The key to productive practice time is having goals and discipline to pursue them. Nowadays I'm just noodling around, which is relaxing, but hardly counts a practice. 15 minutes of applied learning is far more productive than a whole week of just noodling around.
benderissimo wrote:I have a fundamental problem with music that sounds too perfect. Overproduced, overpracticed, overstudied, overcorrected (whether it be autotuned or edited so that it's in time) music makes me angry. Flaws, rawness and unpredictability are what makes music interesting to me. In the same regard, the first time I play a lick is the time I like it most and the more I try to recapture that by practicing it the more it loses it's soul. My solution is to figure out the essence of the lick (usually two notes that fall on particular beats) and practice working those into whatever else I happen to be playing. That way they come out different every time. What I'm getting at is that the only practice I really do is noodling.
You don't like music to be tight? I agree that sometimes mistakes can sound really cool and give you ideas of how you may want to change the arrangement of your song though.
I think your version of 'noodling' is a relaxed way of practicing improvising.. You are learning the guide tones of a chord and how to get to them. Noodling to me has always been mindless, just letting your muscle memory feel around and see what you can do.
Most things lose their brilliance if you practice them, but if you don't practice it, you don't know it.. So I think an extra discipline I have had to learn is how to re-appreciate the beautiful licks I have learnt plenty of times... And it works for me.
Rog wrote:
1. Those who really want to be good and are prepared to work towards that goal, are also single and in fact scared of girls but are hoping being a "cool" guitar player might get them laid. will woodshed and never go out at night until other guitarist say they over play, then they know they've made it
2. Those who are in the early stages of learning and are also scared of girls and see this as a way to woo them
3. Those who have reached a stage (whatever level suits their needs) where they are happy to remain. Deep down they really want to get betterer but that would cut into their drinking and internet time so screw it that'll do
fixed them for ya rog
I never play anymore let alone practice....once summer comes I will be able to hit my music again..it's just to cold up there at night after the kids have decided they need sleep
If Less is More Then Just Think How Much More More would be
Just not finding the time these days to actually practice. There will be weeks that go by without a good hit out. I really need to make the time methinks.
Most of the stuff I really need to focus on is *really* knowing the fretboard.
By that I mean knowing what every note is, but also knowing how to instinctively process the notes required in a scale of a key or chord.
Also, I need to let motown stuff get under my skin; as the golden age for guitarists could be seen as the 80's, Motown is the equivalent for bass.
Some of that stuff is just mind bending. Sometimes they just play so much so quick but with such groove, other times it's the actual not selection and impeccable rhythm selection that get you, and the worst is when they do it all at once. Sounds incredible and is challenging to play as not only is it occasionally a flurry of notes, it's all with groove.
Strangely, although my bass fingerstyle speed has dropped (I used to be able to really motor) my timing and groove have improved immensely in the last 3 years.
GrantB wrote:Tony, your taste is, as always, very refined. Or as HG would say, "bloody awful".
Surely you have atleast 15 - 30 mins a day you could spend working on that though? Most people don't realise how much of a difference it makes if you just spend that much time each day.
Zaulkin wrote:Surely you have atleast 15 - 30 mins a day you could spend working on that though? Most people don't realise how much of a difference it makes if you just spend that much time each day.
+1. Since I get to spend 90% of my time at work, I take a guitar with me. Whenever it's quiet, I rock out in the staff room. I try to pick it up every chance I get, even if I've only got 5mins to spare.
Zaulkin wrote:Surely you have atleast 15 - 30 mins a day you could spend working on that though? Most people don't realise how much of a difference it makes if you just spend that much time each day.
Yeah, I'm making a point of making sure I carve out some time to do it.
GrantB wrote:Tony, your taste is, as always, very refined. Or as HG would say, "bloody awful".
TmcB wrote:Just not finding the time these days to actually practice. There will be weeks that go by without a good hit out. I really need to make the time methinks.
This. also motivation wanes alot. Particularly when I hit a hard piece and realise how shit of a guitarist I am, makes me not want to play anymore. It's a vicious cycle.
Not surprising seeing the replies that a job has a huge factor in being motivated to practice. Sometimes I come home so tired that twanging away in bed while I watch a movie is all I do. But I generally do 2 hours a day sometimes more depending, sometimes forcing myself even when I'm tired. I quit playing for 8 years, I feel I have so much to make up for that, that I feel like the clock is ticking away.
A break is good sometimes though. some days I'll go out target shooting, my other hobby although I haven't lately.
I'll do actual practice for about an hour a day - 5 days a week, more if I have the time. However, work can take it's toll outside of work hours, and being tired means sometimes you just wanna spend that spare time twiddling around, playing with your twanger...
I don't practice at all any more. Half the time these days the only real playing time I get is at band practice, and when you're playing boring covers it's probably as bad as no practice at all. Which clearly manifested itself in the deep funk (not the good kind) that my playing has been in. I'm trying to change that, and though I haven't actually put in that much practice, at the very least listening to new stuff and new ideas has refreshed my playing a little.
I practise quite a bit, most nights I play for at least an hour. But most the time I just play what I already know, I've been trying to get better at Bar Chords for ages but don't spend enough time practising them to really nail them (I can play them, I'm just really slow at getting into the shape)
I guess I've learnt a bit slower than your average player as I have never had a lesson in my life, it's all internet reading and videos. One day I might get a lesson and the tutor will pull his hair out at my bad habits/techniques haha
If I was of the ilk to place quotes in signatures ... this would be in mine. - NZRS-Dave
slash-ed wrote:I don't practice at all any more. Half the time these days the only real playing time I get is at band practice, and when you're playing boring covers it's probably as bad as no practice at all. Which clearly manifested itself in the deep funk (not the good kind) that my playing has been in. I'm trying to change that, and though I haven't actually put in that much practice, at the very least listening to new stuff and new ideas has refreshed my playing a little.
