On structuring practice

[JakeAcci]

An attempt to serve food for thought to anybody who has ever observed wheel-spinning:

Quantity of practice goals at any given time?

Quantity of practice "areas" addressed daily or weekly?

Follow through with goals and specific practicing projects?

Level of focus and attention brought to each practice session - vs level of freedom to improvise and create?

Amount of time spent on time?

Noodling safeguards?

Openness to regular critique by respected musical 'elders'? Critical listening to self-made recordings?

Others?

All things I think about often...I have ideas, but no answers! I will say that I think it is common for folks to spread themselves too thin on to a wide variety of topics, and that most guitarists don't practice anything having to do with rhythm nearly enough. These are two things I tend to see on forums, especially the lack of much discussion of rhythm compared to scales, voicings, etc.

[Jake Hanlon]

I don't think that the lack of practice of Rhythm is mutually exclusive to Guitarists, that's a problem with most any instrument except for Drummers who must deal with Rhythm as what would at first thought be paramount to the instrument.

This is because most people tend to think they have to focus on speed and accuracy. I've started to stop practicing running through things in a grid like rhythmic way and now with the metronome work on different rhythms but base things still off the building of speed. I'll set the metronome to 120 and play scales at 16th notes for example and then as I am moving through keys start to rhythmically improvise the fingerings in a more natural or jazz like way. Sometimes I'll use totally different ideas and practice with specific rhythms. Subdivision is key for this as it's another thing i've noticed in young players that they have trouble subdiving whole notes to get some more interesting rhythms going.

I spend a lot of time in lessons talking about the importance of Rhythm and I work on it in lessons recently a lot as I've found my rhythmic chops have gotten stale or lost their precision as i've been working on things in my harmonic vocabulary that I've neglected over a while. Poor rhythmic skills is the first thing I notice in a player when I hear them for the first time, and I group a lot of things into that including phrasing, swing feel, aspects of articulation and other things.

I learned for myself structure of a practice section is really important in order for me to remain focused. Focus is I think the single most important factor in an effective practice session regardless of how much time you have to practice. For me practice cannot feel like a chore, it must be fun and engaging and I cannot lose sight of my enjoyment of the instrument. So what I do is break everything down into 15 minute skills that I'm working on, 4 skills and then before I know it an hour has passed and I take a break. I can repeat this multiple times in a day and I can edit and change things as needed depending on my goals or needs.

Example, I have new music to learn for a gig, and the music is very difficult. I will drop out 15 minutes from improv practice to work extra on the new music. Perhaps my hands are being very stiff or slugglish and I need to spend more time fine tuning some technique then I'll drop 15 minutes of transcription or sight reading who knows. I want to feel like I'm getting somewhere even if it's just a nudge forward.

Focus also eliminates your noodling problem, I don't noodle anymore on the instrument at all or at least rarely in practice and even at rehearsals or sessions unless I lose my focus on what i'm doing.

On practice eras I work as i've said on 4 things... Technique, Improvisation, Repetiore and Harmony. All of the time i'm working with a metronome. I work on them all in different ways. Repetiore might involve learning new music, playing tunes I need to re-enforce or cliche's. Harmony might be working on sub changes, new voicing ideas. Technique is always being worked on but for 15 minutes I work specifically on one aspect of technique, ie right hand drills.

If I am in the shed (meanining practicing a lot 3-5hrs a day as I do in the summer months when I don't teach) I will practice each 4 things for 1 hour each. Spending time on 4 things in one hour. Here's my current Technique break down after a 20min warm up.

Technique
15minutes - Melodic Minor scales, ascending in broken 3rds descending in 4 note diatonic pattern all 12 keys met 16th notes at 120. Major Scales in same structure
15minutes - 1 octave arpeggios 1 3 5 7 9 with position shift (right hand sweep) major minor dom7b9 dom7#9 mi7b5 this one is hard to complete in 15 minutes as it's very new due to the sweep.
15minutes - Diminished scales all roots met 150 with 16th notes right hand legatto both whole half and half whole
15minutes - Right hand Technique etude (derived from Vic Juris right hand articulation practice but modified)

This break down keeps things moving very smoothly. My metronome has a timer on it so when it goes off I finish the thing I am on at that moment, if I'm close to completing it I will finish it and move on.

[JakeAcci]

Cool Jake, glad to hear you weighing in on this. I know you are specifically not somebody who neglects rhythm in your practicing or your teaching, but it's definitely clear that some people do. I work on time all the time...any harmonic or melodic idea is useless if presented without rhythmic conviction and good time, right?

