No Instrument, No Problem

 

    Everyone's busy, and unless you play music for a living, odds are more time is spent away from your instrument than with it in hand.  Here I will discuss ways to practice without an instrument around.  Some of these things were told to me by other musicians, and the one thing that needs to be stressed for every one of these exercises is visualization.

    Just the simple act of running through a scale or song in your head while visualizing yourself playing it is extremely useful.  By actually seeing yourself play it in your head your brain is going through the exact same processes as if you were actually playing it.  The only thing missing is the actual muscle movement involved in playing it, therefore it's essentially the same thing as practicing it with your instrument in hand.

    One thing I've gotten used to over the years is to carry a notebook of blank manuscript paper with me.  When I have free time without my instrument, I imagine myself playing a phrase or section of a song I'm working on and try to write out the notes I'm seeing myself play in my head.  If you can't read music, the same thing can be accomplished using tablature or chord diagrams.

    The benefits of the aforementioned exercise are twofold.  It forces you to really internalize what you are working on, which will in turn provide you with a much more solid feel for the music when actually playing it.  The other benefit is that the better you get at writing down what you see yourself play, the more you will be able to do the opposite, which is to visualize yourself playing what you write down.  This is excellent training for your mind's ear, and will shorten the gap between reading music and playing music.  This will eventually lead you to be able to come up with a melody in your head and immediately know how to play it on your instrument.

    This leads us to the next exercise, which is to simply come up with a melody in your head and sing or hum them to yourself.  When you come up with something that really catches your ear, try to remember it, or if you think you'll forget it, record it on your phone.  When you are back at home with your instrument, transcribe what you came up with.  This is great practice for your mind's musical imagination.

    Another useful exercise is to listen to a song that you know the chord progression to, whether it be in your car or while walking around listening on your phone.  Follow the chord progression in your head, visualizing yourself playing the chords along with the recording, imagining you are actually on stage and just given the song to play with the band.  Putting this kind of pressure on yourself, imagined or not, is great practice for reaching the appropriate mindset of actually performing at a jam session with other musicians.

    Simply naming chords at random and spelling them out in your head is a great mental exercise, which brings me to one more exercise that can be practiced without an instrument.  This is an exercise I call the Pitch Axis exercise.  Pick a note at random and name it against different chords.  For example, C is the 11 of G Major, the #11 of Gb Major, the b9 of B7, etc.

    Can you think of other ways to practice without an instrument?  Hopefully I've provided you with some useful ones, and the next time you have the urge or need to practice and are without your trusty axe, fret not!