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Help me become more consistent


LAracer

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Posted

Greetings.

 

I know there are alot of threads similar to this; I've done a search, but it seems we're all a little different so I'm starting yet another thread...

 

I've been playing on and off (took a break while in school) for 16 years. I can play some reasonably interesting stuff, but I have a problem with consistency. For instance, I might play the solo from Sultans Of Swing really well once, but then the next five times it sucks. After this many years playing I just feel dejected.

 

Obviously, I have not been practicing in the most productive way. I learned how to play by playing my favorite songs - also learning some scales and theory along the way. However, after reading this forum, I bought my first metronome and I've started playing some scales everyday. I play a minor (forgot which) and a minor pentatonic scale at 8 different locations on the fretboard 10 times each at 60bpm (1/16th notes). Not exactly burning up the fretboard. I also practice bits of songs that I don't play very well in a similar way (10 times each, all over the fretboard). In all, I practice for about an hour a day (this has been going on for about 2 months - before that I just played stuff non-systematically).

 

So my question is: Will what I am doing make me more consistent? If not, what will? How can I improve my practice routine

 

Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Some other notes: (1) I'm not trying to learn how to "shred", not that there's anything wrong with that - it's just not my thing. (2) I've set myself the goal of becoming consistent with the Sultans solo before I upgrade from my squier - so I am very motivated to learn, but I also have a 2-month old baby, so I'm limited to about 1 hour per day.

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Posted
Originally posted by LAracer


So my question is: Will what I am doing make me more consistent? If not, what will? How can I improve my practice routine?


...any other suggestions are welcome...



Yours is a broad question, so I can only answer in a general way.

First thing to remember is that you learn what you practice. That can be a good thing or a bad thing!

With that said, the idea behind practice in the first place is to work on something with the goal of improving it. You have to figure out what your problem areas are, isolate them, and focus your efforts on them. 5 minutes a day of focused practice on one thing is better than 3 hours a day of unfocused practice.

In your 'Sultans' example, you said you can play it well 1 out of 5 times or so. As you're aware, that's not good. :p When learning/practicing a piece of music, it's essential to break it down into many small pieces, and work on them individually, mastering each one before putting them back together. The size of each section may be a couple of notes...a couple of beats...a measure...etc. Playing an entire piece from beginning to end is rehearsal, not practice, and thus not very efficient. If it's 32 bars long, and it's all easy except for bar 19, it makes sense to focus only only bar 19 until you can play it as easily as you can play the others.

The key is to know your strengths/weaknesses, and to do the unpleasant task of working on the weaknesses. It's not fun to focus on what you can't do, but it's necessary. But, taking things in small pieces at a time, it doesn't seem quite so bad. :)

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Posted

I always get confused when people say they practice to a metronome. LARacer posted that he practices at 60bpm. How many notes is that per beat??? When I practice at 60 bpm, I am doing 8 notes beginning with the first note being on the beat and the last note being on the beat.

Posted

Originally posted by euclid

I always get confused when people say they practice to a metronome. LARacer posted that he practices at 60bpm. How many notes is that per beat??? When I practice at 60 bpm, I am doing 8 notes beginning with the first note being on the beat and the last note being on the beat.

 

 

The number of notes per beat depends on what kind of notes you're playing.

 

The way you described it, you're playing one note per beat of the metronome. That would be playing in quarter notes.

 

The next level up is to play 2 notes per click of the metronome. These are called eighth notes and are twice as fast as quarter notes (2 eighths = 1 quarter).

 

You can then play triplets (3 per beat), and then sixteenths (4 per beat).

 

 

The original poster said he can play scales at 60 bpm in sixteenth notes. So for every click of the metronome, he is playing 4 for notes.

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Posted
Originally posted by Auggie Doggie



Yours is a broad question, so I can only answer in a general way.


First thing to remember is that you learn what you practice. That can be a good thing or a bad thing!


With that said, the idea behind practice in the first place is to work on something with the goal of improving it. You have to figure out what your problem areas are, isolate them, and focus your efforts on them. 5 minutes a day of focused practice on one thing is better than 3 hours a day of unfocused practice.


In your 'Sultans' example, you said you can play it well 1 out of 5 times or so. As you're aware, that's not good.
:p
When learning/practicing a piece of music, it's essential to break it down into many small pieces, and work on them individually, mastering each one before putting them back together. The size of each section may be a couple of notes...a couple of beats...a measure...etc. Playing an entire piece from beginning to end is rehearsal, not practice, and thus not very efficient. If it's 32 bars long, and it's all easy except for bar 19, it makes sense to focus only only bar 19 until you can play it as easily as you can play the others.


The key is to know your strengths/weaknesses, and to do the unpleasant task of working on the weaknesses. It's not fun to focus on what you can't do, but it's necessary. But, taking things in small pieces at a time, it doesn't seem quite so bad.
:)



Thanks Auggie. I never really differentiated between practice and rehearsal before - I guess that's one of my problems. Well, I ordered the guitar principles book (following the link in your signature of course) so hopefully that will set me straight. Should I refrain from "rehearsing" pieces that I don't yet play consistently? Would that be detrimental?

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Posted

Originally posted by LAracer



Thanks Auggie. I never really differentiated between practice and rehearsal before - I guess that's one of my problems. Well, I ordered the guitar principles book (following the link in your signature of course) so hopefully that will set me straight. Should I refrain from "rehearsing" pieces that I don't yet play consistently? Would that be detrimental?

 

 

It would never be detrimental to play the whole piece instead of playing the part you're bad at, imo. Practice is better than no practice.

 

Of course it would probably be more efficient and save time to practice just the part you're not able to play, but hey if sometimes you want to jam out and play the whole song - go for it.

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Posted

Originally posted by NewSc2



It would never be detrimental to play the whole piece instead of playing the part you're bad at, imo. Practice is better than no practice.

 

 

If you play/practice something wrong or sloppy, then it IS detrimental because it reinforces flaws and/or errors. Playing through a whole piece and repeatedly flubbing one or two rough parts builds bad habits which are difficult to unlearn and overcome.

 

Remember, you learn what you practice. If you practice flaws, you learn flaws. That's why the bugs need to be worked out in practice before 'playing' or rehearsal.

 

Rehearsing an entire piece is for phrasing and memory purposes (as well as the enjoyment of playing!); it's a 'higher order' issue of the learning hierarchy. Glossing over the rough spots only hurts your efforts to improve.

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Posted

Yeah, it's the 'enjoyment of playing' part that I'm afraid I will lose out on. I'll have to find a good balance I guess...and I guess you have to pay the piper to get good.

Thanks for all the advice.

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Posted
Originally posted by LAracer

Yeah, it's the 'enjoyment of playing' part that I'm afraid I will lose out on. I'll have to find a good balance I guess...and I guess you have to pay the piper to get good.


Thanks for all the advice.



Think of it this way: if practicing was all fun and games, everyone would be a virtuoso. :p

Remember, though, the more time and effort you put into improving your playing, the more enjoyment you'll get out of playing in the long run. :)

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Posted

Try this,

Set the metrognome for the right tempo for a song, (such as sultans), and record yourself. Then listen to the playback. The recording will not lie. It will reveal the weak areas that need the most work. It will not only tell you what you need to practice, but by knowing which areas are weak, yuo will be more carefull when you tread on the thin ice the next time.

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