2019 Practice and Getting Better

dean111music

Does anyone have any Practice regimes to reach there goals for 2019?

I always set new goals and write out what i need to practice then last for about 2 weeks then i get bored.

This year I'm determined to be more disciplined and stick at small things most days to get better. Eg, I'll learning one phrase from a player that grabs my ear, get inside it more, learn the note choice, learn the rhythm correctly, the feel, nuance and get my own ideas from that one phrase.

I normally try to learn a whole solo or a whole song but i often get bored so i'll going to learn smaller chunks with the hope of developing.

Do some people on here learn like this and has it worked for them?

I'll be interested to hear what anyone else is working on   

m_c

That sounds all too familiar!

Last year was full of learning little snippets of songs for me, with very little work on basic techniques. I often started with good intentions, but got bored. I think my biggest problem is I've got to be able to apply what I'm learning, so when I spend a couple weeks doing some like learning country riffs, I get a mix of bored/fail to remember them, as I'm not actually applying them.

The same applies to theory. I find that going through a basic progression/riff, and seeing how the theory applies to it, helps me actually understand, apply, and most importantly remember the theory.

However, I'm at the point where I'm considering getting some proper lessons, as I feel I could do with somebody to help me set goals, and push myself.

octatonic

The most important quality for a musician to possess is ambition.
I don't mean ambition in the sense of being a famous, but simply having the determination to gut out the hard, boring bits- of which there are many.

You simply have to do the work.
I used to think that anyone could get to high standard of musical skill simply by doing this work.
This is still, to a degree, true, but having taught many students I've concluded that most people simply don't want to or don't have it in them to do it, so they end up kidding themselves about how much work they do, or how much it takes.

It isn't for me to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do- but there are more rewarding hobbies if you just want to do something to fill a couple of days a week.

Music requires dedicated daily practice to get good and then stay good.
It is up you whether you want to do it.

dean111music

yeah thats very true about applying what you learn or not being able which is often the case. I suppose what makes people have there unique sound is trying to find ways in which to use and apply these ideas into a different genre? That could be a fun thing to do. 

 

dean111music

octatonic said:

The most important quality for a musician to possess is ambition.
I don't mean ambition in the sense of being a famous, but simply having the determination to gut out the hard, boring bits- of which there are many.

You simply have to do the work.
I used to think that anyone could get to high standard of musical skill simply by doing this work.
This is still, to a degree, true, but having taught many students I've concluded that most people simply don't want to or don't have it in them to do it, so they end up kidding themselves about how much work they do, or how much it takes.

It isn't for me to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do- but there are more rewarding hobbies if you just want to do something to fill a couple of days a week.

Music requires dedicated daily practice to get good and then stay good.
It is up you whether you want to do it.

That’s really good advice! And I think everyone can relate too. We do kid ourselves, everyone can work harder but make excusses. I think with YouTube and seeing and hearing all these amazing players you always doubt yourself as a player. But really it’s the attitude of saying I can, Iwant and will get to the best of my ability which makes the good players turn into amazing players.

if you where giving advice to your students and your self what would you practice and work on the most? 

octatonic

dean111music said:

octatonic said:

The most important quality for a musician to possess is ambition.
I don't mean ambition in the sense of being a famous, but simply having the determination to gut out the hard, boring bits- of which there are many.

You simply have to do the work.
I used to think that anyone could get to high standard of musical skill simply by doing this work.
This is still, to a degree, true, but having taught many students I've concluded that most people simply don't want to or don't have it in them to do it, so they end up kidding themselves about how much work they do, or how much it takes.

It isn't for me to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do- but there are more rewarding hobbies if you just want to do something to fill a couple of days a week.

Music requires dedicated daily practice to get good and then stay good.
It is up you whether you want to do it.

That’s really good advice! And I think everyone can relate too. We do kid ourselves, everyone can work harder but make excusses. I think with YouTube and seeing and hearing all these amazing players you always doubt yourself as a player. But really it’s the attitude of saying I can, Iwant and will get to the best of my ability which makes the good players turn into amazing players.

if you where giving advice to your students and your self what would you practice and work on the most? 

If you can gut it out and do the work then things will happen but you have to have faith and stay the course.
As to what you should practice, it depends on what you want to achieve.
If you want to be a shredder, or a blues musician, or a jazzer then you need to approach things a bit differently, although I recommend that everyone know the following:

1. names of the notes on the fingerboard
2. major/minor scales and modes + pentatonic in at least 3 keys, ideally all of them.
3. how to harmonise the major scale.

Beyond that it really depends, but the main thing is repertoire. 
Too many guitarists forget to learn songs- everyone should know a lot of songs.

Try learning a song a day for a month- you don't need to learn every note, but just be able to busk it to an acceptable level.
At the end of the month you'd be 30 songs richer.

