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October 2005
Posts: 5332
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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November 2005
Posts: 4833
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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Joined:
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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Joined:
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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February 2005
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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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I never put enough time in.. ask anyone who has heard me play. |
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November 2004
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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Joined:
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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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I practice at gigs . . . |
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March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | It shows..... |
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July 2002
Posts: 1900
| At least an hour a day..more recently due to new strings.. |
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April 2006
Posts: 972
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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Joined:
March 2002
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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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4833
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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April 2006
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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February 2005
Posts: 11840
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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November 2005
Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | It also explains my limited appreciation of jazz.
Thanksh...wash' in this stuff? |
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Joined:
February 2005
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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Joined:
January 2002
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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December 2001
Posts: 10583
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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March 2002
Posts: 14842
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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Joined:
November 2005
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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Joined:
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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Practice makes...
