Members HairyScaryMark Posted June 28, 2007 Members Posted June 28, 2007 The following is a hybrid of differnet pieces of information I got from various people. Not all musical people. This is what I did during my most productive period of practice I have ever done. It is not striclty relevant for most people as it is not compatible with most lifestyles. I did this last summer when I had no job and college was out for summer. I don't practice like this anymore but I plan to do so for about 4 weeks between quiting my job and restarting college. Planning a Full Day of Practice If you can practice for a full day. Plan it out as follows. I learnt this from a Maths and Physics teacher who taught me on a study course. He claims that 90%+ of his students who follow this, get A's for most of their exams. It is fairly similar to how a fairly standard work or studying day might be set out. It is apparently scientificly proven to be the best way to study. I do find however that you must be reasonably flexible and nothing will run exactly to plan. 9-10:30 - first practice session 15 minute break 10:45-12:15 - workout or exercise, you can do this in another slot but I generally found this one to be the best one to do it in.hour lunch break 1:15-2:45 - 2nd practice session15 minute break3-4:30 - practice session as above, however you will probably find some of your muscles will start to be painful. Don't push yourslef too far but push yourself as far as sensible.meal time, mess around on computer, go for walk or whatever, exercise6-7 - do a bit of practice, have fun here as it is end of day. If you are like me and hate going to bed early and waking up early. Start an hour later (but no later than an hour). If you are an early bird, start an hour earlier. It is however important that you are ready to start praciting at this time, not just waking up. Humans are not nocturnal animals so work best through the hours of daylight. Individual Practice Session A typical practice session will last 1 1/2 hours and consist of 3 main topics.Each of the 3 topics should take approxomately the same amount of time, which is approxomately 30 minutes. preperation, warm up etc.look out music and materials to practicetune guitarput down guitardo a very basic warmup across fretboard, i.e a few frets in a row at a moderate tempostretch muscles in arms and hands as if you were to do any other form of exercise (I can explain more on this if required but I do roughly what I learnt from John Petrucci Rock Disciple video)Massage arms and hands to stimulate blood flow and avoid potential cramps. Pick up guitarDo an exercise which gets all your left hand (or fretboard hand) fingers moving a relatively equal amount. Practice in all keysnext exercise should have focus on other hand but a scale using a particular technique is sufficent. Also practice in all keys at a number of different tempos. Start slow and build up to fast Topic 1.This exercise should have focus on improving a specific technique or skill that you have trouble with. Do not do anything at this point which is in any way intensive for your brain. If you do, you will probably not manage to practive for the full 1 1/2 hours. Start pracitcing this exercise at a slow tempo i.e 90 bpm as 1/8s and then try to work it up to as fast as you can. I usulaly increase in intervals of 20 bpm then only increase at 10 or even 4 bpm, when I start to stuggle. Practice all tempos in all keys. Topic 2This next thing you practice should be a bit more 'musical' and will involve a bit more work on behalf of your brain and less on your body, than the previous. It should however not be as intensive as the 3rd topic. Sight reading or learning a new piece of music may be ideal for this. Depending on your level, you may also want to practice 'soloing ideas'. For example arpegios over chord progressions, jazz lines, digital patterns or similar. It may be relevant to learn such things in multiple keys (or even all keys), it depends. Topic 3 This topic should have the potential to 'kill' your practice session. I often use this to practice playing music and soloing. If you have backing tracks, band in a box or anything like that. Use these then. Try to work in your new idea. However, never play a solo in the 'real' word where you set off determined to use a specific line or idea, as you simply will not suceed and it will sound 'awkward'. Other useful information dietIf you eat healthily it will help your ability to concentrate and take in information. Never miss a meal. Eating fish is good for the brain, as well as other parts of the body. Coffee is good in moderation but don't overdo it. Don't drink anything other than water or fruit juice during your practice sessions. Do not eat during practice sessions. Keep yourself hydrated with water. You will have to drink more water if you also drink coffee or exercise. exerciseI found that working out during my 2nd study period to be effective. I usulaly showered after this (saved time before) You will also feel a lot better and more healthy in the longrun if you exercise. There is also weight lifting exercisesfor fore arm muscles and wrist which will really help your dexterity when playing an instrument. structuring throughout the weekWhen I did this, I practiced monday-friday and gave myself the weekends off. I also worked out on monday, wednesday and friday. I found it particularly beneficial to do push myself as hard as possible with technical exercises on these days. You want to give your muscles some rest and a chance to rebuild. Possibly concider doing something else in the place of technical exercises, on tuesday and thusday I probably sound like a nagging parent by this point. Be aware that if you push your muscles too hard, you can potentially damage them. A lecturer from Julliards School of Music recommends students there do not practice for more than 4 hours a day. Baring in mind that what most of us will be practicing will not be as technically demanding as what a Concert Pianist practices. I would suggest that we can probably manage 5-6 hours a day. However, it will depend on many things and I find my brain tends to the first thing that becomes overwhelme, before my body. Tell me what you think of my method. As I say, it only works for people with certain lifestyles. Don't diss it until you try it.
