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Location: Bluffton, SC | How much time do you put into practicing every week? And just to clarify that, I'm not talking about the two hours a week you put in so that your partner can hit the right harmony notes. How much time do you put in actually working on improving your skills (and the level you're at just may be irrelevant here)? |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Zero.
and it often shows...
When going out to play I make set lists, rush through a couple of the tunes I consider myself rusty on...and that's it. When filling in for a band, the first set is practise. At the NW-OFC gathering I hadn't touched my guitars,other than to restring them, for two or three weeks.
We've shut down rehearsal for the summer but rehearse Mondays with a buddy who plays upright bass. |
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November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | I don't do anything in particular that is specifically designed to improve my skills ("computer hacking skills, bow hunting skills, numchuck skills..."). But I do always have a new song that I am working on, typically fingerstyle. I'll give it 20 or 30 minutes a night.
I find that that makes a big difference, particularly for left hand technique. |
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October 2004
Posts: 256
Location: chicago | One or two hours a day, been working on backing track chord progressions for Spain, medittaranian sundance, and Take five, so when we play live I can improvise solos and not have think too much and just live in the musical moment.It does pay off.
www.guitarsoffire.com |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Chicks dig guys with skills.
Pretty much like Omaha, I'm usually working on original stuff, so I'm trying to duplicate what I'm hearing in my head (not what the voices are saying, (shut UP!), just the music).
I don't always achieve this, but I usually wind up a little better for trying. |
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Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I never put enough time in.. ask anyone who has heard me play. |
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Posts: 382
Location: USA | At times I use to put in ten hours plus...and thats no exaggeration.
Id get home from work and play until the sun came up...get a few hours of sleep etc...do it all over again the next day.
I litterlally would practice until my fingers would bleed,,,happened quite a few times.
I would have grooves on top of grooves on the fingers...to the point where I could run my fingers right down the neck perfectly.
My fingers tips are like rocks now..haha I think my prints are all but gone...
In fact I attended a local career day and they had law enforcement recruit day and had various programs and demonstrations...well they we're doing finger printing...They used me to show the process...guess what no prints...haha...They asked me what I was doing...
Just playing geetar Sir... :)
And thats the fact jack :)
http://www.myspace.com/styllheartandsoul |
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April 2005
Posts: 331
Location: San Angelo, Texas | Hey Styll, if you ever need some extra cash...
I practise personally around two hours a day. Just personal time...band/group time is another 4 hours a week or so...
But you'd never know it to hear me play :) |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I practice at gigs . . . |
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Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | It shows..... |
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| At least an hour a day..more recently due to new strings.. |
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Location: PDX | Heck, this is one of my nagging questions. I practice lots for a hobbyist. An hour or two a day and much more on the weekends. But i'll be damned if i get any better.
I can learn new pieces but that's not really what i'm after. My primary concern is that I can learn the new pieces but it all seems so mechanical. I feel i don't know what i am doing other than following a script and my music sounds like it -- lifeless. I'm not sure if i put that in an understandable way, but i'm not sure how else to describe it.
Second, i'm not sure if it is a hardwired flaw or something i can overcome, but no matter how many times i play a piece i can't ever seem to get through it without error. A lack of concentration? Poor practice habits? Unreasonable expectations? I have no idea, but it is frustrating as all get out.
Even with all that said, i still have lots of fun just playing.
_____
gh1 |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Find somebody that you can play/jam with on a regular basis (ThursdayNight Beer&Guitars - something like that). It helps. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Performance rule #1; it's not how well you play, it's how well you play your mistakes.
If you make a mistake, stop, point it out to yourself and the audience, then start over. You are highlighting the incident so well you can't help but learn to make that mistake really good every time.
If you continue playing, perhaps even incorporating the 'mistake' into the overall piece as you go, you have established a 'playing style.' I am convinced this is where jazz comes from...but what do I know?
I learned my appreciation of music/jazz from a pet cockatiel. He only knew one tune; Pop The Weasel. He'd sing that simple 5 note tune over and over.
pop goes the weasel
pop goes the weasel
pop goes the weasel
Then he'd do pieces of it, then backwards, then inside out.
