How often do you practice?

How often do you practice?

  • Daily

    Votes: 59 64.8%

  • Weekly

    Votes: 12 13.2%

  • Only when rehearsing with the band

    Votes: 5 5.5%

  • I don't need improvement

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • I feel it destroys my loose and sloppy style

    Votes: 10 11.0%

  • I Quilt

    Votes: 2 2.2%

  • I think I voted in the wrong poll

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • All my guitars are in VP's shop

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • Total voters
    91
I write for 1 hour a day religeously. I practice guitar when I can, usually 30 mins a day, but sometimes not at all. I don't practice scales much (though I would like to be somewhere in AlChuck's universe someday). I usually practice playing and singing at the same time. I'm not talking about John Denver type stuff, but more like playing the riff for Stayin' Alive or Play that Funky Music and being able to sing it simultaneously. For me that is the most important skill I can develop right now.

Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com
 
Bass Freak said:
I dont warm up, I dont do scales, I dont do anything. I might work on some technique but other than that, i just play, i might play some new songs that i found on the net, or make up some, work on some music theroy, um.....build bass lines off of chords using the bass note, um....what else lol thats all i can think of

freak
Click to expand...

As someone who knows him, it's all true...lol!

Then again, it's usually MY chords he's building the lines off of...lol.

I usually do just like he does. I just play. Wheather it's a "real" song, or something I made up, it's all good.

I'ts all about the feeling.
 
Shukran Habebee

Thank you Bluesmeister and Beltrom,

Of course you absolutely right on all counts and I feel maybe there’s a New Years resolution coming on here. I’ve kinda got the pentatonic thing figured out, but anything outside of that and I’m screwed.

Now all I need to do is find a few more hours in the day,…………Oh stop it Alan, that’s bullshit. If I really wanted to I could make the time. What I need is to find a teacher who speaks my language and will make some sense of it all.

The search is on and thank you for the kick in the ass.

Alan.
 
Alan,

You could do a lot worse than to get yourself a copy of "The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer.

There is a lot of good stuff in that book that I wished I known back in 1973

--
BluesMeister
 
I try to practice daily, but I sure don't spend as much time on playing that I would like to!
Also, I'm playing for 9 years now, but I guess it doesn't show... A friend of mine taught me the basics, and I learned myself the rest!
I would like to take lessons one day, but I recently started studying in the evening hours, and I also want to take singing lessons... Why are there only 24 hours in one day?

Anyway, as long as you're having fun it's OK I guess!
Dirk Demon
 
I practice at least 15 min. a day. I at least try and do some speedy picking stuff so that my technique doesn't go the way of the dodo. When I'm really going strong, I'll go about knocking of the songs on my lists of songs I want to learn but are currently beyond my ability. It's a pretty big list.

Another habit that I've gotten into is to just play whatever comes out of my fingers and head right when I pick up the guitar. So far I've been able to come up with something completely new and different every day for the past few months I've been doing it. If I was smart I would have recorded some of it. Hell... any of it!!!
 
I find that when I warm up for about 15-30 min, I play much better and enjoy playing much more. In fact, for a while, I wasn't practicing during the week and really noticed it at my gigs. After practicing my butt off last week, the gig seemed to go much smoother.

Which reminds me, I was warming up in a dressing room before a gig. The other guitarist in the band came by and stated he doesn't need to warm up. Another band member overheard and later told me "It shows." ;)
 
guess i ought to chime in. i don't play nearly enough. i don't really play scales, but i'm constantly writing riffs/licks that push my abilities, so i guess that's kind of practice. i also try to jam out with friends. what i really need to do (when the bronchitis finalyl goes away) is start playing out again, so i can get used to it, and used to practicing my voice so it gets more tuned up. then, maybe i'll even learn how to work a mic properly! (it can sometimes be a real bitch having a very broad dynamic range)
 
Aaron Cheney said:
You play gigs where you get a dressing room?!

Sheesh.

The closest I've ever gotten was my own stall.
Click to expand...

Heh.

I haven't played a gig where I got a dressing room for quite a while and usually the dressing room was about the quality of a stall. :)
 
Well....I never warm up and I certainly play better 15 minutes into it once I am warmed up. But I play fine at the very beginning.....I just get a bit smoother. But I hate sitting around a bar. I like to get to a gig....set up.....and play. So I usually only have, like a minute, before we start.

As far as practice.....I'm always gigging or recording or learning next weeks tunes so there's just no more time. I play hours a day but I don't think it quite qualifies as practice. It's always gigs or shedding tunes.
 
No doubt. There's a fine line between playing an practicing.

In fact, just about any time you put your hands on your guitar, you are "practicing."
 
Since I bought this damn GT Pro recording software I practice far too little as I am so busy tweaking my latest masterpiece that I I find there aren't enough hours in the day !

The best form of practice in my mind is without a doubt jamming.

I wish I had learnt more theory when I was younger (now 42) and I am sure that I would be at the level I am now about 15 years ago.

Now I am old and wise I know that it is essential to understand basic theory to progress. I wish I had practiced scales/ key signatures/modes more when I was younger, rather than just copying the latest Thin Lizzy/ Deep Purple /Whitesnake track by 'ear'. Then I would have realised why they sounded so good to me.

I had to learn basic theory to keep up with the guys I jammed with ! !

What use is recording software to the lone guitarist, like myself if, I dont at least have a basic understanding (still very basic in my case) of such techniques as harmonies etc.....

I will never regret begging my parents for a guitar when I was 14 years old it is the best thing that God has given to man.

Can any of you guy's imagine life without playing/recording. All we need now is more hours in the day.
 
for that matter, I am not adverse to taking a few days off either. Sometimes I frustrate the b'jesus out of myself trying to force a tune to work. A few days of leaving it the hell alone and viola! It sometimes works
 
the poll needs a selection somewhere between weekly and daily.

about 5 times per week is my average, about 1-2 hours each session less all the interruptions.
 
No doubt. The selections should include every other day and twice a week or so.

For me, I always practice at least weekly with the band. However, solo practice goes in spurts. Some weeks I'm too busy and only practice once or so. Other weeks I get bit and practice at least every other day.
 
I work about 1 hour per day on technique then about 1 hour dedicated to sight reading...I collect a lot of stuff...anything...just plop it down and play it...like a drill. Don't worry about the mistakes, time signatures what ever...just play new and unfamiliar stuff...like a pop-quiz in school then, I work on gig stuff.


sjl
 
I'm in the track rat school. I jam every wed. nite and most sat nites with my pals in some form or another. sometimes it'll be 4-5 folks and sometimes just two. and what we do depends on how many show up. It can run from full songs with a group or maybe just a guitar and fiddle, working on fiddle tunes. In between these days I work on my own stuff, playing, writing lyrics, recording, and generally just playing with my gear. But I do try and do something with an instrument almost every day when I'm home.

dtb
 
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