How much do you practice?

[Retired]

We just saw The Eagles a couple of days ago. Don Henley said, We have been practicing and playing the same songs for over a half century, someone asked us how much we practice now. We don't. I think after 50 years of playing together, We pretty much got it down now. Lol After I retired I practiced at least 3 to 6 hours a day. I have been playing House of the Rising Sun since I was 13. My main song I play first when I play.  I have been playing for 57 years. I think I got it done to Haha. 

[Notes_Norton]

In the tourist season, 6 days a week, in the summer, lucky to do 3.

Because if you can't practice on stage, where CAN you practice?

Seriously, I don't practice sax, flute, or wind synth anymore. Guitar is my 7th instrument, I'm still learning, so all my practice time (and there isn't enough of it) goes on the guitar. 

Notes ♫

[RBSinTo]

I saw a video recording of me playing a couple of weeks ago in my music teacher's pupils recital, and realized that regardless how much I practice, it isn't enough.

RBSinTo

[Larsongs]

Like my old Drummer used to say, “A Gig is a paid Rehearsal”.

Eagles have been doing that for 50 years. That said, when Glenn was alive he expected nothing less than absolute perfection.. They practiced. They had what they called, the circle of fear.. They rehearsed Vocals, A Cappella… 

When my Bands have a rehearsal everyone is expected to know their parts.. Come ready. And we do. Rehearsals are like Gigs. Our Gigs go off well.

[jdgm]

9 hours ago, RBSinTo said:

.......regardless how much I practice, it isn't enough.

RBSinTo

I feel the same way.  There is your ideal and then there is the reality of your limitations.

[Murph]

I'll usually play every day. I don't consider it "practice". Maybe an hour, maybe 3. Maybe 10 minutes.

I go to an "old time" jam once a week that's 2 hours, taking turns vocally, 3-6 people, whoever shows up.

If Owen and I get a duo acoustic gig, we might get together once and run through a few things. We might not. Or we might go to the others house and jam all day for no reason at all. Just for fun. We've performed together for nearly 30 years and can pull off a pretty good show if we haven't played together or even seen each other in a year. It's cosmic. We'll do way over 1/2 our show with original music.

I'm always writing, so I'm always playing. I'm not a "consumer" of music like Pepper. I don't buy a lot of cd's, albums, or go to many "shows" because I'm working on my own stuff.

 

[DanvillRob]

Since retirement, I play for several hours every day, (while the wife sleeps).

I get up at 4:30....shower.... take out the dogs..... check my email and log in here.....then practice whatever song I'm working on.

Practicing slightly more right now because I have to perform at a memorial service tomorrow...and I can't slide too much as the audience will be all the people from the San Francisco Music Scene.   They'll KNOW each time I slip up.

[Murph]

Godspeed, old friend.

You're doing it out of love and respect and will be loved and respected for it.

 

[kidblast]

I've been at this since I was 10.  I'm 67 in about 6 weeks.

I think wherever I was getting to, I'm probably already there. 

There's always something to learn, some elements theory I could improve my knowledge on. 

Or a new number that I'm interested in, that's maybe a challenge, like some of Tommy E's stuff or guys like that.  (Gerhard, De Grassi, etal.)

Is that practicing, or "learning" something new?

Scales, chord changes, chord voicings, I don't practice those.  I mean, sure..  we all I did at one time, but now , after all these years with a guitar in my hands, they all just come without thinking about it.

I still play every day.   how much time varies.  Could be a whole Saturday morning, or afternoon, could be a half hour after work is done and anything in between.

The only woodshedding I think I still do is when I have a solo gig on the schedule and I want to add a few new tunes, and warm up the pipes so I can perform 3 full sets of singing.

Good topic, made me think about it a bit.  I need to practice thinking more!  

 

[Notes_Norton]

12 hours ago, RBSinTo said:

regardless how much I practice, it isn't enough.

If I live to be 200 years old, I'm sure there will be new things about music for me to learn.

Since I make our own backing tracks, I have to learn each part and practice them until they are good enough for me to record. It's a lot easier to just buy karaoke tracks, but I can put the songs in our key, and in our arrangement.

9 hours ago, Larsongs said:

Come ready. And we do. Rehearsals are like Gigs. Our Gigs go off well.

In any band I've been in, that was the #1 rule.

Practice is where you learn your part. Rehearsal is where we put the parts together. Don't waste the band's time by coming without having your part under your fingers. 