My general approach to practice is similar to yours.

I try to do about three things per day, and I might spend 40 minutes each (these days) on those things. That's my goal, but usually I'll get so wrapped up in one subject that I might double up on that subject and then have to double up on the other subject the next day. It's really common for me to get lost in a topic and want to spend all day on it. That can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing (point of diminishing returns)

I do try to keep things as relevant to performance as possible, and that's always difficult because exercises are really helpful, but I just make sure they are exercises that I hope will directly effect my performance. I actually hardly ever practice scales or arpeggios anymore, and if I do it will usually be in some specific context over a tune.

Also, for me, the three things I work on cycle with some frequency.

I agree that focus is probably the most important factor of a practice session, however I also think that time reserved for noodling and exploration is very valuable. Sometimes noodling can result in some interesting new ideas.

For example, yesterday I broke from my schedule a bit (mostly because I was hungover and didn't feel like I had the energy to focus!) and decided to analyze "El Gaucho" a little bit and do some voicing exercises through the changes. It wasn't my intention, but at the end of the half hour I had a reharm going that I liked. I explored it a bit and I'll polish it up and hopefully be able to bring it to a session soon.

Similarly, there was a period of years in high school, before I got into jazz, where all I would do every day is pick up the guitar and start jamming and look for new chords. It wasn't at all structured, but I always knew what key I was in, what tensions I was using, and what harmony I was implying. I'm sure I'd be a better player now if I had spent more time in high school actually practicing, but I did develop a lot of my own "style" in that time period, and a lot of the way I voice things for my original music is influenced by the way I would mess around with chords back then.

However, on the negative end, this all has to be on a leash if there are actual goals we are trying to achieve in the practice room and we wind up never getting to them.

So, I guess my "noodling safeguard" is that I try really hard to not noodle during the day, but at night, when I'm too tired to really focus anyway, I enjoy maybe picking up the guitar and doing what my fingers feel like doing, or goofing around with some obscure idea that might not even be jazz related. Knowing that I'm going to be able to 'break free' a little at night helps me stay focused during the day.

I think these issues are relevant to a forum like this, because as we've said before, it's easy to get lost in so much material (as there is so much available on this site and on the net in general) and not stay consistent. A teacher I took a lesson with recently made the good (and funny) point that we'll do something like go out and see Adam Rogers play and then say to ourselves "Oh shit, I gotta work on my picking!" and then go home and practice picking really hard for a day, and then we'll see a Joe Pass youtube video and go "Oh shit, I can't voice lead melodies like that!" and then go work on that, and so and on and so on. We have to tackle just a few things at a time and it's best to stay focused and organized.

[JakeAcci]

Also a few of more practical things I've been employing lately:

I have a timer on my iPhone, I'll use it to structure my practicing and I'll also take note of how many minutes I spent (un-distracted) on each topic.

For hand health, I've learned it's important to take a 5m "break" (just being hands-free) every 25 minutes, and it's also good to rotate chord work and lead work, to avoid RSI-like problems. With that is technically challenging or potentially physically strenuous (extended fast playing, stretched chord voicings, hammer/pull off practice) I make sure to work up gradually rather than starting with the hard stuff.

I try to hit a certain total number of un-interrupted practice minutes per day. Not because it's really important to practice for x minutes, but rather because it helps me focus and be motivated to attempt to be consistent about how much time I spend on guitar. Similarly, sometimes I devote too much to practicing and neglect other things (buying clothes, getting groceries, writing emails that need to get written, even setting up sessions, etc.) I try to hit the # of minutes, and then once I do hit that I know I need to check out that to-do list rather than keep shedding.

[Jake Hanlon]

regards to the noodling

I know what you're saying, and I suppose for myself in my own mind I'm more specific about things when I say noodling.

Throughout the day I noodle, that is picking up the guitar and just playing. I'm not practicing, I have no goals other then the enjoyment of playing. This might be 5 minutes and this might be OMG i've been doing this for 3 hours? Sometimes I lose track of time, but there is no goal, it's just exploration, it's improvisation and it's just being with the music. Yesterday I was sitting over at my Father's house with my dog and tuned his guitar to drop D and just played over a Dsus pedal for an hour just playing and exploring the instrument (as I never played it before). This is noodling, although it's constructive noodling. The days of playing the guitar for 10hrs a day are gone for me because I spend time involved in other musical goals or other things in life that I find interesting, and to save myself from blowing out my hands again.

