Perfect Practice
For serious players who want to build skill in ways the people around them cannot show them. The course meets everyone where they are, using Gregg’s Cognitive Load Reduction Protocol.
Learn more →Cognitive & Behavioral Learning Science
Learn The Way
Your Brain Actually Learns
The way the brain learns best is very different from the way most people do it. The few who figure it out look talented. Anyone can learn to get as good as they want at academics, athletics, and the arts.
You are a dynamic conduit between research and practice, and that is a vital link.
Dr. Brenda Brenner
Executive Associate Dean, Chair of Music Education, Co-Director, IU String Academy, Indiana University at Bloomington
Courses & Coaching
Learn how to learn
Programs and coaching built on the science of how you actually improve. Start where you are.
Lightbulb Masterclass Series
Short masterclasses on deliberate practice, music memorization, improvisation, sight reading, retrieval practice, contextual interference, and mindset.
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Practice Coaching
One on one coaching with Gregg. His methods, built on cognitive science, help you get past plateaus and play better on any instrument.
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The Practiclass
Live on the third Saturday of every month. Watch a real trouble spot get fixed in about 20 minutes, then bring your own questions. Any instrument, any level.
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Cracking the Talent Code
Play better with less effort and less practice by tricking the brain with a few simple hacks.
Learn more →
Stage Fright
Stage fright is misunderstood, and there is a way through it. Play with ease and perform with confidence.
Learn more →
Try This Now
The science of how the brain really learns, broken into simple steps you can use right away.
Learn more →How It Works
Small, smart changes to how you practice add up faster than you think.
The Practice Cycle
Plan. Do. Reflect. Repeat.
Real improvement is a loop you run on purpose. Gregg makes every step deliberate.
Do
Plan
Reflect
Plan
Decide what to fix and how, before you start playing.
Do
Practice with full focus, using the technique, not just reps.
Reflect
See what worked, then adjust the next session.
Why It Works
The same few levers move every skill
Deliberate practice
Aim at the edge of what you can do, not the comfortable middle.
Retrieval practice
Pulling it from memory beats reading it again, every time.
Contextual interference
Mix and space your practice so what you learn actually sticks.
Mindset and self-control
Attention and willpower beat grinding through fatigue.
Learning Notes
Your brain adapts. Your practice should too.
Learning Notes is Gregg’s free email on how learning actually works. Most people aren’t stuck because they lack talent or discipline. They’re stuck because the way they practice stops working once the brain adapts.
Unsubscribe anytime. More about Learning Notes
Why Gregg
Three decades spent learning how we learn
Hi, I’m Gregg Goodhart, The Learning Coach
I have been teaching for over three decades and spent much of that time trying to figure out how to do it better. For 13 years I chaired and built a department at one of the most prestigious high schools in the country. Looking for better answers for myself and my teachers, I found them in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience and psychology.
I started with just a few of those principles in the classroom and got real results. Over the years I kept what worked and dropped what did not. Students began to genuinely learn the material, and I found that tests got easy to pass once real learning was happening.
To my surprise, the same principles applied to everything. I coached teachers in the arts, sciences, math, languages, and history, along with our sports coaches. Colleagues pushed me to share it more widely, and that started my work as a clinician and consultant. I love creating lightbulb moments in teachers and students.
30+Years teaching
13Years department chair
Explore more
Dig into the free stuff
Years of writing, talks, and research, free to read, watch, and listen. Start anywhere.
Blog
Fresh, practical posts
Short reads on practice, learning, and how the brain really improves.
Read the blog →Articles & Papers
The research, in plain English
The papers, studies, and books behind the methods, each with a plain note on why it matters.
Browse articles →Podcasts & Media
Interviews & guest spots
Hear Gregg on learning, practice, and the truth about talent.
Listen in →Video Essays
One idea, broken down
Short video essays, each with one thing you can use right away.
Watch now →Social
Gregg, in your feed
Quick tips and clips on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Follow Gregg →Learning Notes
One note at a time
Short notes on practice and learning, sent to your inbox, free.
Get the notes →Podcasts, Interviews & Media
Hear Gregg talk shop
Long conversations about practice, learning, and why talent is not what people think it is.
Featured Podcast
Contrabass Conversations
Jason Heath and Gregg dig into his background, how to actually improve, the books he recommends, and much more.
Listen →
Video Podcast
Out of the Trenches
A video interview with Gregg on learning and getting past the limits people think they have.
Watch →
Video Podcast
Musicality Now: How to Learn Like a Genius
Gregg puts the research on how the brain learns to work in lessons and classrooms, and proves it live through his Practiclass project.
Watch →
Audio Podcast
The Inner Singer Podcast
Mike Goodrich calls Gregg's work the missing link in what gets taught to singers, musicians, athletes, and students.
Listen →
Video Podcast
The Strength Connection
Episode 118. Why talent is overrated, how to learn how to learn, deliberate practice, and contextual interference.
Watch →
Audio Podcast
The Science of Practicing
John Henny Vocal Studio. John and Gregg talk about the real purpose of practicing.
Listen →
Interview
Learning, Competence, and Talent
Musical U. Practical methods backed by research and tested on real students for years.
Read →
Interview
Effective Practice: Lessons from Neuroscience and Psychology
Musical U. Gregg drops the idea of natural talent and teaches how to make good use of practice time instead.
Read →Gregg Goodhart’s sessions for the Jacobs School of Music String Academy were extremely insightful and inspiring for myself and the students. His specific practice techniques coupled with his positive and genuine enthusiasm resulted in immediate progress.
Mimi Zweig
Professor of Music (Violin, Viola), Director Pre-College Strings, Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University
In Their Words
Teachers, conductors, and principals
A few more notes from people who brought Gregg in to work with their students and staff.
Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestras
Lyda Osinga
“You fixed (my student) Domingo. I came back after vacation and he had completely changed his practicing, searched your website, downloaded all your practice tips and showed me some amazing results. Domingo went from last chair first violins in one orchestra to 4th chair 1st violins in the next level orchestra.”
More stories →Academy of Excellence, Milwaukee
Principal Christian Ahanger
“You have provided one of the most beneficial presentations to my teachers I think they have attended since I began working with the school. It’s not often when you meet someone who understands and works to apply time maximization and utilization properly to achieve positive results.”
More stories →St. John’s Lutheran School, Lannon
Kevin Poston
“Gregg brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding to the discussion of learning, accurately conveying the close connections among mindset, willpower, habit formation, and, of course, deliberate practice.”
More stories →Duke University
Mary Kay Robinson
“I have told countless people about the things that I learned, or heard with new ears, at your ASTA presentation in Louisville last March. You were amazing! I couldn’t agree with you more!”
More stories →Trusted by educators everywhere
Learning Notes is Gregg’s free email on how learning actually works. Unsubscribe anytime.
Questions
Good to know
Musicians, students, athletes, teachers, and anyone who wants to get better at a skill. The way the brain learns is the same across all of them.
One on one sessions where Gregg uses the science of learning to fix what is holding your playing back. You get a clear plan and faster progress.
No. They work for academics, athletics, and the arts. Gregg has coached teachers and coaches in many fields.
Most people notice a difference quickly, often in the first week, because small changes to how you practice add up fast.
Yes. Download the free Practical Ways to Play Better Now guide and try the 5 day plan in about 10 minutes a day.
No More Plateaus
The free brain hack that will make you better right now, and the reasons it works. Download the guide and start breaking through.
Get It Now →