“SIC” is the best acronym I could come up with for helping my students remember the 3 ways to maximize practice efficiency – besides, my kids tell me it is cool to spell slang words wrong.
“S” stands for Slow it down. Practice slow, and you will learn fast! As common sense as this may seem, we all have a tendency to prematurely practice difficult exercises/grooves at the goal tempo (and often times faster) – which is incredibly inefficient for improving. Slow things down, get them perfect, and then gradually increase the tempo, again getting it perfect at each tempo increase. Getting difficult exercises up to tempo will usually take multiple practice sessions, so don’t rush the speed up process! Also make sure to record yourself periodically to ensure you sound good before increasing tempo.
“I” stands for Isolate – specifically your limbs. It can be extremely helpful with some grooves or patterns to isolate what each hand and/or foot is doing on its own within the exercise. If you can’t play each part separately, there is approximately a 100% chance that you can’t put them all together!
“C” stands for Chunk. Another great way to make difficult grooves/patterns manageable is to practice them in chunks – meaning practice only 2 to 3 beats at a time (or 1 if necessary), and gradually add a beat or two at a time once you have the 1st chunk perfected.
All of the previous practice methods can also be combined in different ways to maximize efficiency and reduce frustration. For example, If you are working on an 8th note rock groove with a challenging bass drum part, 1st slow it down, isolate and repeat the parts the hands play. Once that is solid, “chunk” the bass drum part by gradually adding in one beat of it at a time.
