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Topic: How often and how much do you Practice? |
Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Posted 14 Jan 2018 9:25 am |
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For those of you who perform regularly (pro or semi-pro)
I would like to hear your ideas about practicing.
How many hours a week? What do you work on? new songs? scales? licks/ etc.
I perform at least 4-6 times a week, and sometimes I have felt that's enough practice, but I still make the same old silly mistakes if I don't make a focused effort to work on those few tricky spots in each song...
Dom
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYG9cvwCPKuXpGofziPNieA/feed?activity_view=3 |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 14 Jan 2018 10:08 am
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I quit gigging for the next 3 years to practice jazz as that has always been a goal of mine.
I try and practice 2-4hrs whenever I can 5 days a week. Means not much sleep but makes me happy.
Scales, notation, fretboard knowledge, music theory quizzes and recently have been analysing songs.
So far 1 year on and I have only covered proficiently.
Major modes,
Whole Tone
Diminished scales
just started melodic minor modes and the dissonance takes some serious mental mapping to know how far out to go before resolving.
Theory through the ears and slow and steady. I NEVER use tab to learn a song but rather study voicings and progressions and have started 3 months ago to now incorporate pedal changes into my repertoire.
I like the tortoise approach but often times its easy to get discouraged why I'm learning so much info instead of songs, until it hit me that I can apply what I have learnt so far to songs and become free more and more.
sometimes I tease myself and breakout and attempt songs and surprise myself with voice leading. So slow and steady is my mantra. songs will come after I have the sort of grounding and knowledge needed. I hope. 
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 14 Jan 2018 10:12 am
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this week I have been working on 2-5-1 chord substitutions in voice leading.
So far I have calculated about 84 permutations and have only scratched the surface based on my limited major mode knowledge.
now to get them under my fingers will take a while.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Jean-Sebastien Gauthier
From:
Quebec, Canada
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Posted 14 Jan 2018 12:43 pm
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| I would like to practice 4-6h a day but with my 2 business and 2 children I only can afford around 1h a day. I would like to take a sabbatical year on the future to be able to practice 6h a day. |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 14 Jan 2018 12:56 pm
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| Not a pro or even semi pro anymore, but I play out a couple of times a week in local jams or at friends house. I practice about 4 hours a day. |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 14 Jan 2018 2:58 pm
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| Dom Franco wrote: |
Stefan;
When you say "pedal changes" do you mean moving bar slants or are you playing a pedal steel guitar now?
I like the Jazz approach and I love chord inversions and extensions... it is particularly challenging on a steel guitar. |
Pedal changes refers to
1. Mimicking the dyad chord progressions
2 playing the triad note for note changes
3. A combination of mimicking the exact notes that change while manipulating the bar and slightly use by a volume pedal.
No I have never had a pedal steel and when I played one didn’t have the knowledge I have now. So definitely still playing Lap Steel Guitar
Jazz approach with chord inversions is interesting for me it’s a huge Lifetsyle choice and more than just a study. There is lots of excellent material to get you in the ballpark.
It’s all about suggesting chords with 3 notes and sometimes more.
Dom you are in the same boat as me with plenty of strings so you have plenty of options. The tuning you use is crucial though. Certain tunings limit what is available.
I have fallen in love with an E13 and Leavitt combination tuning for its versatility.
I know you have a 13 stringer so you should have lots in there. The study if it interests you is there and I’m happy to help or exchange ideas. Drop me a pm and we can arrange.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 15 Jan 2018 2:11 am
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| Dom Franco wrote: |
Stephan;
The possibilities are endless with 13 strings, string skipping, slants when needed and tons of experimentation.
I have just barely scratched the surface of what is available with my tuning. The greatest limiting factor is time! I could spend hours finding the best way to play a simple harmonized (3 part melody) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kO_ydh5xAA
Dom |
Yeah I remember looking at your tuning before when looking to squeeze the most juice out of one tuning as possible.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Stefan Robertson
From:
Hertfordshire, UK
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Posted 15 Jan 2018 2:17 am
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IMHO
it was missing some triad inversions I was looking for but it still had ALOT to offer. Dominants and their extensions seemed a bit missing in multiple inversions like most 6th tunings.
Hence why I ended up with a tuning that is a dominant Chord vs just a 6th
Here is the fretboard I looked at when looking into your tuning.
_________________
Stefan
Bill Hatcher custom 12 string Lap Steel Guitar
E13#9/F secrets: https://thelapsteelguitarist.wordpress.com
"Give it up for The Lap Steel Guitarist" |
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Paul Seager
From:
Augsburg, Germany
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Posted 15 Jan 2018 4:32 am
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I probably sit and practice music, (meaning dedicated playing rather than a quick, sneaky 5 mins), for about 1.5 hours a day. However that is not exclusively on steel but on whatever instrument I am going to gig with next. I don't play that many gigs per se but I do attend many sessions.
Tonight I will sit in at a short, Western Swing session, playing steel. Last night I spent about an hour running through Western Swing standards, mostly the chord charts just in case I need to take the lead. The rest of this week I need to prep for a jazz gig as a bass guitarist; that means listening to old recordings and running through the chord charts so I know the songs well enough to play and add a solo. Whilst I am not a complete dunce on music theory, I honestly cannot get too excited about nodes and substitutions, etc.. Rather I spend time learning song melodies as that gets me to a basic level of soloing. Needless to say I don't live in NYC or London!
That said, I recently started learning learning upright bass -and I mean learning rather than teaching myself! I put in 30-45 mins during my lunch break. I have a set of scale patterns that I should run through, with an emphasis on fingerboard knowledge and intonation. The rest of my practice is working on etudes using a bow (my goal is to to join a local orchestra and play some classical stuff). Now my teacher is a jazzer and encourages me to think in the different scales so maybe I'll get this stuff at some point before I die!
\ paul |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 15 Jan 2018 3:23 pm
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After 20 years or so of playin, when I was gigging regularly my only regular "practice" consisted of listening to newer tunes in the car on the way to gigs. If there were unusual changes I might spend 15-30 minutes working something out, but that was about it.
During the first 20 years or so I'd practice 30 minutes here or there a few times a week, and bands would practice every week or two.
But as far as having a set "practice time" with tunes planned out and such I never did it for a few "time" reasons - job, family, and getting far more out of playing "for fun" rather than thinking of music as "drills", "exercises" and so on. I never had to apply much music theory due to the music I ended up playing, so dedicating time to related study wasn't a factor.
As unorthodox as it may be, I guess it worked - I had more gig offers than I had time for until health issues took me out of circulation.
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No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Bill McCloskey
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Posted 15 Jan 2018 3:28 pm
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You know at a point in my life, I was fascinated by close up magic, particularly card magic. and there is a card magician that every magician knows named Dai Vernon. He practiced constantly. From the moment he woke up until he passed out at night, he had a deck of cards in his hand either practicing, teaching someone something or performing.
He said he always hated the tricks that said: no skills or practice needed. He loved to practice. He said, if you don't have a true love of practicing, don't become a closeup magician.
I think that is how I feel about practicing music. I love to practice. If I could practice from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed, i'd do it. I like learning new things, getting them so they are are second nature. the physical aspect of playing. the sound, the mind/body connection.
Reminds me: time to practice.  |
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