Practice Problems

[jesse music]

Hi all, well I'm finally finished this semester at Uni studying guitar/music, and my marks have come through, time for holidays! Unfortunately my marks were less than satisfactory, so now over these holidays more than ever, I need to really spend a lot of time practicing so my playing can be in tip top shape for next year.

While I've no problem with discipline and sitting down with a guitar to practice long hours, I do have some problems when I actually start practicing. Over these holidays, I'm going to try and stick to a four hour routine minimum.

As this currently stands it is

1 Hour Working on Rhythm Changes in the Abersold book. Rhythm changes have always dogged me as something I find impossible to solo over, I did a lot of work on them in the semester, but let some of that slip as I got close to other exams and other work needed doing. Im trying now to just revise a lot of the old ones I learned, and learn some new ones

1 Hour Chris Potter All The Things You Are Solo
This is a solo on the tune All The Things You Are by saxophonist Chris Potter, a mammoth solo, 12 minutes long, around 18 pages of transcription, so it's a lot of work, I'm up to about page 4, which is not to bad considering have to read and transpose as it's written in concert Bb for Bb sax, but I'd really like to get it finished by the end of the holidays.

1 Hour working on tunes for next year
Next year I have to do my firs open performance exam I've already decided what I'm going to play, but some of the repertoire is quite above and beyond me at this stage, for instance Rumples by Adam Rogers/Chris Potter

1 Hour on technique, split up into 30 minutes on picking (usually alternate) 30 minutes on legato. My technique is quite shocking, desperately in need of improving

Here, I'll get on to specifically what areas of practice I am struggling with.

In my technique practice, as I stated, I try and split it up into two areas, 30 minutes each. In each 30 minutes lot, I'll try and practice two exercises for around 30 minutes.

In practicing technique, I figure I should focus on a lack of tension/relaxation, economy of motion and a good sound. (Anything else?)

The most common Alt picking exercise I usually focus on is this one a guitarist who showed me them, called them Star Trek shifters, as he used to play them while he watched Star Trek

-1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4-5-6-7-8-9-8-7-6-7-8-9-10- etc

For my work on picking, does anyone have any other useful exercises, can you direct me to some? Should I work on different types of picking (economy, sweep, at all in my picking time allotment?

Also, I'm a little unsure about how I should practice. I usually practice very slowly (no tempo) focussing particularly on proper pickstrokes and economy of motion. Is this okay practice, should I mix it up with some up tempo practice?

As far as Legato, I usually practice the first two exercises from the John Petrucci Rock discipline book, that is

-7-9-7-6- working specifically on fingers 1 2 and 4

and

-6-7-6-4- working specifically on fingers 1 3 and 4

Again with legato, I usually practice slowly (no tempo) working on sound and economy of motion. Should I be focussing on any different things and practicing at different speeds, why?

In my rhythm changes practice, I figure I can probably practice these exercises three ways.

1. Slowly, looking down at my picking hand when I need exact pickstrokes
2. Slowly, but focussing more on the line itself and not worrying about exact picking
3. Medium to fast tempo. Not as focussed on the pickstrokes, notes, but the line comes through clearly.

Usually I practice the number 1 method. So the line I've been dealing with lately is a simple one:

-8-5---------5-8-6--------------6----
------6----6---------8---------8-----
---------7--------------8-5-8--------
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------

etc
 

Now, I've got written out the picking pattern than I use for this, which is

D U U U D D U, D U U D U D D

and at the points in the line where my pick will not be travelling in the same direction to pick the next note I need to pick, I make sure to stop it at the edge of the string, so for instance, after my initial downpick, I have no more notes that my hand would need to continue in the same direction for, so I make a point of stopping that pickstroke close to the other side of the string. To do this I usually need to look down at my picking hand to ensure I am moving it right. That is how I mainly practice.

Other than that, I just look at the notes and the strokes I need to play and play them and if my hand moves to far, big whoop.

Sometimes I'll practice medium to fast tempo but not often.

Are there any of these practicing techniques that are worth scrapping completely? Some that are worth focussing on more than others. Any feedback is greatly appreciated as I find myself struggling a lot with this. Thanks for reading (if you did)

[Kman]

That's a lot to cover. Maybe you can post a sample of your playing. I'm guessing that you are young and somewhat new to jazz. If that is true I would focus on sight reading, transcribing and playing songs. Don't worry so much about technique.

[eddy b.]

Hey Jesse that's a lot of practicing, in my experience the University-vs.-The Real World...is that in the real world audiences want to hear songs,tunes,preferably sung hence John Pizzarelli, Michael Buble,Harry Connick etc...so if you want to work as a musician you might think to memorize 100 tunes by the time you graduate...the Chris Potter stuff is great but it never got me any gigs...I mean Kurt already has that gig...

[jmstritt]

First off throw the Star Trek exercises, and the John Petrucci stuff out the window. I don't know what school you are going to, but I've never seen a university program that graded you based on speed.

There is something of a real world vs. university world debate here. If you are trying to determine what will help you get gigs when you are done, I would say spend a lot of time learning tunes. If you are trying to detirmine what will help you with your schooling, I would say to work on your sight reading, ear training, as well as working on your scales and arpeggios.

What a lot of folks do is they spend too much time practicing, because they are not practicing effectively. There are several things that you can do to get more bang for your buck when it comes to your practice time.

1. Relate everything you are doing to a tune. (For instance if you are working on ATTYA, then wwork on your scales and arpeggios for all of the chord and key centers for that tune).

2. Work on Rhythm Changes, Blues, or Cherokee every practice session. This way you get intimately familiar with the most important chord progressions in jazz. If will also give you a change to work on ii Vs in different keys.

