The Practice- Join today! Improve your playing!

[Cletus Spuckle]

I'm joining The Practice with you boys, so move over a bit. I get at least 30 minutes to myself and usually more that I concentrate on playing.

 

I'm self taught for the past five years, but I scraped some money together and took three months of lessons with a great teacher. I would have liked to take more lessons, but money is short and time is short too. Problem is that 30 minutes a night wasn't enough to digest all I learned in a weekly hour lesson.

 

Lucky I have a good memory and I can practice off all the stuff I learned for many months.

 

Tonight I'm going to work on a few picking patterns over some Pogues songs.

[warriorpoet]

I'm joining The Practice with you boys, so move over a bit. I get at least 30 minutes to myself and usually more that I concentrate on playing. I'm self taught for the past five years, but I scraped some money together and took three months of lessons with a great teacher. I would have liked to take more lessons, but money is short and time is short too. Problem is that 30 minutes a night wasn't enough to digest all I learned in a weekly hour lesson. Lucky I have a good memory and I can practice off all the stuff I learned for many months. Tonight I'm going to work on a few picking patterns over some Pogues songs.

 

Hey, Mike, it'll help spread the disease a bit better, methinks, if you copy/paste the link in my sig in yours. I'd hate to have someone not be able to find The Practice

[Cletus Spuckle]

Hey, Mike, it'll help spread the disease a bit better, methinks, if you copy/paste the link in my sig in yours. I'd hate to have someone not be able to find The Practice

 

Fixed and.... mine is bigger than yours!

[warriorpoet]

Fixed and.... mine is bigger than yours!

Compensating, eh?

[Cletus Spuckle]

Beats practicing a whole hour!

[jbviper4]

Good session tonight....BT in bluesy A, no charts, 20 minutes of wankery while the W and kids took baths, did homework, etc....

 

I wish I had a tape rolling. I swear, I started to "see" and "feel" it. (And I'm sober.) Not a not missed. Even the W said "Hey you're getting better at lead..."

[warriorpoet]

I just figured out a walking bass line (w00t!) and am just about there on Take Five (took nearly two weeks...).

 

Now I have to see if I can find an arrangement of "Fly Me To the Moon" with a walking bass line...

 

Great lesson site for those of you interested in jazz: www.jazzguitar.be

[Cletus Spuckle]

 

Even the W said "Hey you're getting better at lead..."

 

 

S'cuz yer practicin'!

 

I did fingerpicking for an hour while watching Hells Kitchen. I don't know why we're so interested in some bad-attitude chef who runs the world's worst restaurant.

 

Anyhow, I'm glad no one was around to hear the same picking pattern for an hour straight.

[GrooveMonkey]

I jam with my 2 year old every day for at least 45 minutes, broken into 15 minute sessions. He plays my P-Bass and I crank the Strat copy through my Ampeg B100R combo.

 

He plays it like an upright and he sings his ABCs !!!

[warriorpoet]

I jam with my 2 year old every day for at least 45 minutes, broken into 15 minute sessions. He plays my P-Bass and I crank the Strat copy through my Ampeg B100R combo. He plays it like an upright and he sings his ABCs !!!

 

My 7 year old will sight read things with me on violin sometimes. I don't count it as practice, but it's pretty awesome

[leopardstar]

sadly i haven't had a chance to play for about a week due to some pressing family issue's (my step son) no please don't ask, but i think we are through it now.

[warriorpoet]

sadly i haven't had a chance to play for about a week due to some pressing family issue's (my step son) no please don't ask, but i think we are through it now.

Sorry to hear that, man. Family issues are the worst

 

Here's to many hours of good practice to come

[fusebop]

Reporting for yesterday:

 

Practiced for only 1 hour over the day - pretty boring stuff like

arpeggios and scales.

 

However, decided to visit a local pub that houses open blues jam sessions

each tuesday and managed to squeeze in with a few friends despite not

being on the schedule. Played a few songs there with a pretty dire drummer,

but it was generally OK I guess.

 

Gotta crank it up sometimes. Gigs are scarce, the next one in no less than

2 weeks.

[simonthepieman]

Could i join this thread? I managed to practice unplugged for about 20 min right after getting the kids to bed (i dont get much time with 2 2yr olds:lol:)

i practiced a bluesy 4 chord riff that i came up with and added a little lead work along with it.

 

anyways after playing for about 23 years (mostly self taught) i realize that despite being able to move through the fretboard reasonably well the following things (despite the time issue) have limited my progress in improving my technique:

 

1. this is embarrassing to admit but I have a hard time with rythym (ie. Up stroke, down stroke) playing in a song although I can keep a beat with my foot. I wonder if singing along might help me with this? Does anyone have this problem? I guess the easy way is to play along with a song.

 

2. Despite learning and subsequently forgetting a zillion song riffs , I have never played a song all the way through. Perhaps I have gotten discouraged and moved on to another song or I got bored? I really need to just focus on one song and play all the way through!

 

3. confidence, confidence, confidence! I know I can play pretty good but the top 2 issues definitely hinder my progress.

