How do you practice

kpenhorwood
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:07 pm
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:00 am

Okay, I am sure this has been brought up before but I didn't see it.

With that said I was wondering about a couple of things revolving around practicing....these are more of my thoughts and demons than anything else.

1. Practice time: I have been practicing usually around 1 to 3 hours a day for the last 2 months or so. I tend to feel guilty if I go a day where I don't practice and sometime I have to force myself to practice. The funny thing is once I get started I love it so much I have to force myself to stop before my fingers split and bleed. Anyone else go thru this?

2. How much of a song do you end up playing when you practice? I find myself hardly ever playing a song from beginning to end....maybe this is because I don't sing and playing a 3 or 4 verse song usually repeats itself and it gets boring to me. I usually play the first couple of verses/chorus's and then start the song over. The bad thing about this is when I do try and play especially a long song (see many Eagles songs) all the way thru I end up getting hand cramps. Not good.

3. I have practiced songs for weeks and gotten to the point where I feel like I play it really well. I then start a new song and practice it for a while and then I try and go back to play the first song and it is like I have never played it before. Anyone else experience this?


dennisg
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:34 am
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 1:18 pm

Yeah, we've had lots of threads about practicing, but another one won't hurt. You would have gotten a lot more responses by now, but the thread somehow got locked.

1. I'm able to practice anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes per day. And by "practice," I mean play songs. Neil makes a distinction between practicing and playing. When he thinks of practicing, he's usually referring to improving new techniques, doing scales, etc. He considers diddling around with songs to be playing, not practicing.

2. I play songs all the way through, which isn't a hardship since I sing. I can understand why it'd be difficult for you, playing three or four identical verses of a song. Just out of curiosity, if you're alone while you're practicing, why not try singing, too?

3. I've experienced what you're talking about. I practiced "Here comes the sun" until I had it down pretty well, then moved on to other things. When I tried to play the song again, about two months later, I could barely remember it. That taught me a lesson: if you want to keep songs in your repertoire, make sure you play them at least once a week. So, even though I'm sick to death of hearing "Here comes the sun," I make sure to keep it fresh, since a lot of people like to hear it. I also recently learned "Blackbird," and I'll likely play that one regularly, too.


haoli25
Posts: 0
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:06 am
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:34 pm

kpenhorwood wrote:

2. How much of a song do you end up playing when you practice? I find myself hardly ever playing a song from beginning to end....maybe this is because I don't sing and playing a 3 or 4 verse song usually repeats itself and it gets boring to me. I usually play the first couple of verses/chorus's and then start the song over.



Hi, Kevin. As someone else that never sings, I know what you mean. What has worked for me is to add melody notes to the song. I play the melody notes and bass notes slightly different on each verse. I may add a hammer-on or a slide just to break it up. It will keep the song from getting boring to you and still won't confuse someone that decides to sing along with your playing.

Bill


tombo1230
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:27 am
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:02 pm

Hi Kevin,

1 Practice time: Personally I think the best thing to do is (I do so myself) to réally practice for maybe 15-30 minutes, put the guitar away and an hour later I do it again, put it away, an hour later try again, and so on...Sometimes I even play it for 5-15 minutes and pick it up again a half hour later, like 10 times a day (I don't even count anymore). And sure often I loose myself and after practicing I just play whatever I like, there is definitely a difference between practising and playing, and you really need to do both!

2 When practicing I play the parts wich I find hard. At one point I start from the beginning and check at wich point I'm stumbling again and start practicing that specific part again. and so on.....When just playing, I do usually play the whole song, maybe because, like Dennis also mentioned, I like to sing along as well....Personally I'd say, try to sing as well..it's very usefull when playing, gives a certain direction.

3 And yep, I really have to keep playing songs that I've learned before. Usually fingerpicking songs.

So for example, today, I've been practicing 'If you could read my mind', several times for at least half an hour, other moments like 5-10 minutes, in between my work. Measure 24 was a bit tricky, so played that one several times, fast, slow down, faster, slow down again, well at this moment I don't know, I'll start again after writing, haha! And then just the whole song again, to let it age wich only happens when you play it often.

But besides that, got 'Streets of London', 'Alice's Restaurant' and 'Goodbye Blue Sky' out of the closet, songs wich I have been playing a couple of months ago, to fresh it up again, otherwise I really forget.

Well practice-wise I had a good day! The sun was shining, nice to sit in the garden again! ;)

Cheers

Vanessa


willem
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:53 am
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:34 pm

Kevin,thanks for the question again,,it remembered me how to do,,,today i practised enjoying the sun,,spring started here and it could'nt be better with sun,,so i practised not so much guitar and dsicovered when i did i did better,,relaxed,,,some times you must leave a song and give it some rest and move on(but come back on it)..


and a big welcome from the Netherlands,,you are hooked now...


