General Music Chat

Ok first off i did do a search and i did not go through all 24 pages just a few so i hope i'm not repeating this topic but i probibly am...

The kids are gone the wife is at work and it's quiet (woohoo) so i'm getting a lil practise in and am just wondering how much people sat down and practised, i do atleast 4 times a week sometimes more.

One would have to define "practice" I guess.
I am most constantly going over stuff in my headbone.
As far as actual fret board time, it varies.
Last couple of weeks I've had no work, weather has been pleasant enough to get out to my gear in the evenings. And I have my "indoor" studio pretty well set up too.

On the drag, twice a week.
On the buzz, two to three hours a day 5 days a week ??

We tend to rehearse weekly 7pm - 9:30 /10 pm occasionally latter if preparing for a show.

Here is a practice regimen I have developed that may be of some interest. My main goal is to achieve accuracy, dexterity, finger independence and speed. The whole practice session takes about 3 hours on a moderate tempo setting (Metronome = 95 to 110 bpm/16th notes) and 5 days a week.

Broken down into segments, the regimen consists of:

1) Scales and Modes = 70 positions (Alternate Picking)
2) Cycle of 5ths/4ths (Alternate Picking)
3) Arpeggios = Major, Minor, Aug, Dim, Dom (Alternate Picking)
4) Chromatics on all frets (Alternate/Reverse Picking)
5) Hexatonics (Alternate Picking)
6) 7th arpeggios (Alternate Picking)
7) Triad Arpeggios (Sweep Picking)
8 ) Chord Inversions (Strumming/Fingerstyle)
9) Pentatonic Tapping (Tapping)
10) Sightreading (Aural/Visual Training)
11) Improvisation over Sequences (Free Form)

Hope that helps

Every day for at least an hour.

Chaeya

I don't practice anymore. I just play.

If I have to learn something thats over my head, I'll work up to it.
If I have to cram to learn a bunch of stuff, I guess that would be 'practice'.

Practice as in technical exercises? Nah.

I used to practice for hours a day when younger. I'm lucky if I get a few hours a week now. But we rehearse once a week, usually for the upcoming show and that's where I get my real workout.

If I am learning 40 or 50 songs for a new band, 3 hrs a day and 5 hrs on Sat.
Once I get the tunes memorized then my regimen is similar to jsantos but only 1 to 2 hrs a day.

Individual practice is 1 hour a day, more if I can stand it.

Rehearsal is 3x a week. As long as it lasts, I won't leave before someone else does.

Here is a practice regimen I have developed that may be of some interest. My main goal is to achieve accuracy, dexterity, finger independence and speed. The whole practice session takes about 3 hours on a moderate tempo setting (Metronome = 95 to 110 bpm/16th notes) and 5 days a week.

Broken down into segments, the regimen consists of:

1) Scales and Modes = 70 positions (Alternate Picking)
2) Cycle of 5ths/4ths (Alternate Picking)
3) Arpeggios = Major, Minor, Aug, Dim, Dom (Alternate Picking)
4) Chromatics on all frets (Alternate/Reverse Picking)
5) Hexatonics (Alternate Picking)
6) 7th arpeggios (Alternate Picking)
7) Triad Arpeggios (Sweep Picking)
8 ) Chord Inversions (Strumming/Fingerstyle)
9) Pentatonic Tapping (Tapping)
10) Sightreading (Aural/Visual Training)
11) Improvisation over Sequences (Free Form)

Hope that helps

It would take me three hours a day five days a week just to figure out what the hell your talking about.

:lol:

It would take me three hours a day five days a week just to figure out what the hell your talking about.

haha that's funny Sans!

It's just technical jargon for "playing up and down the scale".

Me thinks you should take this opportunity to record something. Practice is great and all, but practice can be done when people are sleeping, if you're really that hard up for it - and practicing for a week while everyone is gone I suppose is better than nothing, but if they're coming back and you're going to be back to not-practicing mode just because they're home, then all that practice will be for moot. Your body just doesn't learn that way - you need consistency in your routine, not one-offs.

That said, recording can be done while the cat is away. You get both practice in composing and recording, and you have something to show for it after it's done.

I practice after-hours 7x week, for at least 2 hours working on things that need improvement. I can do that quietly with headphones - recording on the other hand, requires solitude and the ability to crank something up every now and again - and that requires an empty house - so i would take advantage of an empty house to record.

Christian A.

Not much these days!

It depends on what Ive got going on. I do have a couple of shows coming up that I am prepping for. I just get out a songlist and go over parts of songs and make sure I remember them.

Me thinks you should take this opportunity to record something. Practice is great and all, but practice can be done when people are sleeping, if you're really that hard up for it - and practicing for a week while everyone is gone I suppose is better than nothing, but if they're coming back and you're going to be back to not-practicing mode just because they're home, then all that practice will be for moot. Your body just doesn't learn that way - you need consistency in your routine, not one-offs.

That said, recording can be done while the cat is away. You get both practice in composing and recording, and you have something to show for it after it's done.

I practice after-hours 7x week, for at least 2 hours working on things that need improvement. I can do that quietly with headphones - recording on the other hand, requires solitude and the ability to crank something up every now and again - and that requires an empty house - so i would take advantage of an empty house to record.

Christian A.

^^^^ That is a good post Chris!

Recording is somewhat a process that should be added to your practice regimen. Recording allows you to play back and critique your playing. I find recording useful to pinpoint what you need to work on the most. Practice is basically maintenance, to keep your skills that you have already acquired in top form. Balancing creativity with mundane practicing is the key to having a well-rounded musician.

I record rhytyms everytime I practice, so I don't let anything good I come up with get lost. Heh, I use one of those old Panasonic cassette players with the built in mic. It's been working great ever since I got it.

As far as time goes, it varies. I was practicing 5-7 hours a day after my ankle surgery. That really got me playing good. But now I usually play anywhere from 1-4 hours, about 4-5 days a week.

I like my regimen today. It's too easy to get burnt out playing 24/7. Although I'm not as good as I was when I lived guitar, I find practicing more enjoyable. Those months I had off really helped me learn a lot of new things though....too bad I didn't record anything from those days.

We are back to recording each rehearsal. I sometimes record practice but it's really rare.
Ray set up a web site just for the band to visit while practicing individually.
Chord sheets, melodies, rehearsal recordings both playable on the site or we can download them. We capture via my Zoom H4 and Rays lap top.
Good to have a geek for a front man.