Try it with the little intro bit to Black Magic Woman. Play it over and over like a manta untill you aren't sure where you are in the tune, but it's still going on. You'll be lost >inside< the music, where there is no right or wrong...just sound.
(Dang! What's IN this coffee?) |
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Posts: 1017
Location: Budd Lake, NJ | Guitar, 3-4 hours a week, easy. Bass, between rehearsal and church services, maybe 2 hours a week. Mandolin, well, whenever it fits into whatever time is left.
--Karen
G-1111-4, CE868LX-4, Viper 1271 Natural, Maple Tornado, American Strat, Steinberger Spirit 5-string bass, Galiano mandolin, Vega 5-string banjo, fiddle of uncertain antecedents |
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Location: closely held secret | Phil, I would have told this story a little bit different...
I learned my appreciation of music/jazz from a pet cockatiel. He only knew one tune; Pop The Weasel. He'd sing that simple 5 note tune over and over.
pop goes the weasel
pop goes the weasel
pop goes the weasel
Then he'd do pieces of it, then backwards, then inside out.
So I shot him and fed him to the neighbors' cat.
More coffee? |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | It also explains my limited appreciation of jazz.
Thanksh...wash' in this stuff? |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by fillhixx:
It also explains my limited appreciation of jazz.
Thanksh...wash' in this stuff? Today?
Apparently heavy doses of boredom compounded by large amounts of afternoon drowsiness and a strong desire to either be playing the blue guitar or riding the black 'Wing. Instead of being where I am... |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | There are severasl different aspects here. Most of us get caught up in play time, like Cliff says, Thursday nights jam with somebody, or when we just pick up the guitar and noodle for a few minutes, or play our favorite song for the 100th time.
Then there is the work on the chops/ practice the scales time. Boring but needed.
Then there's the work out a new tune and learn it.
All three are different and I'd guess that most of us fall into the first unless we get ourselves a bit motivated and do the others.
Comments? |
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Location: NJ | CWK hit it on the head.
different time spent doing differnt activities on the guitar. All considered practice all have various effects and results. |
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Location: NJ | The only scale I know is the one in my bathroom . . .
. . . and I've been avoiding that one, too. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Probably only an average of 15 minutes a day. Sometimes I go a few days without touching the guitar, but I rarely go more than an hour at a time. I tend to play the same thing over and over. I'll work on one song until I have it down. That may take years at my pace.
Vocals have always been easy for me, so I have to learn the guitar part well enough that my fingers have it memorized and then I can usually fill in the vocals without much problem. I have to go over the same thing many times in order to remember all the verses, though.
I have no one to play for but myself, so it's not really "practicing", it's just something I do because I enjoy it. I'll often play while watching TV, during commercials, so I'm not really focusing on either. |
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Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I can't remember which guitar god I once saw quoted; "the best thing I ever did for my guitar playing was go fishing."
course he already knew his mixolydian scales... |
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December 2003
Posts: 13997
Location: Upper Left USA | Husband: I want something with chrome and glass that will go from 0-250 in no time at all.
Wife: Gets him a bathroom Scale...
I rarely practice, more often its learning specific songs.
I really enjoy Jams and like to learn from others. |
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October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | I only get to practice about 3 times per week due to my travel schedule. Maybe I'll get a headphone amp and carry my electric, or even get one of those travel/practice guitars like the Yamaha.
Anyhow, usually I get to play for 30 to 60 minutes per session. It's not nearly enough to learn much or to improve much. |
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November 2004
Posts: 382
Location: USA | Hey Gregorys,
What did you have in mind as far as extra cash?
haha...as long as its legal and doesnt involve a night in the clink...haha
Someday - and that day may never come - I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift.
:)
http://www.myspace.com/styllheartandsoul |
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July 2006
Posts: 171
Location: Oregon | I practice at night. The my parents tell me to stop. Then I wake in the early morn(12:00pm) and start playing at about 5pm.
It's hard for me to practice since I don't have any recording stuff so I can play over progressions, but I add lib it. But probably overall, a couple hours a day.
I might drop my AP US History class so I have less homework and can play more during the school year though. :D |
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July 2005
Posts: 3411
Location: GA USA | 72, you might try something like the "Band in Your Pocket" or whatever those backing track CDs are called. They have them near the counter at GC, I think.
