Practice Regime

[58 Relic]

Hi ,Sitting yesterday during my weekly Tuesday music and (sometimes malt ) afternoon session with my Uke ( and brilliant keyboard ) playing friend and the conversation turned to practice and how we divided our time between playing our sets lists , working on new songs and finally technique. This has led me to wonder how you all divide your guitar playing time . Here is my routine , I do try to stick to this if I can .1 Hour first thing in the morning ( early ) working on technique ie scales new worship songs and new fingerstyle picking patterns . 1 Hour in the evening playing through my selection of fingerstyle solo pieces finally once a week we get together to play our favourites . I am retired now and play on a Sunday in church and the odd gig linked to the church . One purchase I have made that links into the GAS thread is the new Yamaha silent guitar ( SLG200s ) that lets you practice with headphones without disturbing the rest of the house ( great for early mornings ) sometimes things don't flow and I just put the guitar down but I find if I don't play regularly the fingers do get stiff and the old muscle memory suffers .

[OldCowboy]

My technique - what little there is - suffers if I don't play just about daily. Didn't used to, but age and a bit of arthritis have combined to overcome a lot of 'didn't used to' realities. I find practice to be my enemy a good share of the time - bad attitude - so I try to integrate new stuff into what I've been playing and expand into things I've not played previously as I go along. I'm sure that's an awfully inefficient approach, but at least it keeps me playing and learning.

[jedzep]

If I'm specifically trying to learn a new riff or technique I'll perform it repeatedly whenever it comes to mind, but I always come back to it all coming down to interpreting songs I love. It's an endless cycle of trying to customize my version of a song to my aesthetic satisfaction. Then trying to remember what I did that I liked.

[MorrisrownSal]

I'll go days at a time away from the strings, and I'll get down. I'll eventually free up and make it back though.

 

Whenever I listen to music, I am always thinking in the back of my mind if the tune could work acoustically, and in my limited style, and with my voice... I can't help myself; I just do. And when I get around to some free time, I give them a whirl. It doesn't always work. Tonight I tried Main Street by Seger. I got all the tracks down, and listened to it back. And laughed. And then cried.

 

I believe if I were more disciplined, like you fellas, I'd specifically work on technique, and I'd improve as a player. I suppose I should. Goals are very individual though, and I don't think I am trying to get better... I am trying to just have fun and make music in whatever way I can.

 

So... Roundabout... I have no regimen. I never consider my playing time as "practice". I actually backed off the gigging, as I burnt out a tad. My buddy and I got about a hundred songs down, and I certainly had to learn them and practice them... It became less than fun though.

[BluesKing777]

I can divide it into a few areas, but the main division would be practice in my music room with 95% of the time music/lyrics/TAB on a music stand in front of me; playing somewhere else in the house with just the guitar to get it in the head completely free of the book.

 

But after doing it all these years, diversions are great, like a gadget or recording tunes but still playing/practicing to keep the parts all working mentally and physically.

 

I just saw a bit of a thread on another channel where it was asked: "Is it always this hard?"

People think it easy because of the movies....

 

But some kind of target is needed or it all becomes aimless, but the absolute hardest I have ever worked on anything is when I went to jazz guitar lessons, and let's hit the ground running with a list of things to do by the next week that worked out to be about 4 hours practice EVERY night just with scales and chords, and after the first few weeks I was just plain exhausted! But because of that, you change your viewpoint and way of doing things and get into a routine discipline that achieves much. But those results never really leave you.

 

So get to a pro guitar teacher face to face, not online lazy learning - and the rest will sort itself out. Even if it is the urgent peripherals like a quiet room/music room, decent chair and music stand and all the things are needed to do many hours.....because that is what you do one way or the other, or give it away.

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[blindboygrunt]

I'm same as sal

Haven't got the time to dedicate an hour a night or any of that carry on

If I don't lift a guitar for a certain amount of time I'll get depressed

 

Every Saturday morning I go straight to my room and play anywhere from an hour to five or six hours

Sunday is similar . All depends on how long the grass is , what the wife needs done etc etc

 

When I lived alone the guitar was rarely out of my hand if I was in the house . Would play gently while watching tv even . It's my crutch. I've never really seen any time with it as practice . I suppose that's what I'm doing but it's never been a chore .

[blindboygrunt]

I'm same as sal

Haven't got the time to dedicate an hour a night or any of that carry on

If I don't lift a guitar for a certain amount of time I'll get depressed

 

Every Saturday morning I go straight to my room and play anywhere from an hour to five or six hours

Sunday is similar . All depends on how long the grass is , what the wife needs done etc etc

 

When I lived alone the guitar was rarely out of my hand if I was in the house . Would play gently while watching tv even . It's my crutch. I've never really seen any time with it as practice . I suppose that's what I'm doing but it's never been a chore .

