Practice Practice Practice

[chancho]

How long do you practice for? What do you focus on? How do you get into the head of practicing? I mean, I hate doing it and find myself having to force practicing which takes away why I began playin in the first place.

Please help

[ksjazzguitar]

I always say that in order to be a great musician, you have to be a great practicer. You have to love it.

But on the other hand, there's nothing that says that you can't have some fun with it. Go ahead and mix some "playing" in there.

Peace,
Kevin

[billkath]

I do some most practicing during the evening, but my favourite time to practice is after the missus and dogs have gone to bed, and I'm just watching the news programs at 1 o'clock in the morning for a couple of hours. Just sitting their, watching the news, working on speed, arps, chord sequences etc in all the different keys. What happens to me is that when I make a mistake (say-if something interesting is being said) I'll use that mistake to go into an improv, solo'ing around the mistake for a couple of minutes-then it's back to the structure-as above. When the adverts come on I solo along to whatever music is playing on them. that's useful as well. Just because they're not jazz songs doesn't mean they are not helpful for finding keys by ear super quickly.

[jayx123]

If I'm lucky I will have 30 minutes to practice daily, currently I'm only practicing arps related stuff (I like to focus on 1 subject at a time):
1. as many positions as possible calling out the name of the note and its degree
2. playing them in the cycle of 4th
3. playing arps of different standard tunes
4. Improvising only on arps notes
5. Improvising while trying to hit chord tones with "wrapping" notes (chromatic above/below, double chromatic above/below scale tone above/below etc)

very mechanical stuff but essential for progressing in that direction

[randalljazz]

focus on ONE THING (doesn't matter what) for 20 minutes, shut everything else out, get deep into it, explore the possibilities, make it sing...then put the guitar down, stretch, whatever...do another set if you can. repeat daily.

[FatJeff]

I practice for (on average) 2 1/2 - 3 hours a day.

I usually practice new chord voicings; arpeggios; scales; ii-V and ii-V-I in alternating R-2 and 1-3 inversions; "sing-n-play" (wherein I pick a 2-4 bar chord progression, sing a phrase over it, and then immediately play it back on the guitar); then I work on tunes for an hour. By "work on tunes" I mean play the head, improvise, and run through some comping.

Some days I am only able to get in 90 minutes. Other days I'll practice for 4-5 hours. It all averages out.

I don't know what to tell you re: hatred of practicing. I don't always love practice, but I certainly don't hate it. For me, it's more a feeling of being compelled. I have to practice, and I usually don't let anything take precedence over it. (I am going into the hospital for a surgical procedure tomorrow, but I'll practice beforehand - and I may take a day off afterwards, but probably not more than that.)

If you don't enjoy practicing, either you're practicing incorrectly, or the wrong stuff, or maybe this just isn't your bag. Ask yourself honestly: why am I doing this? The drive to succeed in anything has to come from within.

Given the time of year, this article may be pertinent to you: Guitarist Douglas Niedt, Guitar Technique Tip of the Month

[JohnRoss]

Originally Posted by FatJeff

1If you don't enjoy practicing, either you're practicing incorrectly, or the wrong stuff, or maybe this just isn't your bag.

I'll go along with that. I find it hard to imagine how someone who didn't enjoy practising would be able to acquire any significant level of skill on a musical instrument, that's what it's all about. It's like sex. Performance is the copulation, the fun stuff, but practising is the quality time you spend with your partner getting to know each other. You have to do it, both for its own sake and because if you don't, sooner or later, the fun wears off and even the copulation becomes a chore.

[randalljazz]

from douglas niedt, cited above:

"I believe that every artistic creation
comes from the infinite intelligence that created us and the universe in all its glory out of the
Void. When I listen to the works of Bach, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and hundreds of other
pieces, I’m sorry; I don’t believe they were created only by mortal men. The musician is the
servant of the Muses, of the Angels, of God. Bach knew full well he was not the source of the
creations he wrote down. We mortal men only facilitate, we carry. We are the willing and skilled
(sometimes very unskilled) instruments of the Muses, Angels, and God we serve.

Up until now, you may have only been aware of the joy elicited when playing the guitar. You
may even enjoy playing for others. You may enjoy teaching others. But I think if you look a little
deeper, there is far more going on within you, between you and the guitar, and between the two
of you and a higher plane of reality than you may realize. And it doesn’t even matter if you play
well or terribly. And it doesn’t matter what others think of your playing. The bigger picture is that
you are giving back to those agents of the infinite what they have deigned to gift to you."

doug practices from 4 a.m till noon every day, allowing the afternoon and evening for his teaching and family. iron will!

[JohnRoss]

Originally Posted by randalljazz

"I believe that every artistic creation
comes from the infinite intelligence that created us and the universe in all its glory out of the Void... When I listen to the works of Bach, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and hundreds of other pieces, I’m sorry; I don’t believe they were created only by mortal men.... [but by] Muses, Angels, and God we serve.

You’re such a cynic, Randall. Admittedly, at first sight, this looks someone who has conversations out loud with his other personalities, borderline committable, or at the very least someone you would prefer to stay on the other side of the pavement from. But, wait... no, you look around his site and you find that Doug has a wonderful book (available on-line at a modest price, which I don’t actually know exactly* because something in my interior prevents me from clicking on the link) telling you How to Make a Million Dollars Playing the Guitar (with the totally credible selling point that he isn't "telling you how to do something I haven't done already. I HAVE made a million dollars playing the guitar." So that's all right, then. Here we are wasting our time practising, when all we really had to do was believe. And buy the book.

*$19.95

[randalljazz]

hey , jr---a cynic, moi? mais non!

was merely presenting a counterpoint to the carnality of your metaphor...

prof. niedt, btw, is a virtuoso performer ( in the good sense of the word), a likeable human being, and a teacher who gets unbelievable results from less than gifted students, fwiw...

[ksjazzguitar]

Originally Posted by randalljazz

focus on ONE THING (doesn't matter what) for 20 minutes, shut everything else out, get deep into it, ....

That's good advice. Some people can't focus for hours and sometimes you just don't have the time. Some of the best practice sessions I've had have been short. Hey, I've got a few minutes before they pick me up for the movie. Why don't I loop the bridge of Miss Jones for 10 minutes. You'd be surprised what that can accomplish.

And I've known some people that that's just the only way they can practice - a bunch of sprints instead of a marathon.

Whatever works.

Peace,
Kevin

[FatJeff]

Originally Posted by JohnRoss

You’re such a cynic, Randall. Admittedly, at first sight, this looks someone who has conversations out loud with his other personalities, borderline committable, or at the very least someone you would prefer to stay on the other side of the pavement from. But, wait... no, you look around his site and you find that Doug has a wonderful book (available on-line at a modest price, which I don’t actually know exactly* because something in my interior prevents me from clicking on the link) telling you How to Make a Million Dollars Playing the Guitar (with the totally credible selling point that he isn't "telling you how to do something I haven't done already. I HAVE made a million dollars playing the guitar." So that's all right, then. Here we are wasting our time practising, when all we really had to do was believe. And buy the book.

*$19.95

Scoff if you want. I've seen the guy play, and he is an incredible guitarist. One of the few classical guitar concerts I've seen (and I've seen MANY) where there was not one audible mistake.

The guy is for real.

[JohnRoss]

Originally Posted by FatJeff

The guy is for real.

My mistake, I thought Randall was joking.