Have you ever given up on trying to master something?

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E.g have you given sweep picking a good attempt then decided it was never going to be fluid?or is there a chord that you might get if you spent an hour a day for months but just didn't think it was worth the effort?.Is everyone of the opinion that anyone can can learn anything IF they put the time in?   
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    E.g have you given sweep picking a good attempt then decided it was never going to be fluid?or is there a chord that you might get if you spent an hour a day for months but just didn't think it was worth the effort?.Is everyone of the opinion that anyone can can learn anything IF they put the time in?   
    It isn't just about the time- it is about having the correct approach.
    I've seen people try to learn something like sweep picking for years and never get there because they have the wrong approach- usually not playing slow enough, not working to a metronome, not being consistent in their approach to practice.

    You can learn things in a surprisingly short amount of time if you have the right approach- I'm talking months, not years.
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  • martmart Frets: 5205
    Playing guitar.
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  • octatonic said:
    E.g have you given sweep picking a good attempt then decided it was never going to be fluid?or is there a chord that you might get if you spent an hour a day for months but just didn't think it was worth the effort?.Is everyone of the opinion that anyone can can learn anything IF they put the time in?   
    It isn't just about the time- it is about having the correct approach.
    I've seen people try to learn something like sweep picking for years and never get there because they have the wrong approach- usually not playing slow enough, not working to a metronome, not being consistent in their approach to practice.

    You can learn things in a surprisingly short amount of time if you have the right approach- I'm talking months, not years.
    Absolutely, a huge part of learning how to play the guitar, is learning how to learn to play the guitar.....
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10357
    babysnake said:
    octatonic said:
    E.g have you given sweep picking a good attempt then decided it was never going to be fluid?or is there a chord that you might get if you spent an hour a day for months but just didn't think it was worth the effort?.Is everyone of the opinion that anyone can can learn anything IF they put the time in?   
    It isn't just about the time- it is about having the correct approach.
    I've seen people try to learn something like sweep picking for years and never get there because they have the wrong approach- usually not playing slow enough, not working to a metronome, not being consistent in their approach to practice.

    You can learn things in a surprisingly short amount of time if you have the right approach- I'm talking months, not years.
    Absolutely, a huge part of learning how to play the guitar, is learning how to learn to play the guitar.....
    That is something I know now but wish I knew 30 years ago ..... course back then I knew everything!!
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • Life.
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  • JezWyndJezWynd Frets: 6021
    mart said:
    Playing guitar.
    This. I picked up the guitar again after a break of over 20 years. While I was never going to be a player, over the course of a couple of years, practising daily, I built up some dexterity and learnt to play badly quite well. About 6 months ago I purchased a bass, it used to be my main instrument and I got very caught up with it and as a result didn't pick up the guitar for three months. When I eventually came back to the guitar again, all my hard won fluidity had completely deserted me and I was faced with starting over again. Again. At this point I threw my toys out the pram and decided to give up on the 6 string and stay with bass. I still have a 6 string beater around the house but I abandoned my guitar practice, sold a lot of now redundant kit and settled on the bass instead.
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  • CatthanCatthan Frets: 355
    Paraphrasing @octatonic using someone else's quote, "not all practice makes perfect, perfect practice makes perfect"
    Extending this, smart and focused brings results faster.
    These both sound a bit "new age-y" and soft; I guess the tricky bit is that "perfect, smart and efficient" is different to everyone, i.e. diff. methods work for diff. people and although contemporary tutors catch up into these ideas, we still have to do the work to find out what works best for ourselves. 

    I've worked on flashy techniques on and off throughout the years, sweeping being one of them.
    Unfortunately I'm the type of person who gets distracted and bored easily so what I found is more efficient and practical for me (practical being the key word) is to work on the technique required for a certain phrase - lick that I want to implement in my vocabulary and make it fit in the context of a given song or progression.
    e.g. if I'm planning a solo out and want to stick in a fast ascending passage somewhere, I work on the notes (melody) and then practice the technique I believe will fit the passage. If said passage "demands" ,say, alt. picking I'll work on my alt. picking for that passage only. I won't spend the time to perfect my alt. picking in whole.
    But I'll endeavour to find the most efficient way to make my alt. picking for this passage great. The end result may not necessarily work as well on a diff. set of strings or fingering pattern but I don't care about that.
    Although, if you're smart about it, by doing more of this it will eventually become easier to move things around and make things work over a broader range of scenarios (string sets, scales, fingerings etc).  