Eliminating noodling and inviting structure can help you with goals. Ignoring structure and just playing invites more creativity and exploration... both are important but very different. In grad school I spent a week practicing almost 10hrs a day on the weekends... I thought I was insane. But I was glad I did it because it taught me how to organize my practice... now i'll never have to go through that mess again.

When I sit down to practice, it's got to be focused and structured or I won't get anything done at all, and that might be fun and it might actually have some benefit. But practice for me is defined by the strict goal of improving a specific skill or reaching a specific goal over time.

But I'm lucky, readily admit that. I recently taught at a great camp and at the first meeting with the students I proclaimed myself to be the luckiest Jazz educator in the country because I have a full time job right out of school. And I am. I get to play guitar as much as I want to, sure there aren't a lot of gigs (anywhere) but I get in my office at 8, practice for an hour and then get down to business... I spend anywhere from 4 to 6hrs a day playing my guitar or using it as a tool and that helps me focus my priorities.

Not everyone has the liberty of being able to play as much as others do... I find myself now really excited about the instrument so practice is a joy and I can't go for more then a few hours without picking her up and going to town. I'm working on music for 2 new albums and so my day is centered around the instrument... sometimes I look at it and just walk away and I think those are important times as well. When I don't want to practice I still force an hour or two on it so that I don't regret not spending time on her.
So i'm lucky, no doubt about it.

[JakeAcci]

That was nice of your dog to let you detune his guitar!

[fep]

All things I think about often...I have ideas, but no answers! I will say that I think it is common for folks to spread themselves too thin on to a wide variety of topics, and that most guitarists don't practice anything having to do with rhythm nearly enough. These are two things I tend to see on forums, especially the lack of much discussion of rhythm compared to scales, voicings, etc.

I don't think that the lack of practice of Rhythm is mutually exclusive to Guitarists, that's a problem with most any instrument except for Drummers who must deal with Rhythm as what would at first thought be paramount to the instrument.

My two cents for Rhythm Practice.

1 - Recently I got a drum practice pad and sticks, for the fun of it mostly. Once I got them and started using them I instantly saw the value of isolating and practicing rhythms this way. I thought to myself if I was teaching any instrument or teaching ear training, a drum pad and sticks would be something I'd require of my students. It only costs about 20 bucks... I also got Tommy Igoe's Great Hands for a Lifetime DVD. Try it, see what you think.

2 - The first thing I practice every day is sight reading. I think there is so much benefit from sight reading, one of those benefits is improving time and improving your ability to really know various rhythms instantly by sight and be able to play them. Especially if you're reading funky tunes.

3 - Sight reading books have rhythm sections where you sing out the rhythms (or play them on your drum pad)

[JakeAcci]

1 - Yes...sometimes I forget that I played drums (somewhat self taught) for a few years on and off. That experience was really invaluable. Having an understanding of the kit, different stickings, common beats, grooves, fills, is all a huge help to bring to the guitar. I guess again that could be an example of something off the beaten path of a conventional jazz guitar practice routine that actually winds up being helpful. I wouldn't devote any time to practicing drums now, for myself, but I'm glad I did it in the past.

2 - If somebody hopes to gig a lot, being able to read at least competently is essential, and of course it helps in a lot of other arenas too. I guess from my perspective if a guitarist chooses not to practice sight reading it really should only be because they already are a whiz at it, or they are truly confident that it's not ever going to be relevant to their musical aspirations. If the latter, I'd wonder how anybody could actually be that confident. I practice reading every day and will probably do so until I can open up the omnibook and play the solos at tempo!

3 - Reading rhythms is great. Not to digress, but I think that for phrasing it's so essential and helpful to get as much conception as possible of all imaginable subdivisions, especially 8ths and 16ths. One exercise I do to test myself every now and again is to try starting a phrase on a specific beat and ending it on a specific beat. So for example starting a phrase on the "and of 2" of one measure and ending it on the "and of 3" in the second measure. I've spent a lot of time with things relating to this theme...a LOT of time! I think it really pays off. Time and tempo used to be a weakness for me - especially getting lost in more advanced rhythm sections. I feel more confident now, I can play duo and just be communicating within the tempo rather than constantly walking bass lines or only repeating certain grooves.

Edit: Sorry Fep I misread your #2 a little bit and responded to a point you weren't making.