Members Dubb Posted June 28, 2007 Members Posted June 28, 2007 Tell me what you think of my method. As I say, it only works for people with certain lifestyles. Don't diss it until you try it.Looks like a solid practice routine. I am out of college for the summer as well and I have a practice routine that is about this intensive (4-6 hours daily), but I work every night so I have to put it all in one marathon session when I get off work around 10-11pm. Practicing through the night works best for me because it minimizes distractions. My social life is basically "on hold" until I move back to my college town . I do my "for fun" guitar stuff, like learning songs, in the afternoon between lunch and work. Anyway, regarding diet. Good advice, especially regarding hydration and fish. Personally I tend to avoid caffeine altogether. I would like to add the thing that I have found to be most important for me, and that is to never eat a large meal, especially one with lots of animal fats, immediately before practice. Doing so will put your body in "rest & digest" mode, and you will have trouble concentrating during your session. Animal products (mainly meats) are particularly bad about doing this because they are harder to digest. I usually eat a light meal like a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich before practicing, and during my "dinner break." (:blah: By the way, it's best to make those with whole grain bread and "no sugar added" jelly - grapes, strawberries, and whatnot are literally almost pure sugar and water anyway, so it tastes the same, but you won't get the "sugar crash" from the all the added refined sugar, and whole grain bread will give you more sustained energy than refined bread as well. I also advocate using "natural" peanut butter, but for other health reasons - regular PB shouldn't affect your energy levels. :blah:) Regarding the structure of the individual practice sessions. What I do, which I find makes it easier for me to maintain focus, is to rotate exercise areas frequently. For example, 20 minutes of X, 20 minutes of Y, 20 minutes of Z, then back to 20 minutes of X, then Y, repeat until the end of session. But this is probably only helpful for "marathon" type practice sessions .
Members Dimebag666 Posted June 28, 2007 Members Posted June 28, 2007 That looks really good. I'm starting holidays from school now but i really don't have a chance to do anything that intensive considering I'm in year 12 and have to study me ass off But I plan on doing as much as i can and balancing it out.
Members HairyScaryMark Posted June 28, 2007 Author Members Posted June 28, 2007 There is certain food that does seem to put my body in 'rest and digest' mode. I will have to find out more about this. Spot on, you have to avoid having too much sugar, especilaly in one doseage. Any eating should be during your breaks and you must be wary of eating anything which is going to negatively effect your ability to practice afterwards. I think it is much harder to structure your practice when you have jobs and other commitments. This is why I haven't done nearly as much or structured my practice in any particular way recently. The method I write out is so you can basicly treat your guitar (and/or other instruments) like a 9/5 job. With evenings and weekends off.
Members 1001gear Posted June 28, 2007 Members Posted June 28, 2007 I like your approach. Functional and committed to getting results. Ahmma have to rethink some of my routines. Good suggestions.