Gh1, I know what you mean about messing up songs. It's hard not to get caught up in the music and lose your place, but I find that I have to get the next chord in mind as soon as I make a chord change. And sometimes a song "just isn't me" and I let it go.
I'd say I practice 4-5 hours a week. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | 72tour, your practice regimen definitely shows well in your playing. Most of us were very impressed with your skill. But don't cut back on school. It's a pretty rare bird that won't need a day job to support the music habit. Personally, I'd prefer to keep the music/guitars as a hobby and have something else that I consider work to pay the bills. |
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September 2004
Posts: 777
Location: East Wenatchee, WA | I don't remember the last time I actually played to improve my skills, but similar to others, just learning a new song or two. I still play probably 4-5 days a week or more, and while I don't seem to be much better as far as capability, my consistency with what I do know is much better.
Still...would like to be around someone to show me more "stuff" as I tend to learn by watching and doing, not by books or CD's. Although I do figure out some lead/solo stuff just by listening and faking it. Probably not always very accurate, but close enough that those listening (I play to musically challenged audiences) don't know the difference. |
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Location: Snellville, GA | I'm surprised no one has mentioned Little Fretty. |
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Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | For reasons other than music, I actually keep one of those in my front pocket at all times... |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Saw the post about the bird singing above, and just wanted to tell about a friend of mine who had a parrot. It learned to imitate his alarm clock. It was the most annoying thing you can imagine. Eventually he just got so fed up and let the bird go. It probably died somewhere in North Jersey. |
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Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | I play too many gigs to have time to practice. That's where I work on stuff, and being in the heat of combat helps you focus. If you add it all together, it comes to about 16 - 20 hours a week. |
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Posts: 171
Location: Oregon | Yeah Mark, I was thinking that. I was just going to cut down from Advanced Placement to Regular. I don't think any future job will require me to know that The Iron Act was passed in 1750 and was mostly ignored by the American colonists..... :D But college people do look at that kinda boring stuff. But thanks! We'll have to jam more at the next OFC gathering.
TWA... I had just blocked Little Fretty from my mind. |
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Location: San Angelo, Texas | Why can't I get dualing banjos out of my hed now? |
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Location: NJ | It's a RedState thing . . . |
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Location: GA USA | Then you can pretty much take your pick.
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | That blue spot in the middle of Idaho is Blaine County, where Kerry and Arnold Schwartznegger have their "summer" homes. I guess all the Republicans had to move out because they couldn't afford to live there.
Back on track, I don't think I could keep up with 72tour. He's as good on an electric guitar as I am bad. I'll just sit and watch. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Stangely enough, that's the same map for voting machine malfunctions. |
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Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | "It's a poor workman blames his tools"
Irish expression. |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | "The Truth is out there."
Fox Mulder. |
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Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Abundance, like want, ruins many.
Romanian Proverb |
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Location: closely held secret | Money isn't everything but it sure keeps you in touch with your children.
-- J. Paul Getty |
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Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | "What use is it to endure the Dutch Rubs and Indian Rope Burns that are politics if you can't obtain mastery over people and give them noogies back?"
-P. J. O'Rourke, Rolling Stone #810
"Each nation feels superior to other nations. That breeds patriotism - and wars."
-Dale Carnegie |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . Oh well, . . there goes the f@ckin' neighborhood . ."
- the Native American standing on the beach of what was soon to become Jamestown. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | "If you really loved me you'd do it."
Men. |
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Location: GA USA | Okay, I think we killed this one. |
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Location: Houston, Texas | "The smoker you get the player you drink" -- some guy named Joe |
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Posts: 331
Location: San Angelo, Texas | I had to see how we got from practise time to p.j. o'rourke...
Something about opening a thread, and seeing that quote, is just inherently wrong...on so many levels... |
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Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | It's never wrong to quote P.J. O'Rourke......
"Giving money to politicians is like giving beer and the car keys to teenage boys..." |
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Posts: 3411
Location: GA USA | Ahem. Did I mention I practice 4-5 hours a week? Sometimes more.
One thing I have tried to do is to learn actual songs to practice all the way through. It makes perfect sense, but I don't know that I gave it a lot of thought until I read it on Matt Smith's website a couple of years ago. |
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Practice makes...