MarkM
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:26 am
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:53 pm

Kevin,

This is a real "to each his/her own" catagory here. You've gotten some great advice and examples so far. We are all wired a bit differently so we all "practice" a bit differently. At the end of the day if you are practicing to learn a song you like, as I do, then maybe this will help. For me I try to learn two songs in the some time period. Usually about 2 to 3 weeks, sometimes longer if the song is really tricky. I pick on strumming/flatpicking song and one fingerpicking song. This allows me to try and keep my skill level up on both techniques as best I can. I"m fortunate in that when I'm not travelling I can work out of my home office and have a guitar pretty handy for those times when I need a break or at the end of the day. I'll either pick up a lesson in the target program (much easier to learn) or find some TABs and watch you tube to learn non-target songs. Once I get the songs I want to learn I start out by simply strumming out the chords to get the feel,timing and sound down. This may take a few days as I'll play along side Neil or the original song and even sometimes another cover on YouTube. From there I will add the embellishments on a strumming song or work out the picking pattern on a fingerpicking song. This can last up to several weeks. At this point I'm not playing anything else but the song I 'm learning. Yeah I may noodle about before hand to loosen up or afterwards to goof off before putting the guitar way. I must stress that, for me, focussing on one song at a time has really helped me learn the songs faster and get to the point where I can do it in my sleep. Once I get there then I try and sing along. That will take another few days to get down right. Well the phrasing of it anyway. As for how much time I spend on practicing these new songs I'm pretty close to what Ness is doing. I may pick up the guitar for 10 minutes in between calls and practice a hard portion of the song. Other times I may play for 30 mintues. Doing nothing but playing through the entire song and humming along. This sound menotinous and I wouldn't dissagree with you. BUT if you want to learn the whole song through then, again for me, you have to practice the whole song through. Warts and all. It will get better over time. Once I'm done and happy with the results I'm usually pretty sick of that song for a few days so that's when I'll go back and play through 5-10 songs that I like so I can keep them current in my head and hands. Some songs get forgotten along the way but it doesn't take too long to get it back because way back when I was learning the song I spent 3 freaking weeks on it which helps to have something click in the old brain to bring it back. Then off to learn another two songs................... Hope this long winded answer helps.


MarkM


kpenhorwood
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:07 pm
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:22 pm

Thanks everyone for all your replies....they are great.

I should probably clarify what I mean by "practicing". When I say I practice 1 to 3 hours a day I would have to say that 3 or 4 of those days are sitting in my dedicated space with the computer, metronome and my binder of songs that I am working on and I actually practice the song I am working on. The other 3 or 4 days I am usually on the couch in the living room just "playing" songs I have learned or going over leads or licks that I am working on in the current song just doing them over and over to get them....the time on the couch is more playing than acutally practicing.

I am glad to hear that most of you do have to go back over songs. I learn Margaritaville and spent a long time getting the lead down and finally got it pretty good and then went on to some Eagles and Bon Jovi and during a fit of frustation I decided to go back to Margaritaville and play it and literally could not play the lead anymore....I was really bummed that night for sure....and I haven't tried to play it since. I am sure though if I were to spend some time one night and try and get it right again I could. It is just nice to hear that a lot of people have the same issues.

Thanks again everyone.....

Kevin


kpenhorwood
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:07 pm
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:37 pm

P.S.

Changing my G from finger 1,2,3 to 2,3,4 is killing me. Having played it so long the other way and then switching is hard and it turns out my pinky is not that strong when my hand it stretched like that. :woohoo:

Kevin


dennisg
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:34 am
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:15 pm

kpenhorwood wrote:
P.S.

Changing my G from finger 1,2,3 to 2,3,4 is killing me. Having played it so long the other way and then switching is hard and it turns out my pinky is not that strong when my hand it stretched like that. :woohoo:

Kevin
I had the exact same issue. You'll get it.


sws626
Posts: 0
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:00 am
Status: Offline

Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:22 pm

Hi Kevin,

The topic has come up before, but it always generates a good discussion, so thanks for raising it.

My own practice habits are pretty similar to Mark's and Vanessa's. I work from my home office most of the time and most of my colleagues are 8 hours behind me, so I have quite a bit of flexibility during the day. I'll usually take the guitar out of its case once my wife and daughter are out of the house and play for about an hour, then take short breaks (15 - 20 minutes) to practice during the course of the day.

I don't really distinguish between practicing and playing because my playing is almost always focused on learning a new song that I've chosen to improve some specific aspect of my playing. I'll usually be working on two songs that are a stretch for me in different ways -- for example, right now I am working on 'Can't Find My Way Home' (strummed as Steve Winwood does on his recent video and as MarkM posted a version not long ago). The main challenges for me on that song are timing and dynamics, so practice means playing along with Steve and learning to listen and feel the music. The other song I'm working on is Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice," and there the challenge is to keep a solid alternating bass going while learning to pick out the melody. Before that, I was working on Cat Stevens' 'Wild World' to try to come to terms with palm muting.

When I'm first learning a song, I'll tend to break it down into pretty small sections and spend a lot of time on those. But once I get to the point that I can actually play the song all the way through with some degree of confidence, I will usually do that and then gradually add to or improve sections that need work. For a while, I used to spend some time practicing in the narrower sense of the word, as in playing scales in various keys up and down the fretboard. And I don't doubt that that is useful. But I've discovered that there's a lot more to playing the guitar than that and find the song-oriented approach to be more constructive, as long as the songs are challenging.

I definitely know what you mean about songs that you've learned and then seem to have forgotten. The first song I learned when returning to the guitar about a year ago was Dylan's 'Buckets of Rain.' I haven't played that for many months, partly because it's in an open tuning. So I expect I'd need to work on it for at least a week to get back to where I was then. That's discouraging, to be sure, but I'm convinced that what was learned isn't really lost. It just needs to be recovered.

It would probably be better to set aside some time to rehearse the music already in your repertoire. But I think I'd need to have some audience other than the forum to motivate me to really do this regularly. To be honest, I don't often play the songs I've already posted to the student video or busking threads.

-Stuart


Post Reply Previous topicNext topic