    Long post and perhaps out of topic. To answer the op's question, YES. I've dropped practicing techniques many times because I got bored or due to bad learning habits and distractions and probably because this way of practicing didn't suit me.
    Nowadays I don't think of technique practice like this but as I explained above. 
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  • I think the Yoda quote 'Do or do not do, there is no try' is very applicable to practice.

    We can try to play various techniques at speed and will probably fail. But slowing things down to the point where you cannot fail, then you will always 'do'. It's then a case of working on the speed.

    Clive Carroll has spoken about applying the marginal gains approach used in sport, where you focus on a specific area and improve that, rather than trying to tackle the whole.

    At the same time, it is important to work with your strengths. Some techniques will come easier to some people than it does to others.
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  • Tapping, I would say. I would have to learn to hold my plectrum differently for a technique that I would use sparingly to say the least.

    Oh and I gave up learning to play the violin. Jesus wept.
    I'm just a Maserati in a world of Kias.
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  • I like jazz blues players like Wes Montgomery, but decided fairly early on that I wasn't willing to put in the work to master the octave style that a lot of those players feature.  I know it wouldn't be all that tough to do, at least at a level of basic competence, if I put in the hours, but it just doesn't seem worth it just to double up your single notes. I wonder if Wes would have bothered if he had some of the pedal options that are available today.
    “To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.”
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  • LewyLewy Frets: 4126
    In a weird zen-type way, my ability has come on leaps and bounds since "giving up" in a more general sense. I've gone through a journey of being a busy semi pro, to playing music full time, and now as a full-time employed family man doing the occasional gig and festival, writing songs and playing at home for my own sanity....and I'm a way better player now since entering the latter mode, learning new things and developing new proficiencies at an almost exponential rate. 

    I guess the psychology of being an adult learner has a lot to do with it. I've read that adults tend to over-estimate what can be achieved in a short period of time but massively under-estimate what can be achieved in a slightly longer period of time. That's what makes it feel like learning is harder as an adult. If you combine a desire to learn with not really minding when (or even if) you reach your goals you put yourself closer to the psychology of a child learner and somehow you learn quicker.

    In terms of how that translates to learning techniques, it means being more relaxed about taking time and focussing on fundamentals. Now I don't think there's any technique I'd give up trying to learn on the basis that I might never get there, it would only be if I decided it was too much effort for whatever enhancement it would bring to the music I wanted to make.

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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I spent 7 years wrestling with the Chapman stick. I could get music out of it and quite frankly people were amazed, but I just couldn't do what I wanted to with it and ultimately gave up. I still have it - not really played for about 7 years now. I keep thinking that I should have a go again as it would be nice to get back to where I was.
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    axisus said:
    I spent 7 years wrestling with the Chapman stick. I could get music out of it and quite frankly people were amazed, but I just couldn't do what I wanted to with it and ultimately gave up. I still have it - not really played for about 7 years now. I keep thinking that I should have a go again as it would be nice to get back to where I was.
    I've considered going for a Chapman or a Warr.

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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    octatonic said:
    axisus said:
    I spent 7 years wrestling with the Chapman stick. I could get music out of it and quite frankly people were amazed, but I just couldn't do what I wanted to with it and ultimately gave up. I still have it - not really played for about 7 years now. I keep thinking that I should have a go again as it would be nice to get back to where I was.
    I've considered going for a Chapman or a Warr.

    Be warned, it's a tough challenge! I thought that my piano playing would be a big help, but the two handed tapping thing really is a beast of its own.
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  • Sweep picking.  Partly because I wasn't progressing and partly because my heart wasn't in it.  Not my thing.  I gave flamenco a pretty good run but never mastered the holy grail: The Bulerias.  It's more a form of flamenco than a particular song but I think you have to grow up in Spain surrounded by people who can and do play this style to really get it.

    “Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay


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