 

Notes ♫

[DanvillRob]

1 hour ago, Notes_Norton said:

If I live to be 200 years old, I'm sure there will be new things about music for me to learn.

Since I make our own backing tracks, I have to learn each part and practice them until they are good enough for me to record. It's a lot easier to just buy karaoke tracks, but I can put the songs in our key, and in our arrangement.

Notes ♫

Norton, that's right.... we can all live to  200 and play every day and STILL barely scratch the surface of what music there is.....and that's a good thing!

I have used karaoka backing tracks at times....when there's a part of the song I just can't duplicate....I just did "C'est La Vie" (Chuck Berry) with a backing track...but when I did "We Gotta Get Out Of The Place", I did the bass part and the keyboard part and (of course) the guitar part.

But.... I don't have to play then for an audience!

[RBSinTo]

4 hours ago, jdgm said:

I feel the same way.  There is your ideal and then there is the reality of your limitations.

jdgm,

I think the solution for me is to move to a planet where the days are longer, so I have more time every day to practice.

Whatcha think?

RBSinTo

[kidblast]

1 hour ago, Notes_Norton said:

Don't waste the band's time by coming without having your part under your fingers. 

 

Notes ♫

amen to that!

nothing annoys me more that this crap right here.

[RBSinTo]

1 hour ago, Notes_Norton said:

"..............Practice is where you learn your part. Rehearsal is where we put the parts together. Don't waste the band's time by coming without having your part under your fingers. "

 

Notes ♫

Notes Norton,

Words of wisdom for anyone participating in any group activity, musical or otherwise.

RBSinTo

Edited February 17 by RBSinTo

['Scales]

I try to play at least the current set each week if we have a gig approaching, and if no gig then I'll add in old songs and new ones being developed - so maybe an hour or 2. In the week preceding a gig I'll do that several times as well as listening to old shows - mainly to help subliminally embed the lyrics . We have rehearsals/practice about 3 times every 2 months I'd say.

I honestly don't know what the other guys do - probably not as much as me (so not much!)  That said, we are middle aged mates who enjoy each others company and are having a blast staying young while our peers mow their lawns or chase golf balls or whatever it is 'normal' people do. So there are no judgements if mistakes happen - it seems to come together on the night (and we aren't playing stadiums or 'hear a pin drop' concert halls to self-important critics  - the whole scene round here is play what you wrote and support one another among alt/punk/indie bands 🤘). 

[saturn]

I don't practice nearly as much as I should. I sometimes go a week without picking up a guitar. Other times I play some every day of the week. But it's rarely disciplined practice.

If I have a full band rehearsal or gig coming up, I make sure to cram any songs I know we will play that I might not be up to speed on.

As far as the acoustic stuff with Steve. Like last night. I/we rarely practice. He just scrolls through his Ipad and pulls out whatever song he feels like playing, and I just keep up. All the songs are basic 3 or 4 chord songs, and I am familiar with them 90% of the time. So it's not too hard for me to just improvise over what he does.

I keep telling myself that I'm gonna get serious and really get my chops better, but so far I haven't done that.

[sparquelito]

I pick up a guitar or two every day.

Noodling mostly early in the morning.
When I pick up a guitar in the afternoon though, I make myself plug in, turn on all the gear in the music room, and I'll play and sing entire songs, and usually at least two songs.

It's a long time between playing live gigs anymore, but I do myself and band mates a disservice by allowing the rust to accumulate.
And believe it or not, the singing is the most important part.

If you don't sing fairly often, and do so as though you are playing and singing for an audience, those pipes can get weak and become tired easily.
My brother leaned that the last time we did a duo gig for a luncheon party.
He really struggled, and it was because he hadn't been exercising that voice.

🤨
 

['Scales]

7 minutes ago, sparquelito said:

And believe it or not, the singing is the most important part.
If you don't sing fairly often, and do so as though you are playing and singing for an audience, those pipes can get weak and become tired easily.
 

That is so true! - I can't sing and play loudly at home (well, I could, but I'd feel like a d!ck given we live in a village) so come rehearsal we always play the current set at least twice and on the first one I try to  loosen up by singing well within my limits  (couple of beers helps  too ) before the 'main' run through - which is fine cos that's where everyone is getting it together. Given we always rehearse the weekend before a gig I've not had issues on the night, but if we don't get together for more than a month....

[kidblast]

15 hours ago, sparquelito said:

If you don't sing fairly often, and do so as though you are playing and singing for an audience, those pipes can get weak and become tired easily.

