Where did I go, did the blog die? No, I’ve been on paternity leave and I’ve actually have had time to play guitar instead of blogging about playing guitar. And I also found the time for a pet tech project: a practice journal app for iOS!
One of the most common pieces of advice when it comes to get more out of practice is keeping a practice journal. For many of us time is scarce, so we have to focus the time we can spend playing guitar to get the most out of it. With two small kids, I know it’s definitely the case for me.
For some this may seem like a creativity and/or fun killer, but for me it’s the opposite. I always alternate goal-oriented practice with just jamming and playing songs, but it’s when I make progress and I’m suddenly able to play new things that seemed impossible before that I’m happiest. And that takes focused practice.
I’ve tried keeping a journal using just regular text files or spreadsheets, but that never really worked. So instead, I’ve created an app for iPhones and iPads: the OSIRIS GUITAR Journal. It let’s you do the following in a very easy way:
- Add your practice goals
- Track your practice sessions
- Share your sessions with your friends on Facebook
- See statistics such as which is your preferred weekday, are you rating your practice higher or lower over time and are you spending more or less time practicing?
I’d like to think of it as a “Runkeeper for guitarists”.
The app is currently going into beta testing, and if you have a Facebook account and an iOS device you can join the testing! The app is free – all I want in return is that you share a link to this blog (http://www.osirisguitar.com) publicly on Facebook or Twitter.
Email me your email address and a link to your sharing of the blog and I’ll reply with instructions on how to log in and get started!
