yourself when you learn something new
Whether you’ve just learned a new scale, solo, or a new piece, try to learn it to the best of your ability and then immediately test yourself by performing it. This could mean playing it for a family member, friend, or even video recording it. Doing this will cause adrenaline to kick in, and through this, you will learn how to keep going as best as you can. The better you know a piece, the more likely you are to ace it – even when under pressure.

Take time to relax
Okay, so you want to learn everything quickly, but these things don’t just happen in the blink of an eye. When you spend plenty of time practising and revising, it’s important to also give your brain time to rest. Letting your brain relax gives it a chance to store what you just learned, so when you feel like you’ve practised for quite some time and learned quite a lot, don’t try to cram more in. Take some time to rest and relax, and then get back to it when you feel fresh and energised.

So if you’ve been struggling with your music studies and trying to figure out how to learn music faster, try out these tips and you might soon start to see some big improvements.

If you’re interested in taking up music lessons in Guernsey, get in touch with the School of Popular Music today, and follow us on Facebook or Twitter for more useful tips and interesting facts.