Members johnnywas Posted June 28, 2007 Members Posted June 28, 2007 Really good to see a reminder that diet and exercise contribute to creating a positive mindset and that what you need to practice I think that the all day and 90 minute practice routines will appeal to many but not everyone who plays guitar will have that amount of time free.
Members erict Posted June 29, 2007 Members Posted June 29, 2007 Great post!! During the school year I tried to put 4 hours a day (not giving me much time for school work...owell...) Now that Im on summer break, Im trying to slowly work it up to about 7 hours. Today I put in about 5 hours.
Members Knottyhed Posted June 29, 2007 Members Posted June 29, 2007 Really good to see a reminder that diet and exercise contribute to creating a positive mindset and that what you need to practice I think that the all day and 90 minute practice routines will appeal to many but not everyone who plays guitar will have that amount of time free. Yeh - often overlooked. Stanley Jordan talks about the importance of looking after yourself/your diet in relation to playing your instrument/getting the most from practice. He also talks about making practice as effective and as performance focused as possible e.g. -If you always perform in the evening, might be an idea to do at least some of your practice in the evening so you have that same mindset. -If you perform standing up, you should practice standing up. -You should practice slow enough so you don't make mistakes; mistakes can be learned too. Nice to come in here and see that i'm not the only one that thinks it's normal to while away 6-8 hours of my day on guitar practice when I get the chance. Even other musicians in my band I'm unbalenced and obsessed, let alone my girlfriend/friends
Members HairyScaryMark Posted June 29, 2007 Author Members Posted June 29, 2007 Great post!!During the school year I tried to put 4 hours a day (not giving me much time for school work...owell...)Now that Im on summer break, Im trying to slowly work it up to about 7 hours. Today I put in about 5 hours. You must remember, quality over quantity. What you practice and how you structure it is as important as how much practice you actually do. If you are practicing that much with fulltime non-musical education it may be worth concidering some type of summerschool or formal music programme. This year I did a distance learning course (one day a month at St Andrews University), Scottish Diploma in Jazz. If you can track down something of this variety, it may be worth concidering. I have also done a Jazz Summerschool with Jamey Abersold before. Today I started on Dick Grove's 'See It - Hear It! Hear It - Play it!!' course. It involves a mixture of books and videos. Will take a very long time to complete but from what I know of it already, it is to be recommended. When Dick Grove was still alive, you could phone him and ask him any questions you had. Whatever you do you must also have a certain amount of focus on having fun. If you don't, you will crash at some point. I have done this before and it takes a lot of discipline and inspiration before musical practice gets back on track A good way to help this is to get yourself into playing in groups with people who plan to improve similar things as you. For example, I am trying to learn jazz guitar at the moment so have been trying to get a group of people together to play jazz. I haven't really played jazz with anyone regularly before, only ocasionally with one other person or on courses.
Members erict Posted June 29, 2007 Members Posted June 29, 2007 Yeah, you definitley need to make sure that your practice is actually productive.... Like Steve Morse said, "Practice what you CANT do" ... or something simular...
Members eddidaz Posted June 30, 2007 Members Posted June 30, 2007 I really need to refine my practice regime... or get one at all! I just tend to noodle around and learn a few songs here and there without actually improving very much
Members erict Posted June 30, 2007 Members Posted June 30, 2007 I used to be the same way, and it took very long to see any improvment. Once I started to really focus on what I couldnt do, I saw drastic improvment in very little time. I know it is a really simple concept - focusing on what your bad at - but many simply dont do it.
Members Knottyhed Posted July 2, 2007 Members Posted July 2, 2007 I used to be the same way, and it took very long to see any improvment.Once I started to really focus on what I couldnt do, I saw drastic improvment in very little time.I know it is a really simple concept - focusing on what your bad at - but many simply dont do it. Yep this is the bottom line, every period of stagnation i've ever been though was because I wasn't expanding my horizons. If you learn new songs, practice new techniques, try and apply theory you just learnt and generally push yourself out of your comfort zone you will get better. If you don't, you won't. The problem is that playing what you can already play well is often more satisfying that struggling with something you can't do... so you need a bit of self-discipline.
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