Here’s a guided practice session on how to take recently learned tunes to the next level. I used Hesitation Blues as an example. This is an experimental format: part lesson, part open practice session.
Some of the practice suggestions:
Play a single note, focus on breath, posture, good sound.
Plan-do-reflect for different hard parts of a song. Where do you stumble? Focus on that. Focus on one bar or less if necessary.
Four T’s—Tone, Tuning, Timing, Transitions: Shoot for an 80% improvement. Slow and steady!
Transpose the focus chunk as a way to practice it.
Remove the double stops to get the melody.
Speed up past target tempo.
As you speed up, use less energy, less bow. Relax MORE as you speed up.
Improv-practice the scale. Mess around with note order and variation to make it interesting.