[blindboygrunt]

I'm same as sal

Haven't got the time to dedicate an hour a night or any of that carry on

If I don't lift a guitar for a certain amount of time I'll get depressed

 

Every Saturday morning I go straight to my room and play anywhere from an hour to five or six hours

Sunday is similar . All depends on how long the grass is , what the wife needs done etc etc

 

When I lived alone the guitar was rarely out of my hand if I was in the house . Would play gently while watching tv even . It's my crutch. I've never really seen any time with it as practice . I suppose that's what I'm doing but it's never been a chore .

[blindboygrunt]

I'm same as sal

Haven't got the time to dedicate an hour a night or any of that carry on

If I don't lift a guitar for a certain amount of time I'll get depressed

 

Every Saturday morning I go straight to my room and play anywhere from an hour to five or six hours

Sunday is similar . All depends on how long the grass is , what the wife needs done etc etc

 

When I lived alone the guitar was rarely out of my hand if I was in the house . Would play gently while watching tv even . It's my crutch. I've never really seen any time with it as practice . I suppose that's what I'm doing but it's never been a chore .

[Murph]

I actually backed off the gigging, as I burnt out a tad. My buddy and I got about a hundred songs down, and I certainly had to learn them and practice them... It became less than fun though.

 

And so it goes.....

 

I've taken a hiatus from gigging as well, much the same reasoning. I was actually having "creative" differences with my buddy. They probably won't be worked out.

 

As for "practice", I usually play 1/2 hour or so in the morning before work, and with my daughter when we can in the evenings, which isn't often enough.

 

Like Sal, I don't consider it practice, I just play what comes to mind.

 

I am working on a multi tracked Garageband iPad thing. Haven't had enough time.

[Rambler]

Half-hour stretches, usually in the evening. I tend to practice more intensively when I have new material Im working up (I really need to establish a daily maintenance program for those in-between times). I dont work much on chord or scales, unless a the song requires it (though I have been dabbling with modes a bit). Should have a warm up but I dont. Just enough of a program to stay fit. Want to be better, you'll need to work harder.

 

My usual MO for a new tune is to got a feel for the groove and then go back to correct passages, referring to tab/audio/video as needed/available. After that, I play it in snatches, 10-15 here and there. Whatever you work on, make it something moves you, because they can really get t up in your head. Im running 'Poor Black Mattie' right now I as I type.

[QuestionMark]

I practice everyday, except for planned/scheduled days off when I usually end up doing some form of studying music. Practice involves working on whatever I feel feel is appro pro for that particular day (but is a conscious decision). I don't use a set time or time period to practice other than it can be at least only two minutes a day or as long as I can at any particular time. That makes its pretty clear to me that even if I am so busy during a particular day that I don't get home until midnight, I still have to practice that day even if it's only for at least two minutes. Obviously, time permitting on any given day, I go much longer depending on the practice session and time availability. That structure and expectation enabled me to practice daily during the many years of being super busy at work, raising two kids, etc etc.

 

And to paraphrase quote the patriarch guitarist, Andre Segovia (the Jimi Hendrix of his time and place): "If I don't practice for one day, I can tell. If I don't practice for two days, 'you' can tell".

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

[Hall]

I'm same as sal

Haven't got the time to dedicate an hour a night or any of that carry on

If I don't lift a guitar for a certain amount of time I'll get depressed

 

Every Saturday morning I go straight to my room and play anywhere from an hour to five or six hours

Sunday is similar . All depends on how long the grass is , what the wife needs done etc etc

 

When I lived alone the guitar was rarely out of my hand if I was in the house . Would play gently while watching tv even . It's my crutch. I've never really seen any time with it as practice . I suppose that's what I'm doing but it's never been a chore .

 

 

Me too

[Lefty Guy]

Basically I just pick up my guitar & start to play whichever tune I'm currently working on. I always mean to do exercises & things first but somehow it never happens. I do focus on a song for a long time though, several weeks, until I know the chord progression by heart, then work out the melody, then work in some base runs & finally try to pick out bits of the melody in between the chords & base runs. Once I've got all of this down, I'll work on singing whilst playing more than just chords - always a challenge!

