Practicing jazz guitar all day, but what to practice?

**TheViking** · 06-13-2009, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by GodinFan

You play the same piece over and over for four hours a day?

Have you mastered it yet?

What were you planning on doing with it once you had?

No I haven't mastered it yet. ATM, I am refining what I'm doing so I can play it perfectly. I am also experimenting with dynamics and emphasizing each line running through it in turn. First, I try to bring out the melody, then I bring out the bass line, then I emphasize one of the harmony parts, then the other. Each time I play it I am looking for specific notes which bring out the most feeling. Then I try to come up with a balance of all the parts for each individual bar of the piece that makes it sing.

As for what I am planning on doing with it, I am planning on getting a repertoire of solo jazz/fingerstyle guitar music together and then go busking to make some money.

**franco6719** · 06-13-2009, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by TheViking

2 hours of pure ear-training is probably too much. You will have to watch out for ear fatigue. It usually sets in after 10 to 15 minutes. It is only subtle but when you find you have to think a lot and listen over again to make up your mind you have probably already overdone it.

As for the question about my playing and how it's coming along I have this to say: I am coming along in leaps and bounds. However, because chord-melody is the most intricate thing you can do on the guitar I am spending plenty of time going over and over it gradually practising out all the mistakes. So each time I make a mistake I practice that bar until it is automatic and then I practice it with the lead-in to that bar as well. So I may only learn 3 to 6 bars a of new material a day but I am constantly refining the bars I can already play from memory. Another big part of my playing is cultivating a touch. I play a bar or two and try to emphasize different parts each time to get a feel for the best balance between them. I think that is a big part of chord-melody playing, knowing which notes to emphasize where and when and how much.

Well, you're the one who asked. Ear fatigue? The brain is a muscle and needs to be disciplined harshly, just like an athelte disciplines all the other muscles, in order to make any progress. Plus, Ive basically lost fifteen years (long story).....

**derek** · 06-13-2009, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Jazzaluk

This is a great idea...I'm having a ton of fun with this. It really keeps you connected to the tune and lets the solo (and brain) breath.

Have you tried playing an improv phrase first and responding with the melody? Flipping back and forth creates new variations and longer improvised lines with the same sense of connection.

Thanks for the tip.

Sure. Got the idea from a couple of pros I know. They encourage me to turn off BIAB, leave Aebersold on the shelf and ignore my looper in favor of expanding time within the tunes, and workout ideas phrase by phrase, bar by bar, along with the melody. That way, when you play up to tempo with others, you have worked out a whole bunch of possibilities, and can just edit/choose what you want to play each time.

Hadn't thought about improv first then melody. Seems obvious. Sometimes I don't see the obvious. Thank you for the suggestion.

**GodinFan** · 06-13-2009, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by TheViking

No I haven't mastered it yet. ATM, I am refining what I'm doing so I can play it perfectly. I am also experimenting with dynamics and emphasizing each line running through it in turn. First, I try to bring out the melody, then I bring out the bass line, then I emphasize one of the harmony parts, then the other. Each time I play it I am looking for specific notes which bring out the most feeling. Then I try to come up with a balance of all the parts for each individual bar of the piece that makes it sing.

As for what I am planning on doing with it, I am planning on getting a repertoire of solo jazz/fingerstyle guitar music together and then go busking to make some money.

It'll take an incredibly long time to get a rep together at that rate. It sounds to me like you're taking too much of a perfectionist's approach to it.

**timscarey** · 06-13-2009, 08:58 PM

If you don't know what to practice... you're not practicing, you're playing. there is nothing wrong with that. Just realize that the people who are "great" HAVE TO BE for one reason or another.

I really believe that forceing yourself to practice does absolutley nothing at all for you because you have no use for the skills or reason for practiceing.

You need a goal and that is all you need. It will really help you if someone you respect is counting on you to achieve that goal.

I may be cynical, probly because I am a full time working musician and don't ever get enough time to practice, but i really believe that you are, and always will be just as "good" at the guitar as you honestly believe that you HAVE TO be.

so here is the big question you should ask yourself, not "what to practice" but "why am I practicing?"

basically, if you don't know what to practice. go for a walk.

**TheViking** · 06-14-2009, 01:44 AM

Originally Posted by timscarey

If you don't know what to practice... you're not practicing, you're playing. there is nothing wrong with that. Just realize that the people who are "great" HAVE TO BE for one reason or another.

