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Topic: Limited Practice Time |
Jack Dougherty
From:
Spring Hill, Florida, USA
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Posted 29 Jan 2009 7:53 pm |
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I'm confident my expertise in aviation over the past forty years leaves me in good stead with my peers. So this is just an opinion.
In between that time I've managed to pick some. But the practice time I had was limited to what ever time I could fit in. Sometimes only fifteen minutes or so. So I had to make use of that time to get the most out of it. What I found was this. If I was working on a phrase or a lick I would I would only work on it for about five minutes or so. Then I would move on to something else. And so on till my time was up. I have found my retention time more accute. The point being that sometimes staying on something for long periods can lead to diminishing returns where in the end you are just noodling with out any direction. For me short sprints gives me maximum return. What say the rest of you? |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 29 Jan 2009 9:05 pm
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Jack, when I first started playing I also joined a band. I could devote 9-11 hours a day practicing, I would go through the Winston book several times, and play scales, exercises and songs I had in tab over and over... swipe stuff from records... then get to the gig and not be any better other than perhaps more right hand coordination. Very frustrating.
Somehow I realized I was just loading myself up with way too much information, and little application. When I cut my practice time back to 1-2 hours, and just concentrated on one concept, (for instance, moving from a I to IV chord,) then took that into the gig and shoehorned it into every possible song, my playing realy took off. And for me, that was the key, recognizing something practical I needed work on, practicing the pieces that fit that scenario, and then running them into the ground until I really knew them.
I've made progress with much less effort ever since. |
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J Fletcher
From:
London,Ont,Canada
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Posted 30 Jan 2009 7:40 am
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I'd be interested in hearing how other steel players maximize their practice time. For the past six weeks or so, I've been working on a few phrases from a Speedy West tune, breaking them down into smaller and smaller segments, in an effort to get them right. This is usually what I do when learning something new. Reduce it to small segments and slow it down to where I can play it clean.
Sometimes I think that after playing for 16 years, though only as a hobby, new licks etc would come a lot easier, especially the technique part of it. I really have to plug away at stuff to get it nice and clean...Jerry |
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Don Sulesky
From:
Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
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Posted 31 Jan 2009 5:04 am
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Jack D.(JD) was kind enough to send me his fill lick he uses when he plays "Rose Colored Glasses" which he plays so beutifully it brings tears to my eyes.
Everyday when I sit behind my steel I practice this lick.
It's getting better but I'll NEVER make it sound as smooth as he does.
I have all the notes down but the timing is now my biggest problem, but as he says you just got to work at it and don't spend so much time that it becomes boring.
So I move on to other things to practice.
Just my two cents.
Don |
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Ernest Cawby
From:
Lake City, Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 31 Jan 2009 9:13 am hi
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Hello Jack the other half of the BOBSIE twins, what you said is what Jeff Newman says lots of shot time practice is better than one long session, "repitition is the seed of learning" I have heard. Whatever you do is working you play so very well. You know we have played beside each other since 2002, did you know it has been that long. I remember when I first played A WAY TO SURVIVE THE FIRST TIME YOU WERE SITTING NEXT TO ME ASND WATCHED EVERY MOVE i always wondered what you were thinking.
ernie |
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Don Sulesky
From:
Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
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Posted 31 Jan 2009 11:32 am
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Ernie
He was thinking I hope I live as long as this guy and still be able to play like him.
We love ya Pal.  
Don |
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Robert Harper
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 31 Jan 2009 12:09 pm Practice time
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Guess there must have been a reason classes in schools wer 30 to 45 minutes. Colleges thake a break every 45 minutes or so and traing course at work are broken into 30 to 45 minute segments
_________________
"Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first begin to deceive" Someone Famous |
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Jack Dougherty
From:
Spring Hill, Florida, USA
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Posted 31 Jan 2009 1:21 pm Re: Practice time
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| Robert Harper wrote: |
| Guess there must have been a reason classes in schools wer 30 to 45 minutes. Colleges thake a break every 45 minutes or so and traing course at work are broken into 30 to 45 minute segments |
Unless you have ADD then your back to five minute increments. |
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Don Sulesky
From:
Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
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Posted 31 Jan 2009 1:39 pm
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"Unless you have ADD then your back to five minute increments."
Jack
That's me to a "T".
One reason I like to see it in print.
Don |
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Robert Harper
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 31 Jan 2009 1:52 pm Add
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I didn't mean to leave us out that were handicaped by ADD/ADHD. I don't mention this, because in my day and most here ADD/AADHD wasn't cured by a nurse and a pill. They used a teacher/principal and a padal. Too many bad memories to go there
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"Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first begin to deceive" Someone Famous |
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