3. Technique. You are thinking to much. Just do it! Practice your scales and arpeggios with a metronome and your picking technique should fall into place. Dont practice that Star Trek crap though, because nobody is going to ever want to listen to you play random chomatics. Use ATTYA as a basis to work off. Start with your Ab Major scale in all five positions, then work on your Fmin-7 Bbmin7 Eb7 and Abmaj7 arpeggios in all five positions, then the 3-9 arpeggios in all positions. Then move on to the next key center. This way you work on your technique, but you also work on your scales, arpeggios, and a tune. MORE BANG FOR YOUR PRACTICE TIME BUCK!

4. Reading. I always reccomend spending some time working on your sight reading. Try to get something that is not guitar related, that way you can't let yourself cheat by looking at the fingering notation. Get a book of etudes for trumpet, or clairinet, or something like that.

5. Transcription. Is the Chris Potter thing a class assignment? If it is something you are doing for your own enjoyment then start with a more simple solo. Even at the college level, most improv classes will give you the option of transcribing 2 choruses of a 32 bar form, or 4 choruses of a blues. 12 minutes worth of ATTYA seems excessive, and might not give you the most value for the time you put in to work it out. Start by tackling one chorus at a time, or even just taking a lick here or there.

You could spend 30 mins on Rhythmn Changes, Blues, or Cherokee.
30 mins on a new tune.
30 minutes reading, and,
30 minutes working on a transcription.

If you do that, you should whip your playing into shape in no time!

[AmundLauritzen]

You can make some awesome chop builders from lines that you would actually play instead of doing unmusical exercises that just make your fingers move faster and reinforce lines that destroy the changes. Sorry if it sounds harsh but you will be better off later when you have good stuff in your muscle memory. Nothing is worse than having to concentrate on not playing something because it is deeply ingrained in your muscle memory and comes out by reflex. I've spent some time ridding myself of crappy lines, and I still do when I find that I play stuff I don't like. For technique, I recommend you write an etude that covers the kind of picking techniques you want to get better at. That way, you can to a greater degree control what comes out when you actually play. A good idea is making etudes that go in circles. What I mean with that is that you can repeat it without stopping or shifting, make the end of the etude lead into the beginning seamlessly so you can repeat it ad infinitum without having to stop. For rhythm changes, grab a bag of licks for each chord progression and fill in the gaps with lines you invent yourself when writing the etudes.
Guitar Pro is software that is easy to use, and you can make up to 99 repeats to practise as long as you need to. When it is in your fingers, you can fire up Band in a Box and practise that etude over the changes to train your ear. If you make five rhythm changes etudes, and make sure they cover different portions of the guitar neck, you will soon be able to use parts of each one to make a continuous solo.
Taking the time to compose the etude will help you spontaneously compose lines in the future because of how you mentally involve yourself with the music.

[Diederikeggenkamp]

I'm wondering if it's wise to study a difficult Chris Potter solo if you find basic song structures like rhythm changes hard. No offence, but cherish the "basics"! Nothing wrong with Parker and the like. But I like your practice regime

[Kojo27]

A very wise guitarist (a real guitarist, because he had YouTube videos; his playing was very good; but more important, he had those videos) passed along a couple of great truths:

• Four hours a day will probably get you warmed up. To become the *real deal* on guitar, you're going to have to have, naturally, or develop, somehow, a love for guitar that is so strong you won't be able to put it down. Practicing Eight to Twelve hourrs a day is more typical of those who excel.
• Four hours a day spent on jazz might suffice - for jazz. But jazz is an amalgamation-kind-of-music; so spend some of your time learning another style or two, or three. Maybe get an acoustic guitar and learn to fingerpick - well. Or whatever turns yer crank. But be good at it. Spending 12 hours a day on just jazz will lead to burnout. But you should probably *do* music this much - do it all the time. Make it your life. If you aren't playing, listen. Do ear training. Drum on chairs. Dance. Blow up your TV.
  
  

You say you need to improve your picking - and don't we all... and I say there's nothing wrong with John Pettrucci videos, or anything else that is fun for you and that produces progress... as long as it doesn't take up all your time and leave none for working on tunes.

Here's the best right-hand technique-builder I know (told to me by the wise old guitarist.) Think of these four rows of tab (below) as one long row. Set your metronome at 60 bmp or LESS. Now, all you're doing is playing eight notes (4 per click) on the low E (picked: down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up); then, in strict time, 8 notes on the A string, DUDUDUDU. Then back to the low E, DUDUDUDU. Now, skip over the A string and pick DUDUDUDU on the D string, then, staying in strict metronomic time, go back to the low E for 8 more notes, DUDUDUDU. Continue this way until you've played DUDUDUDU on the low E, followed by DUDUDUDU on the high E, and finally DUDUDUDU on the low E to end.

[tab]

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--------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-----------------
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0---------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0----

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----------------------------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------------------------------------
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---------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-----------------

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-------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------------------
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-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------------

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-------------------------------------
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--------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0------------

TAB]


At first, go SUPER-SLOW, even using "no tempo" to develop awesome muscle memory (or whatever it is this develops!) - Speed up only when you can do the whole thing 4 times without an error.

This is fairly hard. It might even force you out of some bad habits, such as posting too heavily, or wrist-anchoring. (Nobody's saying you have to "float" your right hand when you pick, but the wise old man told me, "There are worse things.")

If you practice this exercise every day, if you keep at it until you can do it 4 times in a row without a mistake, you will have developed some real agility in your right hand. Give it a shot.

If the exercise doesn't make sense, say so - I'll try something else.

kj