I really believe that forceing yourself to practice does absolutley nothing at all for you because you have no use for the skills or reason for practiceing.

You need a goal and that is all you need. It will really help you if someone you respect is counting on you to achieve that goal.

I may be cynical, probly because I am a full time working musician and don't ever get enough time to practice, but i really believe that you are, and always will be just as "good" at the guitar as you honestly believe that you HAVE TO be.

so here is the big question you should ask yourself, not "what to practice" but "why am I practicing?"

basically, if you don't know what to practice. go for a walk.

Well I do have goals. I want to earn a living doing music by busking down at my local mall. I also want to travel the world doing that. Is wanting to be good enough to "show em" a legit goal as well? I don't know. I suppose I would like to show a few people I made something of my life afterall. But don't latch onto that last one. By far the biggest reason why I do music is because it is in my blood. If all that comes of it is sitting on my couch and playing the music I want to then I am okay with that. I would also like to do some online collaborations as well. But I think you are right about HAVING to be good. If I could find some way of being required to do it I would progress better. Any ideas?

**timscarey** · 06-14-2009, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by TheViking

Well I do have goals. I want to earn a living doing music by busking down at my local mall. I also want to travel the world doing that. Is wanting to be good enough to "show em" a legit goal as well? I don't know. I suppose I would like to show a few people I made something of my life afterall. But don't latch onto that last one. By far the biggest reason why I do music is because it is in my blood. If all that comes of it is sitting on my couch and playing the music I want to then I am okay with that. I would also like to do some online collaborations as well. But I think you are right about HAVING to be good. If I could find some way of being required to do it I would progress better. Any ideas?

Well, some people pay a bunch of money and go to school to get that obligation over their heads. but honestly, busking is a great goal. But what do I know, I just know what has worked for me and what I've read about, seen and experienced. do your thing.

**TheViking** · 06-15-2009, 04:01 AM

Originally Posted by timscarey

Well, some people pay a bunch of money and go to school to get that obligation over their heads. but honestly, busking is a great goal. But what do I know, I just know what has worked for me and what I've read about, seen and experienced. do your thing.

Yes, I think a music course would be good but not right now. I wouldn't want to enrol in a music course at my age without any performance experience. It would be too daunting. So I am just plodding along hoping to get enough tunes under my fingers to do some informal performance work.

**TieDyedDevil** · 06-15-2009, 11:27 AM

I don't have any specific suggestions. So much depends upon your learning style and where you are in your musical development...

Take a look at iBreatheMusic.com - Professional Music Theory and Lessons for Guitar & Other Instruments . There you'll find a number of articles written specifically to help players who find themselves in your position.

**peterk1** · 06-15-2009, 12:37 PM

If that's your goal. Why not make song-learning the focus of your practices at first? Try to be able to play a memorized 30 minute set in 3-4 months time. Or something like that. Assuming you have arrangements that you want to learn ready and chosen.

I did something similar almost 2 years ago starting from almost zero, jazz-guitarwise, and I can play unaccompanied for well over an hour now. It's very slow and daunting but it gets much easier as you go on.

When doing this you'll probably discover techniques that need work - so you practice those in isolation outside a tune, after finding a good exercise for them. After a while you'll learn how to work on 3-4 tunes at the same time efficiently and those 7-8 hours a day that you want to be playing will become much more interesting because you're able to effortlessly fill them up.

**TheViking** · 06-15-2009, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by peterk1

If that's your goal. Why not make song-learning the focus of your practices at first? Try to be able to play a memorized 30 minute set in 3-4 months time. Or something like that. Assuming you have arrangements that you want to learn ready and chosen.

I did something similar almost 2 years ago starting from almost zero, jazz-guitarwise, and I can play unaccompanied for well over an hour now. It's very slow and daunting but it gets much easier as you go on.

When doing this you'll probably discover techniques that need work - so you practice those in isolation outside a tune, after finding a good exercise for them. After a while you'll learn how to work on 3-4 tunes at the same time efficiently and those 7-8 hours a day that you want to be playing will become much more interesting because you're able to effortlessly fill them up.

That's good advice. I think practicing all day is only necessary when you have a lot of music to maintain. I mean there is only so much development practice you can do a day. It is maintenance practice that takes a lot of time. I will practice more as my repertoire grows.