Practice Practice Practice....

[BreezyGrass]

I've had this conversation with a lot of my musician friends lately all playing different instruments. I usually run some scales, learn/write songs, and the like. Mostly I'm pretty lazy about it. Our bass player spends and hour a night. Religiously. He told me the other day and I was shocked. I certainly don't put an hour in a day. And, I have the time too.

 

 

Anyways - my resolution to myself is to break through the next level and work more. Anyone have any routines? I play guitar and uke and split my rehearsal time between the two. Interested to see everyone's take on practice.

 

Happy Saturday all!

[In a little rowboat]

Practice doesnt always have to be practice...

 

I can only vouch for what worked for me...play alot, and play alot with others...i always have a guitar or something within arms reach, while watching tv, studying, whatever, theres always an instrument nearby.

[BreezyGrass]

Practice doesnt always have to be practice...

 

I can only vouch for what worked for me...play alot, and play alot with others...i always have a guitar or something within arms reach, while watching tv, studying, whatever, theres always an instrument nearby.

 

Yeah - I am getting my music room together and made the decision to hang my instruments in the hopes of playing them more often. I just picked up my mando - sitting on my lap right now - and going over some basic stuff cause it's been so long since I picked it up. So a good idea!

[Ghost of Electricity]

The internet and you tube is a great resource for picking up new tricks, theory, styles, ideas, etc. I've learned a lit just sitting in front of the computer with an unplugged electric in my hands.

[Moss]

In my opinion, trying to do a consistent 1 hour per day is so much better than 1 marathon 8 hour session a week. If you can set aside a time and really focus, that's key. I am struggling with this myself even though I know it's the way to go. In a perfect world I would spend 1 hour a day:

 

• Spend 5 minutes just doing your favorite warm up. Chromatic runs on each string or whatever.
• 15 minutes running running scales. 1 string up and down the neck. Shifting patterns. Running modes in different keys. Use a metronome and keep track of how fast you are able to do various scales cleanly.
• 20 minutes playing along with something and trying to apply what you learn. For me right now that is playing something like "Cold rain and Snow" or "I know you rider" by the Grateful Dead and trying to play major scales, mixolydian mode, arpeggios. Try to emphasize the 1, 3 or 7 note when the chord changes. Be able to play anywhere on the neck. A nice looping pedal is great for this. You can set down any chord pattern and just let it repeat over and over for hours. I actually put "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" on my loop pedal and can play over it for hours and hours.
• 20 minutes of chord theory. Try to play a simple 12 bar blues but substitute various inversions or 7ths, 9ths, 13ths, etc...

In my dream world this would be my practice schedule. Usually though, I sit in front of the TV and dick around while watching the office. It's like exercise. You have to set aside the time and commit. Still working on that myself.

[BreezyGrass]

I totally agree about its better to do 1 hour a day than a marathon. That's what I'm working towards.

[TCP]

I try to play every day but to be honest, I can only play when I feel inspired. For the past two years I was rarely inspired but some point last summer something changed, now I usually try to at least pick up my guitar and strum some chords every day. I don't want guitar to ever become a chore to me, even if it makes me a better player.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Back when I just had my acoustic, and a whole lot more free time, I used to play nightly, at least (but not limited to) while I cooked dinner. My primary exercise has been to get better at fingerpicking, which seems to have paid off.

 

Now that I purchased my (second) first electric guitar, I've been trying to set aside a specific time in the evening to practice. For now, I'm focusing on learning how to do things I don't know how to do, or rather things can't do very well (string-bending is at the top of the list). As with learning on my acoustic, I pick a song with the technique I'm trying to improve on, and play it overandoverandoveragain until I can get it right, then I find I am able to apply it to the rest of my playing. Since it's such a basic song, and the main riff is so easy, I'm practicing my bending with "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere."

 

I'm a lot better with scales than I thought I was, so the next step is probably chord theory.

[cooperissup3r]

i tend to practice while applying, ie, i turn a song on and play along. play solos has kind of lost its mystique to me, so i'm trying to learn new chords and changes to liven up new songs i write.