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APT
Aloha
34 Posts |
 Posted - 09/08/2008 : 12:05:28 PM
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I'm wondering about two things:
1) How much do you practice?
2) HOW do you practice? Do you have an established routine? Do you just play what you feel like playing?
I'm trying to figure out how I can improve, and these two questions seem like reasonable places to start.
I've already learned a lot from this forum, so thanks to all of you who contribute.
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2008 : 12:21:26 PM
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| Usually I practice from a half an hour to an hour every day by playing or singing the song(s) I'm working on and then doing whatever ones I want to do. |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2008 : 3:54:57 PM
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Well, last year or so the baby has seriously cut into practice time. More about that later.
Before that - I practiced 1 - 1.5 hours, typically 5 days a week. Started with some warm up excercises, 10 minutes or so. Next 45 minutes or so on new material. I would work on a song for 10 - 15 minutes, take a break. Either go back to it or work on a different one. I would have 2 - 4 songs I'm trying to learn at any one time. Sometimes the 10 minutes block might not be a song, but a chord progression, a picking pattern, or some other "technical component." Then 20 - 30 minutes going over repetoire - playing songs I know, trying new riffs, na pa'ani, stuff like that.
Since baby came, I've spent more time working on guitar adaptations of existing music, frequently choral stuff. More like a paper excersize. I could keep the papers out on the dining room table and after putting him to bed I could sit there and work on stuff for 10 or 20 minutes. I wouldn't need to use the guitar too often.
Now that I'm getting back to playing, I spend much more time on technique - I worked out adaptation of Guiliani's 100 excercises for right hand, and also spend time argeggiating chords and playing short scales, like 4 - 8 note runs. Last couple of weeks I've been going over past repetoire, getting back to where I can play the stuff without too much embarrasment. I'm trying to spend 30 -45 minutes a day, unless exhaustion gets me first. I think the technical part has helped, because I'm getting back my technique faster that I would have in the past. |
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hikabe
Lokahi
USA
358 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2008 : 09:41:20 AM
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Play music when you are feeling artistic. Practice scales and chords and other mechanical skills when you don't feel artistic.
As a teacher, I see the effects of bad practice habits in the playing of some of my students. Don't skim over music. Play as if you are giving a performance. Don't cut measures to get to the next musical activity in a piece. Your music will flow better and not sound disjunct or choppy. Solve problems right away. Don't wait! Slow down passages that you are stumbling through until you can take it up to tempo. Accuracy is more important then speed. Learn it right the first time. Speed takes care of itself.
How much time you spend on an instrument each day depends on how well you wish to play. When I was 18, I played and practiced music more than 8 hours a day for about 5 years. I am a music fanatic. I was always studying several instruments at a time. But I would focus on one instrument and spend not less then 4 hours on that particular instrument everyday. Today, I spend at least 4 hours on some aspect of music or art. But I hardly practice. I have learned to be happy with my restrictions and not beat myself up for my limitations.
A good way to improve your playing is to play with others or with recordings. That interaction is important to help your timing and phrasing.
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Stay Tuned... |
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Allen M Cary
Lokahi
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2008 : 2:39:07 PM
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I will submit a reply to this based on my almost totally self taught methods. I am not an instructor, teacher or even a trained musician. I have picked up a fairly large repertoire of Slack key and other fingerstyle instrumental pieces over the years. I practice about an hour 3 to 4 times a week. Because many of the tunes I play are in different tunings, I will usually play through the repertoire in one tuning until I run out of things in that tuning, playing most songs at least twice. I have two guitars generally in different tunings, so I will then move to the other guitar and work on the melodies in that tuning. I try to play each song as if it were a performance, and work on particluar phrases if I am stumbling on anything.
If I am learning a new song, (right now I am working on the Native American, but not quite Hawaiian, Cherokee Morning Song arrangement from Bill Mize) I will play it over and over until there are complaints from the audience (wife). BTW this song has a lot of percussion that is new to my style, so I am concentrating on getting that to sound like it goes with the melody, rather than sounding "tacked on."
Anyway at this rate, an hour 3 to 4 times a week I can usually play everthing I know in a week. I try to do this because I find I will forget parts of even things I know well if I don't get to them at least once a week.
Hope this helps,
Aloha, Allen |
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APT
Aloha
34 Posts |
Posted - 09/10/2008 : 12:56:47 PM
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| Thank you, folks, for those suggestions. I especially like the points about speed and accuracy, and playing along with recordings. |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2165 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2008 : 4:19:29 PM
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| Ditto what Hikabe said. PLAY WITH OTHERS. That is the BEST WAY to "keep your knife sharp". Plus, you can "steal" licks and ideas. |
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Konabob
`Olu`olu
USA
928 Posts |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 09/11/2008 : 7:19:54 PM
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One tpi for memorizing - start from the end of the song, and go towards the beginning phrase by phrase. That way you're always ending with stuff you know. It makes it more fun and reinforces the learning.