 

Well there you have it a sort of an assessment of my practice issues that continue to plaque my guitar playing. I hope this post fits in this thread as I thought it would be relevant. Ok ill stop rambling :blah:

[Minitruth]

Don't gno how this thread got past me. I am self-employed, run a small

store. When it's slow, as it usually is today I play maybe four hours. I work

out of a lesson book from my teacher. The book forces you to learn to read

music. I spend maybe an half or an hour with that. I have several songs I'm

learning from video, most I've not got down very well. WYWH seems to be

the one I play the best. My teacher also has me doing voice training 'cause

she insists she likes my voice. I don't need much motivation to practice, I

feel almost naked without a guitar in my hands these days.

[warriorpoet]

Don't gno how this thread got past me. I am self-employed, run a small store. When it's slow, as it usually is today I play maybe four hours. I work out of a lesson book from my teacher. The book forces you to learn to read music. I spend maybe an half or an hour with that. I have several songs I'm learning from video, most I've not got down very well. WYWH seems to be the one I play the best. My teacher also has me doing voice training 'cause she insists she likes my voice. I don't need much motivation to practice, I feel almost naked without a guitar in my hands these days.

Jump in, fellas.

 

Yeah, Minitruth, I was kinda surprised oyu hadn't joined yet, too

 

2 hours today. A jazz standard (Take Five- finally "finished") and a bunch of P&W songs to prepare for tomorrows rehearsal.

[fusebop]

Nothing today.

 

Not even half an hour worth calling practicing.

Will try to compensate for the lost time in the following days,

but will life let it happen?

[warriorpoet]

Nothing today. Not even half an hour worth calling practicing. Will try to compensate for the lost time in the following days, but will life let it happen?

Hey man, I know how you feel, what with 3 boogers under 8, a wife who works nights, 9 college classes and a 10-15 hour/ wk. commitment at church. Hang in there

 

Don't worry about compensating, just use the time you get effectively. Those who set artificial goals are doomed to disappointment.

[Minitruth]

I will practice no less than 3 hours today. book, playing and voice training.

[fusebop]

 

what with 3 boogers under 8, a wife who works nights, 9 college classes and a 10-15 hour/ wk. commitment at church.

 

None of these could be anything but an inspiration, in my opinion.

 

Slightly more time under my belt today, nothing to brag about

and generally not much more than a good warm-up session.

 

But enough to not lose my touch until tomorrow.

[TESmith]

Well still hard at it,

I have been rotating between the 2 electrics and the acoustic.

I have had more playing time on the acoustic so because it is the most familiar, it is at this time the most comfortable. I think trying to work between the three should in theory help me in the long run, but as a beginner it does throw me off, but I seem to be adapting fairly well.

Actually going from acoustic to Tele is not bad at all with the exception how easy those strings move But going to the Gretsch is really a different neck much different spacing it is a much bigger change.

 

I am comming along nice I think......I am getting the mechanics of my songs, but because chord and finger position changes are still slow and thought about instead of automatic, my songs still lack rythm, so they do not sound like the songs I am playing (Not counting amazing grace, that was easy)

Talked to my teacher about this, he said he sees a lot of improvment, and explained it will just come together and happen at some point, he also reassured me I am progressing well.

 

Tonight started a new song, Still have a little work refining my perormance of Simple Man, But I almost got it. Now I am starting on Steve Miller Dance Dance Dance, a mixed arrangment of strumming chords and picking out the lead. Something I think is cool, The teacher is going to learn this on his banjo, and when I have it reasonably down pat, we are going to play the song together, Me on acoustic, him on banjo, I really think that will be kind of cool!

 

On my own I have mostly figured out Knocking on Heavens Door, I know it is another simple song, But I did not look up tab or anything, I have just been feeling it out, so allthough this would be nothing for many of the people here, For me, it was kind of a good accomplishment.

 

Do not know if I shared, But my 9 year old twin daughters are interested,

We had gotten them a pair of scaled down acoustics 2 years ago.....but now they are interested. So I am proceding to start to try and teach them some.

My teacher is writing me up a few simple kids songs and we will see what happens.......

 

Once again I have much work to do so I will busy every chance I get practicing.

 

Oh I almost forgot, making progress with the F chord, I am getting a clean good sound a little over half the time, So I am getting there!

 

Tim

[Minitruth]

Actually played 4+ hours today because it was a warm sunny day

and I sat on the prorch all day with my acoustic. Came up with a prog

I like for one of my lyrics. Simple, but nice. C-F6-C-F6-C-G-D-C

[warriorpoet]

Actually played 4+ hours today because it was a warm sunny day and I sat on the prorch all day with my acoustic. Came up with a prog I like for one of my lyrics. Simple, but nice. C-F6-C-F6-C-G-D-C

1-4-1-4-1-5-2-1

 

THrow another 5 (G) in between the D and C

[Minitruth]

1-4-1-4-1-5-2-1 THrow another 5 (G) in between the D and C

 

Thanks, that's better.

 

Actually ended up playing the Amaj chordscale over my wife practicing the

scale on her bass. Used ma '51. Maybe another hour. Ended up noodling

some tired old blues licks. Nobody needs practice more than me.

[rush340]

Ok, it's time for me to join. I've got enough free time now, plus I'm taking a classical guitar techniques class (forcing me to learn to read sheet music too).

 

I'll set my goal at an hour per day, and we'll see how it goes. On top of that I'll try and make significant progress on learning at least one new song each week. I need something to keep me from noodling, going nowhere, and getting bored. I've done this for the last few months... and haven't learned anything new.