Fez

I agree with @octatonic a lot of people just learn snippets of songs, just the riff or intro. I prefer to learn whole songs and sometimes I record backing track on reaper to help. I am thinking of doing Hurdy Gurdy man by Donovan as a mini project outside of what I need to learn for the band. Also I am interested in improving my fingerstyle playing Clawhammer etc. (Donovan again).

hollywoodrox

I was doing ok last year Jan  to October ,getting a couple of hours a day in doing various stuff , then stomach trouble and depression hit me , wiped out a lot of progress as I barely did anything til Christmas .new start next week after Monday jam night .

baldy

Between work & family commitments I often have periods when I find it hard to either find the time or motivation to practice every day, which I know I should.
Having lessons for  the last few months of last year helped me progress as it gave structure to me my practice as I had to learn things for the following weeks lesson.
I haven"t had any lessons for just over a month now & found, especially with Xmas & New Year in that time, that I hardly picked up a guitar, & when I did I just played things I already knew well.
I will be re-starting lessons before the end of this month & hopefully continuing them as it definitely stops me being lazy & gives me the motivation to learn & progress. 

JAYJO

If i cant get to my guitar i will do something relative like music theory, videos on youtube etc. I dabble with plugins and Reaper it keeps me motivated. Being away from everything for a long period of time is a hard habit to break. new things take over . snakes and ladders.

stratcat

octatonic said:

The most important quality for a musician to possess is ambition.
I don't mean ambition in the sense of being a famous, but simply having the determination to gut out the hard, boring bits- of which there are many.

You simply have to do the work.
I used to think that anyone could get to high standard of musical skill simply by doing this work.
This is still, to a degree, true, but having taught many students I've concluded that most people simply don't want to or don't have it in them to do it, so they end up kidding themselves about how much work they do, or how much it takes.

It isn't for me to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't do- but there are more rewarding hobbies if you just want to do something to fill a couple of days a week.

Music requires dedicated daily practice to get good and then stay good.
It is up you whether you want to do it.

This is so true and in today's two minute attention spell world, so much more difficult for people to come to terms with.
We are all guilty of it.
My recommendation is stick to what you want to do, don't be a butterfly. For years I flitted between playing rock, blues, jazz, classical etc and it wasn't until I decided that it was jazz or nothing that I really started to make progress in that genre. Don't get me wrong, I played in pub rock bands and was no slouch, but focussing on that one genre really made the difference.
Stick to what you want to do and don't get distracted.

57Deluxe

When you teach, you tend to stick to tried and tested songs/riffs etc but every so often a new student or a student gaining in confidence throws a curved ball at you and you are somewhat beholden to give it a go an in such a way that they are able to embrace it also. THIS tends to be my practice regime these days...

DulcetJones

  Whether it's  just to attend an open stage with a plan to only do 2 or 3 songs or you're in a band/duo/whatever that has an actual gig on the calendar.    Nothing moves people like a deadline.  I urge my students to always keep a guitar out and ready to pick up and play at any time, spending 5 minutes here and there a few times a day is really effective, and having a "set list" of the music you're striving to learn in mind will move you forward.

thomasross20

Agree @octatonic ;
BTW what are the more rewarding hobbies? Half-serious with that question..!

thomasross20

Lots of great advice here. I'm no teacher or master player but I always found:

- stick to one or two styles.
- Learn the major scale & its modes in all positions with root starting low E and A string. 
- Learn fretboard notes (I'm still poor at this)
- Sit down little and often and just work through it. WORK!!
- Defo learn songs. 
- Switch between acoustic and electric. Helps so much, for me, anyway.. improves technique, new take on things etc.

Also I realise I need to learn the pentatonics a bit more because although I know the modes near inside-out, switching between major and minor I never quite target the right "feel" - The basic pentatonic has to sit over it I now realise as just remembering a bunch of shapes isn't enough. 

Also what I've found, from a technical point of view... is that a break can be a good thing. If I come back something after some time and the previous problem was tense hands/incorrect technique, that break really helps to re-focus and bring things to light... if that makes sense.

Deadlines and bands also a good motivator. And lessons (though I never really took guitar lessons - shame on me).

Defo need an inspiration and ambition as has been said. It's a solitary and time-consuming task. Truly a labour of love.

octatonic

thomasross20 said:

Agree @octatonic ;
BTW what are the more rewarding hobbies? Half-serious with that question..!

The usual hobbies that people get into really- football, cycling, motorcycles, hookers and coke.

thomasross20

Lol ..yeah. 

For me there are two types of hobbies. Those like guitar which require serious effort.. and all the rest. 

I've always been the sort to stick to one or two things and try to get good at those things. But I can also see that variety is the spice of life and do wonder if a happier life would be to try many different things but never become great. I think the latela might give you more frequently happiness.. but a happiness which isn't as deep and rewarding.

Lestratcaster

Break down long term goals into smaller achievable realistic ones. So for example, the long term goal is to play the "Beat It" solo or something.

So the shorter term goals is to get the individual phrases right at a tempo so the rhythm is right. So each day could be a different part of the solo for example. 

Make lists as well, and tick it off once you have done it, this is more for like grades or something though. So I would say "play this scale up and down 4 times to this tempo...." once they can do it, no mistakes they tick it off. Sounds a bit strict and military but that's what grades are.

dean111music

Thanks for all your advice. Will definitely write some goals out for long term and short goal.

will write a list of songs that I want to learn and try to stick to them and get them gig ready! 

duotone

I bought a new book at the end of last year to try and motivate me. Might be worth a watch

https://youtu.be/rCUicrtYabU

dean111music

https://mattwarnockguitar.com/30-minute-daily-practice-routine-for-the-busy-guitarist/

This looks a good practice regime? Anyone tried?