Does anyone actually 'practice' anymore?

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TheRockDoc

TheRockDoc

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When shred was king, I used to shed 3,4 sometimes 5 hours a day just doing scales. As rock music has changed, it seems that there is less wanking and more song. So what do you guys do for actual practice these days?
 
Sadly, I don't make time anymore. Wife, 2 kids, Mortgage, Job, etc, etc.
I jam when I can with my friends and we have a good time, but rarely these days, do I sit down and work my scales or speed.

One of these days is what I keep telling myself. :rolleyes: :D
 
Heck, I was never into soloing anyway. I got into the "Sevendust" guitar style. Tune down to Drop-B and make odd time signature chord changes. Now I play my own, less heavy style with SOME easy soloing. Yeah, you don't hear to many plain old solos anymore on the radio; not new music anyway, besides speed metal, but those solos get real old real quick. I "practice" all the time. But I don't think of it as practicing. I just turn on the recorder and see what I come up with. Hell, I'm a drummer, what are ya'll grippin about!? ;)
 
I practice but generally my practice is just brainstorming. If that makes sense.......

When you practiced wanking all the time what scales did you work on? I've always wanted to learn how to wank, does anybody have any advice on good stuff to practice?
 
gbondo9 said:
Sadly, I don't make time anymore. Wife, 2 kids, Mortgage, Job, etc, etc.
I jam when I can with my friends and we have a good time, but rarely these days, do I sit down and work my scales or speed.

One of these days is what I keep telling myself. :rolleyes: :D
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That's my story for sure.

I have a solo live act and the only way I end up practicing is to commit to gigs. That throws the fear of God into me enough so I actually .... practice.
 
from an immature mind, reading you guys talk about wanking produces a couple chuckles
 
That's what I'm doing right now...working on sweeping arpeggios. Lets see...about 2 hours. I find that I mix the practicing up with writing. I find that doing intense skill building and theory work often inspires me. I'll work on boring scales -n- such an all of the sudden, a particular series of intervals will start to sound like something...it goes from there.

Don't call it practice...call it something else like human instrument bonding...it will be way more fun. :D
 
Instrument body building?

Diatonic Bowflexing?

Is that what DavidK does when nobody's looking?

Inquiring minds want to ... well, want to inquire, I guess. :D
 
I only practice what I need to do to record. Then I forget how to play it :o I really need to get in a band, it's been three years, that's my goal for 2006 :)
 
mshilarious said:
I only practice what I need to do to record.
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I feel your pain. I do record some of my best stuff, listen to it 6 months later and start trying to figure out how to play it again. :rolleyes:
 
JazzMasterWil said:
I feel your pain. I do record some of my best stuff, listen to it 6 months later and start trying to figure out how to play it again. :rolleyes:
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lmfao

Same here.
 
punkin said:
That's what I'm doing right now...working on sweeping arpeggios. Lets see...about 2 hours. I find that I mix the practicing up with writing. I find that doing intense skill building and theory work often inspires me. I'll work on boring scales -n- such an all of the sudden, a particular series of intervals will start to sound like something...it goes from there.

Don't call it practice...call it something else like human instrument bonding...it will be way more fun. :D
Click to expand...

Calm down dude. It's just rock 'n roll. :cool:
 
It's not "just" rock -n- roll...it's pursuit of the ultimate amalgamation of sounds...it's finding sonic oneness...building camaraderie in aural bliss...it's a way of life...

Our mantra for the day, say it with me...rock -n- roll ain't noise pollution.
 
Treeline said:
Instrument body building?

Diatonic Bowflexing?

Is that what DavidK does when nobody's looking?

Inquiring minds want to ... well, want to inquire, I guess. :D
Click to expand...

Fretboard yoga!
 
There are quite a few people still incorporating good solos into their music, you just gotta look around.
 
I try very hard to practice every day. It's very hard with a wife and kids and a mortgage and a job. What I do to ensure some forward motion is to get up at 5am and practice for about an hour on the weekdays before I have to shave and shower and make lunches and brew coffee and get every one else up. I go over some scale exercises and maybe some chordal stuff, try to read at least a little, work over some current stuff I'm focused on (mostly solo guitar arrangements of standards, accompaniment stuff, bebop heads, and the project du jour).

At least this keeps me up to snuff, but what I'd really like to do -- transcribe solos I love, work on deeper harmony stuff ala Jim Hall or Ted Greene, and compose -- pretty much falls by the wayside.
 
All the time. I found myself doing more practicing than playing songs lately. I run through some or Frank Gambale's Chopbuilder guitar workout. It's a great dvd to work on your picking and to run through scales and modes and patterns without pulling my hair out. A good practice routine is important uless you want to just play in a cover band all your life.
 
Sirnothingness said:
All the time. I found myself doing more practicing than playing songs lately. I run through some or Frank Gambale's Chopbuilder guitar workout. It's a great dvd to work on your picking and to run through scales and modes and patterns without pulling my hair out. A good practice routine is important uless you want to just play in a cover band all your life.
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A dvd huh..... Where can you buy it?

I actually learned bare chords and finger picking from some video tapes my cousin gave me. (He's a bluegrass guy, and totally awesome at what he does). I think thoose videos were called "happy tram" or something like that....
 
punkin said:
It's not "just" rock -n- roll...it's pursuit of the ultimate amalgamation of sounds...it's finding sonic oneness...building camaraderie in aural bliss...it's a way of life...

Our mantra for the day, say it with me...rock -n- roll ain't noise pollution.
Click to expand...

Amen!!! All of which spells?....Jamming. Alone, in a band, on a flute, guitar, triangle, steel drum etc etc. Call it practice, call it songwriting or whatever. If you are reading the threads posted on this site, you definitely practice, jam, write, play etc, etc. Whether it's once an hour or once a month, you are "jamming" and that makes life great, doesn't it?!!
 
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