[fep]

Just got back from a walk and this post had me thinking...

Does it make sense to make a distinction between practice and playing music?

I'm thinking practice would include things like: Scales, arpeggios, rhythm studies, ear training, practicing sight reading, going thru a method book, etc.

Playing music would include things like: Playing and learning repetoire tunes, gigging (if you do, currently I don't), writing music, recording music, jamming.

Given that distinction, I was thinking what % of my time do I want to dedicate to practice and what % to playing music.

I think sometimes I practice too much and spend too little time playing music.

[GreyJazz90]

One of my teachers at Berklee, Dave Santoro, had me transcribe the rhythm of a players solo, then fill it in with my own notes over the changes. That way I developed my rhythmic abilities, but came up with original lines at the same time. It has improved my phrasing a lot, and aided me in developing a larger harmonic vocabulary that is unique to me.

[Kman]

Just got back from a walk and this post had me thinking...

Does it make sense to make a distinction between practice and playing music?

I'm thinking practice would include things like: Scales, arpeggios, rhythm studies, ear training, practicing sight reading, going thru a method book, etc.

Playing music would include things like: Playing and learning repetoire tunes, gigging (if you do, currently I don't), writing music, recording music, jamming.

Given that distinction, I was thinking what % of my time do I want to dedicate to practice and what % to playing music.

I think sometimes I practice too much and spend too little time playing music.

Working on a song is pretty good practice, and working on a song will let you know pretty quickly what you really need to practice.

[JakeAcci]

Working on a song is pretty good practice, and working on a song will let you know pretty quickly what you really need to practice.

Especially if you record yourself playing the song, listen back critically, and especially if you are open minded to the critique of 'elder musicians' who you respect and you believe will steer you in the right direction.

For a long time I didn't get why I hated listening to recordings of myself. Of course I thought it was my note choices or lack of chops - it took a while to realize it was my time feel.

[Jake Hanlon]

recording yourself I think is really vital to the practice progress. With today's computers there's no reason not to, all laptops it seems come with build in webcams, you can get video and audio of your playing, sure the sound quality stinks but you sure can learn a lot about your playing from watching yourself play.

[JakeAcci]

Does it make sense to make a distinction between practice and playing music?

Imo, yes, but I disagree with your definition. I think anything where you say "I want to improve something about my playing or musicianship" and you sit down to work on it is practicing. You might find that you are weak over rhythm changes and you want to refresh, so part of the solution might be to just take two hours every day to jam over the tune. I'd call that practice - it's work towards a goal. I think some practice winds up being more musical and listenable and some of it is more technical.

Anyway, as an example, I have a method that I use for myself to learn a new tune. It's a step by step process and some of it involves just jamming over the changes and some of it is more technical like working out different chord-melodies for the tune, or comping it in all keys. So obviously some of that more closely resembles "playing" but it's all work towards a specific goal, so I consider it all practicing.

Maybe the distinction you're thinking of is to me sort of like the difference between improvising and exercising. They both can (and, imo, should) be part of a practice routine.

Usually if I'm working on a concept or technique I spend some time testing it out over tunes.

Hah, for me I try not to play tunes too much in practicing, because I start to go crazy with all the things I realize I could work on when I'm listening to myself critically. Then I get in a tailspin trying to fix too many areas at once, but that's just me.

[JakeAcci]

recording yourself I think is really vital to the practice progress. With today's computers there's no reason not to, all laptops it seems come with build in webcams, you can get video and audio of your playing, sure the sound quality stinks but you sure can learn a lot about your playing from watching yourself play.

The iPhones are AMAZING for this. It's so incredibly easy to record HD video of myself playing, and throw it up on youtube with literally one click from the phone. I honestly think it's the best purchase I've ever made.

[Jake Hanlon]

i have iphone envy, i won't lie.

when i get a new phone contract in October it's iphone time!

[Jake Hanlon]

I use one of these for most anything I put on youtube. It was cheap and the only thing that sucks is battery life. Means for gigs I can only record 50mins to an hour of HD and have to change batts. But they take rechargables so no big deal.

iphone would be nicer.... and more fun... and I'd be cool again. my blackberry is ancient

[Bill C]

For a long time I didn't get why I hated listening to recordings of myself. Of course I thought it was my note choices or lack of chops - it took a while to realize it was my time feel.

I had a similar "aha" moment recently. There was something not quite right and working on time is improving it.