There are many books on how to practice, and most of them have variations on the same ideas. I think all of the above is helpful. I think the biggest mistake people who have studied with me make is that they often keep repeating mistakes, thinking that somehow it will get better. You just get better at making the same mistake. Once you make a mistake the second time in the same place - stop, figure out what you are doing wrong and try different ways of attempting to get it right. And then, like Bra Duke advised, go back and place the passage in context.
The biggest mistake I made for a long time was a form of perfectionism. Deadly stuff - coming down on yourself for what you think are mistakes. I then happened to work with a teacher who helped me learn to take the mistake I just made and "amplify" it - play it again with more or various forms of emphasis. He also gave me a quote from Picasso that said that an artist will find the seeds of his own individuality in his mistakes. Changed the way I look at, understand and feel about music, practice, life, etc. Mistakes really aren't a big deal.
Lately I saw a quote by CHarlie Mingus that I look at every day. "Making the simple complicated is commonplace; Making the complicaed simple - awesomly simple - that's creativity." |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2165 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2008 : 05:35:54 AM
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Like Jack says, mistakes are just licks for other contexts. Jus' press.
Music is communication, best shared. |
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2008 : 06:46:26 AM
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| On the subject of mistakes, once you get to the point where you've learned a piece and can play through it reasonably well, I've found that it's really important to teach yourself to play through your mistakes instead of stopping and fixing them. If you keep making mistakes in the same places then you can practice those sections on their own, but otherwise it's more important from a performance standpoint (even if you're only performing for yourself) to keep the flow of the song going than to keep backing up and fixing things. |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 09/12/2008 : 08:23:39 AM
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The strongest dissonance in music is to be 1/2 step (1 fret on most stringed instruments) away from the correct note. What this really means is when you play a wrong note, you're only 1 fret away from a better choice. The propper reaction to this, is to move 1 fret up or down immediately. I suspect that this 'recovery from an error' technique is where bending, sliding, hammering and pulling off originated. These were -and are- used to make the mistake fit in. These tools have long been used for other creative purposes for a long time, but they still function for recovery as well as they ever did.
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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Trev
Lokahi
United Kingdom
265 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2008 : 06:05:17 AM
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I hardly ever practise. I play most nights though, at my local sessions, which is our version of a kanikapila (sp?), or at a gig.
Perhaps that's the trouble - when I get in from the day job, I know I'll be going out again in two hours time, and we've got to have something to eat, and I've maybe got other things to sort out, and sometimes I just want to sit down for a bit and not have to do anything.
As a result, I've got better at accompanying, keeping time, and playing with other people, which is great. However, I've not really learnt anything new to play myself for ages.
But I had last week off, and made a big effort not to watch the telly, or read the papers, turn on the computer, or do anything much at all apart from play some music. As a result I actually learnt some new things, so I'm going to put a bit of an effort in to do at least half an hour a day when I get home from work. You can always find half an hour in your day, and if you can't, then it's high time you made sure you had half an hour spare in your day.
It's been pointed out before, but a half hour a day (but make sure it is every day) will let you get better. If you do four hours once a week it won't be as effective. Little and often is the best way.
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2008 : 08:10:18 AM
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Kimo Hussey gave my `ukulele students some great advice: try to practice 15 minutes a day. That's long enough to keep things fresh, and for the students who enjoy it, they'll practice a lot more than that.
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Larry Goldstein
Lokahi
267 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2008 : 6:03:49 PM
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To quote from Keola Beamer and Mark Nelson's seminal instruction book, "Learn to Play Hawaiian Slack-Key Guitar, "This takes some time; at least practice half an hour a day. If you can't do that, then, why don't you just put this book in the bottom of your parrot cage, or something!"
I take this humorous admonishment to mean gentle discipline coupled with a sense of purpose.
Larry |
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hawaiianmusiclover06
`Olu`olu
USA
562 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2008 : 01:59:48 AM
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I try and practice the 'ukulele between 15 minutes to an hour a day so I can remember everything that I was taught by my 'ukulele teacher. I always remember this quote.... "Never practice when you are tired" because that's where you are going to make mistakes.
Alana :) |
Aloha Kakou, maluhia a me aloha mau loa (Hello everyone, peace and love forever) |
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