The official Warm up-and-Practising thread

[kris]

You can take the guitar to the beach!

In such a place, I would make the fastest progress.
The sound of the waves would be my "top player".
Great energy.

[kris]

You're complaining about progress taking forever regardless, I get it. But you'll still progress faster if you get a good teacher.

I am also a good teacher...or not bad teacher.That's why it makes me laugh.

[grahambop]

You can take the guitar to the beach!

Good idea, I could practise Giant Steps and clear the beach at the same time.

[ragman1]

Let's not forget there's a bit more to life than playing the guitar! Somebody who does nothing else but practice the guitar all the time is probably neurotic.

[kris]

Good idea, I could practise Giant Steps and clear the beach at the same time.

What about 'Footprints"?

[kris]

Let's not forget there's a bit more to life than playing the guitar! Somebody who does nothing else but practice the guitar all the time is probably neurotic.

It's better to practice on the guitar than to sit on the Internet all day... it's just a disease.

[Jimmy Smith]

I personally feel more confident when I practise a lot.
And yet I have a kind of wanting that I could do something more interesting.

This is always at the forefront of my thinking. When I do my listening, I assess what is good/interesting/exciting playing that I would like to accomplish with my playing. Then I scheme about what to practice to do that. There are also times when I hear something that wasn't that great and I tell myself well that's so and so and he's playing mundanely. So I don't get too sad about myself. However, that's no excuse. I want to accomplish the level of playing like my teacher. He always plays exciting and interesting stuff.

[grahambop]

What about 'Footprints"?

As it happens I saw someone playing Footprints on a Chapman Stick yesterday! I’ve never seen one before, other than in photos. (George Baldwin at the Verdict club, Brighton, in Ray Russell’s band.)

[ragman1]

That guy's wearing my shoes! The dirty blue ones, that is.

What IS he doing with that guitar?

[ragman1]

Jimmy - good playing from our Tony there. Can't argue with that.

[Jimmy Smith]

Woohoo

[mheton]

After playing jazz for 30 years, I have reached a point where practising, or as I would say, researching, is more important to me than playing live....

for me it is very liberating and fulfilling to try out certain voicings and counterpoint over standards, or to see how far i can improvise free over changes....

There's no audience expectation, no pianists playing their stupid voicings without listening to what scale I'm using over a Dom7 chord, and no typical jam session show-off jiggling...

my 2ct

[don_oz]

My warm up exercises take about 2 hours.

What does that even consist of? Are you running up and down scales for 2 hours? 2 hours of warm up isn't that time efficient. Do you warm up for 2 hours before a gig?

[Jimmy Smith]

^

[Christian Miller]

So it's a very individual thing - practicing on an instrument.
It's interesting that there's a lot of talk about practising not about some kind of rigor.
Is anyone sure of their technical form without practicing...?
I personally feel more confident when I practise a lot.
And yet I have a kind of wanting that I could do something more interesting.
But I've just spent too many hours doing other exercises.
It's for sure that they are more talented than me and they catch it all faster.
But generally the listener doesn't care.
You go on stage and you play.

yeah I really think it is. There are effective strategies that are common from person to person though.

Assessment is vital.

I record myself. If I can record something I can generally do it without thinking because once the red light is on it all goes south very quickly if there’s any uncertainty or tension. It’s easy to lie to yourself and be a legend in your own practice room haha.

and I think it’s good to work on music. And to have a reason to practice the music, even if it’s just making a YouTube vid or something. Small bits of time though - habits - over months can do amazing things. It’s about those 15m slots not the hours.

[Christian Miller]

Re warming up, if I haven’t played for a day or two, which is common for me atm, it takes a while to warm up. Maybe a matter of hours.

if I’m playing daily it’s much less of an issue. What is an issue is context - so if I’m feeling a tiny bit anxious on a gig, or the sound in the room is a bit funny (which is usual) I would appreciate time to warm up in the space, which isn’t always possible.

we practice so there’s a basic level we don’t fall below though. It’s like a safety net.

[kris]

What does that even consist of? Are you running up and down scales for 2 hours? 2 hours of warm up isn't that time efficient. Do you warm up for 2 hours before a gig?

Because I play two types of guitars, that's why it takes so long.
Classical guitar-right hand exe/fingers/
Electric guitar- pick exercises
arpegios,scales and modes,pentatonics-from slow to fast tempo...
From 6am to 8am every day
I don't have to warm up before the gig.
I only practise difficult parts of tunes.

[don_oz]

Because I play two types of guitars, that's why it takes so long.
Classical guitar-right hand exe/fingers/
Electric guitar- pick exercises
arpegios,scales and modes,pentatonics-from slow to fast tempo...
From 6am to 8am every day
I don't have to warm up before the gig.
I only practise difficult parts of tunes.

Then there might be a time where there comes a point where you have to decide which one you want to devote more time to. You mentioned you wanted to get to the top, I feel like all the top players devote themselves to one thing and base everything else they do around that. Then again there might be a more effective way for you to organize your time that you might not have figured out yet. If you're performing more jazz than classical then it makes sense to focus more on jazz and play classical less seriously. It all depends on what you want to be at the top of.

[kris]

Then there might be a time where there comes a point where you have to decide which one you want to devote more time to. You mentioned you wanted to get to the top, I feel like all the top players devote themselves to one thing and base everything else they do around that. Then again there might be a more effective way for you to organize your time that you might not have figured out yet. If you're performing more jazz than classical then it makes sense to focus more on jazz and play classical less seriously. It all depends on what you want to be at the top of.

This is true.I love playing nylons.
But I'm attracted to electric guitars.
Lately I've been playing nylon string guitars a lot more and not using picks.

[rpjazzguitar]

A top pro I know mentioned that he practices 2 hours a day. He was touring at the time, and I don't know if 2 hours was because he was touring or it was his usual amount.

[kris]

A top pro I know mentioned that he practices 2 hours a day. He was touring at the time, and I don't know if 2 hours was because he was touring or it was his usual amount.

Probably extremely talented.
I played with a top pro who only "practiced" beer and played brilliantly.

[grahambop]

That guy's wearing my shoes! The dirty blue ones, that is.

What IS he doing with that guitar?

Two-handed tapping, all explained here:

Chapman Stick - Wikipedia

[ragman1]

Two-handed tapping, all explained here:

Chapman Stick - Wikipedia

Oh, I was hoping no one would actually explain it :-)

[AllanAllen]

Oh, I was hoping no one would actually explain it :-)

It’s like, the dumbest guitar. All tic-a tak-a finger tapping that nobody ever gets in time.

[grahambop]

It’s not exactly my favourite instrument, but the guy I saw (George Baldwin) can certainly play it well.