Ready, Steady…

As musicians gear up to get #BackToLive, Adam Goldsmith explains how he’s honing his practice regime and sight-reading in preparation

- Adam Goldsmith

The two questions I get asked most when I’m teaching are: ‘How do you learn to sight-read?’ and ‘Do you have a practice schedule?’ In terms of my experience with guitar, a lot of my skills are perishable – and this has become particularly evident during the pandemic. I’ve played guitar a lot, but because a lot of sessions have been done remotely, there isn’t the same time pressure, playing wise. A client will usually say something along the lines of, ‘Here is the track. I need it done by lunchtime tomorrow,’ which gives me a good few hours to experiment on my own with parts and sounds and so on. Obviously, if I’m booked for an in-person session then the timescale is much reduced and there’s a lot more immediate pressure.