 

100%

[Larsongs]

I’m primarily a Singer who plays Instruments for accompaniment. I try to Sing everyday. I record in my Home Studio almost everyday. On most of the Songs I sing Lead.. On some I sing all the harmonies & play all the Instruments.. I’ve just recorded some new “The Redondos”.

I lay down the Parts & have the Band Cover the Parts as well as they can.. Sometimes they improve on them.. It’s fun to do & it keeps my Voice in shape.. My playing too.. I guess.. Still at best I’m an ok Rhythm Guitarist who can play a little lead, Bass & Keys..

[Notes_Norton]

On 2/17/2024 at 11:19 AM, DanvillRob said:

But.... I don't have to play then for an audience!

I'm lucky. I GET to play for an audience from 3 to 6 days a week. 

What a great way to make a living. Mostly 3 hour gigs, sometimes 4, doing what I love to do, with my best friend/lover/wife, getting applause every 3 to 5 minutes, and feeling the love from the crowd.

I met the future Mrs. Notes when she was in a different band. She plays guitar, synth and is a fantastic singer (I'm just a decent singer). When our bands broke up, we found ourselves in the same 5 piece. When we had personnel problems with that, we decided to go duo. Playing music is our second favorite thing to do.

We don't plan on retiring, at least as long as we can pull a crowd.

On 2/17/2024 at 4:55 PM, sparquelito said:

If you don't sing fairly often, and do so as though you are playing and singing for an audience, those pipes can get weak and become tired easily.

I play sax, flute, wind synth, guitar, bass, drums, keyboard synth, and vocals.

By far, the hardest instrument I've learned to play is the voice. And yes, it needs constant use, at stage volumes. If you don't keep your chops up, the muscles will weaken and the vocal cords will lose their tone.

Until the covid isolation, I never had to be concerned, because we gig every week. When everything was shut down, Mrs. Notes and I set up our gear in the living room, and played 3 'gigs' a week for the squirrels and birds in the backyard.  We did it mid-afternoon, let the neighbors know that if they had any reason at all, no mater how slight, that we are doing it at the wrong time, let us know and we'll reschedule. They never told us to stop, and opened their windows so they could hear us.

I am “one with the sax and wind synth” as I've been playing sax since I was in 7th grade at school.  I don't practice it much, because there are other instruments that need much more work. We have 20 gigs this month, so I get a lot of hand-on time with sax, wind synth, flute, guitar, and vocals. We're constantly learning new songs, so my drum and keyboard hands get a workout, too. 

Notes ♫

[merciful-evans]

I don't practice anymore, but if anyone's listening and I get too indulgent, I pass it off as 'practice'.

I play everyday if a guitar is at hand. Not as much as I used to, and its starting to tell...

[DanvillRob]

15 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

I'm lucky. I GET to play for an audience from 3 to 6 days a week. 

What a great way to make a living. Mostly 3 hour gigs, sometimes 4, doing what I love to do, with my best friend/lover/wife, getting applause every 3 to 5 minutes, and feeling the love from the crowd.

I met the future Mrs. Notes when she was in a different band. She plays guitar, synth and is a fantastic singer (I'm just a decent singer). When our bands broke up, we found ourselves in the same 5 piece. When we had personnel problems with that, we decided to go duo. Playing music is our second favorite thing to do.

We don't plan on retiring, at least as long as we can pull a crowd.

Notes ♫

It's very few people who manage to make a living doing something they love.   You're a lucky man.

I did play for an audience yesterday....was a memorial for a concert promoter back in the  60's....was a heck of a crowd....a lot of guys I know from 50 years ago!

Now I'm back to learning a Blaze Foley song here in my kitchen.....life is good!

[Karloff]

nothing like I should. I go through periods where I will learn a song, usually off of Youtube, and try to have it down for rehearsal, (yes, practice at home, rehearse with the band, and show up prepared ...) 

the band plays almost every weekend, so theres a lot of times I won't even touch the guitar during the week. sometimes if I get bored with playing the same ol licks on the weekend, I'll work out certain things to try on some songs.  sometimes from not playing for a week or two, I'll feel a little rusty at a gig, other times, everything feels fresh and fun, from not picking it up for a bit.  the majority of my attempted self help is during solos, trying to concentrate on phrasing & not playing a gazillion notes. trying to come up for air a lil more ...

[kidblast]

21 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

By far, the hardest instrument I've learned to play is the voice. And yes, it needs constant use, at stage volumes. If you don't keep your chops up, the muscles will weaken and the vocal cords will lose their tone.

 

oh yea, absolutely.