Members hellion_213 Posted January 28, 2015 Members Share Posted January 28, 2015 So, how often do you practice? What do you work on mostly? I shoot for every day, but realistically its more like three days a week for at least an hour, plus a three hour band practice. Some weeks I make it every day. Mostly, I work on speed patterns and scales at home, unless I'm writing, then I don't guess its as much practice as it is playing. Thoughts....discuss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peskypesky Posted January 28, 2015 Members Share Posted January 28, 2015 Almost every day….but I need t be more disciplined about challenging myself to learn new things. I generally just spend a couple of hours a day soloing over backing tracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted January 28, 2015 Members Share Posted January 28, 2015 Try to every day just to keep my hands working together. Work is brutal on them. I usually play as clean as possible through a amp at low volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted January 28, 2015 Members Share Posted January 28, 2015 All day every day unless I have to do something else. Today I'm learning some songs on piano to play with my band at a wedding next week. I'm also playing some guitar (my main instrument) to test the damage I did to one of my fretting fingers when I was chopping firewood yesterday. I have a couple of students later today and I'm working through the manual of a StudioLive mixer so there will be some distraction from practice. I'm trying to develop some jazz chops so these days my practice routine usually involves recording the changes from a jazz fake book and trying to come up with some melodic ideas for soloing over them. I'm also listening to a lot of Kenny Burrell and George Benson (wow) in order to get some ideas. (Benson is a monster) My practice rig is a SF Princeton Reverb or a Boss ME-25 through studio mixer/monitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Buttcrust Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 I play a guitar or 4, every day. Some days I play for 2-3 hours, some days only 1/2 hour. This time of year, being quite cold, I don't play/practice as much as I do in the warmer time of year. The cold hurts my (somewhat) arthritic fingers now:0:(2sm-censoredsm-lavasm-ufo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knotty Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 I sit on the sofa and noodle. I call it practice but I know its not. The single biggest issue with my developing as a player, apart from starting late in life, is finding time that I can cordon off for REAL practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 I play almost every day - some of that can be called "practice", some is just noodling around. I've got a bunch of different guitars that are tuned and played differently - often I'll rotate thru them - maybe a little bottleneck on the tricone, maybe a little lap style on the Weissenborn or some old blues on the Stella. I've got two or three pieces that I'm working on but they tend to be in weird tunings or weird guitars so they don't get as much practice as they should. I'm not an electric player and only recently added one to the quiver - I try to spend a few minutes with it each evening. Mostly scale and chord that seem to work better on the electric - finally starting to learn what those notes above the fifth fret are for. The other thing that I'll add is that I travel a lot - climbing and ski trips, road trips in the car. I always throw in my old beater guitar and often the mandolin - gives me something to do and forces me to play the mando Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 I "play" guitar pretty much everyday. Often times I'm mufti-tasking, like watching TV, scratchin and pickin all at the same time. Now "practice"? I'd say not enough. I'm a believer that one has to do certain skill exercises or work on more difficult pieces for it to be considered "practice" If I practiced half as much as I played, I'd be sooooo much better by now. But mostly I'll pick up a guitar and jam on some song or progression that I'm "in to" at that time. Wear it out and then move on. Sometimes I'm not even sure if "learning a new song" should be considered "practice" if it's not pushing yourself a bit. Anyway, good topic. Maybe I should go home and get out my Paul Gilbert DVD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danhedonia Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 This has been extraordinarily dependent on work schedule for me; for many years I was constantly on the road, and so separated from my guitars. Which lead to a downward spiral of feeling bummed when I would pick them up, and I was ham fisted. A period of semi-voluntary semi-employment did the trick, and taught me some priorities. I no longer collect expensive wine, make no money as a schoolteacher, and try to play at least 3 times a week. Once I get the teaching thing a bit more mastered (TOUGH job!), that should become 5-6x/week. I don't usually do formal 'practice,' but I do warm up drills and etc., and then just try to go to work on music. Some of it is BS-comfy, some of it challenges me. Either way, I am old enough that I know what I want from my playing (which ain't much, I'm a terrible guitarist) and try to push myself a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 I jam and play lead to backing for 30 minutes/day and play acoustic and sing for 30 minutes/day on average but it varies. I do a lot of driving and practice singing while driving about 5 hours a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JRicoC Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 What are we talkin' about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realtree71 Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 In the Studio about 3 days a week for a few hours each Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Learning a new genre can be challenging, especially if you've never played it. Learned blues after Years of rock and metal, definitely a challenge, thought it would be easy. Good luck bro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 With your collection, I can definitely see 4 at a time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Know the feeling on cordon off time man, not always easy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 There's notes Above the fifth!? I just thought those were there to make the neck longer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Learning a new song is adding to your arsenal, so...technically Is practice, methinks anyway. Watching TV and running a pattern for hours is a great way to add memorization Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Good point on the ham fisted thing - does bum you out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Playing lead to backing tracks seems to be common. Where do you get the tracks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Cool man, I'd say that counts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Used to run a jackhammer and chop saw pretty much daily, know how that goes, it sucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Backing tracks.. II think I've seen posts before on that. Cool idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 I really don't practice much at all, at least not in the formal sense. For awhile, I was in a bit of a funk with some carpal issues, not to mention the larger family ones. The good news is that my carpal condition has actually improved and I've started jamming a bit again in a band situation. Truth is that the other guitar player is just excellent and I'm not and so I've started playing a whole lot more recently, rebuilding those calluses. Basically all I do is learn new songs though - no formal practice per se. I don't know, but I feel like it helps my chops and I try to learn the solos and fills as well (mostly a rhythm guy though). I also sing fairly well and usually work on songs I can sing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Just google "guitar backing tracks" and quite a few come up. Mind you, it's often just music I like with guitar already included, which is fine. David Gilmour and I jam together quite often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Caffeinated Cat Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 I try to practice 3 hours a day, 7 days a week (that's guitar and bass combined). Of course sometimes I get lazy, or get busy with other stuff, and on Saturdays, well that comes so soon after Friday night and sometimes I'm a bit under the weather. I'm working through a series of blues / R&B instructional books and also learning whatever songs interest me, as time allows. I do a half hour of improvising along with backing tracks each day too, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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