[MissouriPicker]

I play everyday, although I don't have a particular routine I go through. My music is kind of an ad hoc conglomeration of the various things that make-up my technique and the songs I perform. I don't play at a particular time during the day. Depends on when I get the opportunity and feel like it. I might play for ten minutes three or four times during the day, or I might play for a couple hours, depending on what's going-on. If I'm working on a new song I'll practice it, but the rest is just playing songs I like. If I do add a new cover song it's usually pretty easy to make it part of my set list, because I only add songs I've always liked and already kind of know. I get bored learning something brand new that I have no interest in playing. Has nothing to do with God, but that's why I only play in the church band once a month now. Used to do it almost every Sunday. Can't stand learning 1-2 songs every week that I've never heard before. Just don't have the patience or interest. I want to play what I want to play.... I play gigs three days a week and that ends-up being over 5 hours of playing with just that. I have approx. forty songs I rotate through and they don't all get played at one gig. Some I don't even remember to play each week. If I were more disciplined and structured I'm sure I'd benefit from it, but it's tough to break old habits that I'm comfortable with and that work for me. If I'm adding something to enhance my technique I'll spend some time on it at, but it doesn't dominate the time I spend playing.

[Jesse_Dylan]

I'm like ole' Lightnin'--I ain't practice. (Not as good as Lightnin' though either.) I'm trying to "learn" to practice. I have joined Tony's Acoustic Challenge. The closest I ever came to practicing was when I took one lesson on fingerpicking, then figured the rest out myself.

 

When I used to gig, I would have a long list of my songs (rotating in and out) and one or two covers, and I'd spend an hour or two daily playing and singing through all the songs on the list. Man, those were the days. You never think you have any time until it's gone. But I got myself all neurotic and depressed ("I will never have a career as a songwriter!") and stopped gigging and stopped running through my songs and forgot the majority of them (have them written down somewhere... hopefully).

 

Sad tale. Now I just noodle when I have time mostly. Sadder tale. Once in a while I write, and sometimes I play through a few of my songs, look up someone else's, or accidentally figure out someone else's song.

[jdd707]

Well I don't actually practice. That's a planned and studied approach to music. I just play. Generally start to work on whatever song is new to me. Sometimes it will include a new lick or technique and I get a little better for it but I still don't consider it practice. Because music is a hobby I don't consider it "work". So would I be a better player if I practiced (worked) rather than played (at it)? Yeah but then I'd be working not playing. When I've tried to have a structure approach, I just end up playing songs I like to play and those I want to learn. Perhaps the distinction is picking nits but it's a lot more fun to just play the guitar.

[Jesse_Dylan]

Well I don't actually practice. That's a planned and studied approach to music. I just play. Generally start to work on whatever song is new to me. Sometimes it will include a new lick or technique and I get a little better for it but I still don't consider it practice. Because music is a hobby I don't consider it "work". So would I be a better player if I practiced (worked) rather than played (at it)? Yeah but then I'd be working not playing. When I've tried to have a structure approach, I just end up playing songs I like to play and those I want to learn. Perhaps the distinction is picking nits but it's a lot more fun to just play the guitar.

I've found that I make the most "progress" when I learn (accidentally or through small amounts of detective work--never have the effort for large amounts!) someone else's song, make it my own--and then little bits of that song, or the little bits I've put in their song, end up in my songs, and I notice I'm doing different/new things compared to how I was before.

[jdd707]

I've found that I make the most "progress" when I learn (accidentally or through small amounts of detective work--never have the effort for large amounts!) someone else's song, make it my own--and then little bits of that song, or the little bits I've put in their song, end up in my songs, and I notice I'm doing different/new things compared to how I was before.

 

Well said!

[Rambler]

When you hit a certain level, play and practice intertwine.

 

Before that, 'just playing', may be a way of saying idly strumming or picking without attention. It's ok for what it is, but are you going anywhere? Picking up with intention to focus and attention as you go, even for 15 minutes, always takes you anther step along the road. Rambler's 2 cents.

[fortyearspickn]

When you hit a certain level, play and practice intertwine.

 

Before that, 'just playing', may be a way of saying idly strumming or picking without attention. It's ok for what it is, but are you going anywhere? Picking up with intention to focus and attention as you go, even for 15 minutes, always takes you anther step along the road. Rambler's 2 cents.

 

Succinct and clear.... sort of confirms what I've suspected as the reason I'm just a hack.

I don't think you get to win a Gold Medal in gymnastics by just going to Gold's Gym 3x a week to look at the girls while you sit on the rowing machine.

I learned significantly more when I was taking lessons, and when I was giving them - than when I had no 'motivation' or objectives.

I would think the same would be true of gigging - you have a need to learn.

I am a classic example of 'path of least resistance'. If I don't HAVE to learn something new, I will tend to keep playing my favs.