General Music Chat

What inspires you to practice? I go thru lulls when I can't find any reason to practice. An upcoming gig or a new song to learn may snap me out of it, but making practice a part of my daily routine can sometimes be hard. Share if you like.

Everyday for at least an hour and a half.

I practice quite a bit, but I don't have any real set schedule. I probably average 2.5 hours a day-and usually bounce between three different instruments.

If I'm not gigging or rehearsing with one of the bands, I practice 3+ hours a night. I do make it a point to take one night a week to spend with my wife and daughter. Sometimes I get more than one night, but usually I always have something that I need to learn or practice up on.

For instance, we just came up with a new covers set list with 45 new songs to learn...

It's natural. I don't really plan it. It just happens. I get an urge to pick up my guitar or to sing/hum some melody. Or I listen to a piece of music that inspires me to learn it or play over it.

I verry rarely go a day without playing, I listen to my music and other music evry chance i get threw the day and that keeps me inspired. I try to change my listening habits all the time, new stuff as ofteen as posible even if its not what I normaly play.


PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Practice Time Through The Years

18 - I slept with the damn thing. Practiced 8 hours a day.
25 - I played constantly. Sometimes chose it over sex.
35 - Sex started to win more. Still practiced at least an hour a day.
40 - Only practiced daily when a gig was approaching.
45 - Practice when inspired or the gf is gone. So maybe once a week.

I maintain 1-2 hours every other day UNLESS I need to get something worked out

I practice 2.5 hours a day unless I have an opera...then I treat it like a full time job and practice 6-8.
On a normal practice day it's an hour of voice, hour of piano, and either a half hour of guitar or music theory practice. I really wish I had more time to practice though.

Playin the jazz/swing side of BG, I have to practice ALOT soloing outta those weird chord inversions. ...Used to never have to practice drums or bass due to giggin 4-5 nites a week. BUT, As I head full steam into my 2nd puberty, a 2-3 HR practice (followed by nap)on the kit is becoming manditory on THUR before the weekend. Ill practice bass if its for a dance/funk gig,make sure stamina is up to snuff in my RH.We play aotta 9-2am gigs here. 60-70 tunes. Ill be doing my one man show soon (spring) on SUN 12-5pm, need vocal practice BAAAAD..
John

I have to be inspired to practice. These day not much inspiration. I probably won't practice much until a legitimate guitarist shows up and gets me FIRED UP.

You guys might think I'm crazy as does my wife and kids..but I've been practicing no less than 5 hours a day since January of '07 (that's when I picked up the guitar again after a 20 year reprieve) 7 days a week including Holidays...365 days a year .. Ya see... when I was younger, I had many pretty good private teachers who gave me many exercises to do along with all my college education (yup... I majored in music) so I set up a strict routine and start on my acoustic first doing every finger exercise known to man... than every major scale up and down the fretboard along with 7 different scale exercises... than my pentatonics and their different exercises... than my small arpeggios.. then my long arpeggioss... than all my chromatic scales and exercises.... than my "double note" scales" ... than all major and minor scales in 3 fingered chords ( F-Gm-Am-Bb-etc..) whew... and then I move on to my electric and go over a million songs I do with both bands (by this time, the electric feels like butter) and last but not least, I'll just throw a few tunes on and improvise like there's no tomorrow!..... EVERY SINGLE DAY I DO THIS... If it's Christmas day, I'lll get up extra early before all the family stuff happens just so I can get practicing!

Started playin' the axe since I was 12 with many private teachers and my 1st wife took all that away from me years ago and I picked it up again in '07 and wont look back!

im sorry but i hate the term practice,practice is something you do if you dont have it down.rehearse is a better term, in saying that , I rehearse 3 times a week for about 3 to 4 hrs and I practice safe sex always

Not nearly enough these days, & I really need to, to get this hand going. Our band is having a hard time with scheduling practices, & I'm not really very inspired these days. I've had a helluva time with illness this winter, & all I can seem to do is find excuses to not do stuff.

To me, 'rehearse' means to go over what you or your band will present in public - including new changes, going over song order, asking others to try something different, and incorporating new things into songs. Rehearsal includes passing out songs lists and lyrics and such, and discussing what to record next, and rehearsing any songs which could be better.
And playing your butts off . . .
And rehearsal includes adding changes to songs. Anyone who can never find new changes - is stagnant.
That's where practice comes in.
The only people who don't practice, are those who think they know it all.
Every know-it-all whom I've ever had the misfortune of working with was one of two things: someone with a narrow range of interests or abilities, or someone with an abrasive personality.
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ummm - yeah, anyway . . .
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'Practice' is something you do by yourself. Practice is: going over brand new songs, learning new chords, finding new rhythms, trying new stuff . . . and then doing it well enough to rehearse it with the band.
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People who show up at rehearsals w/o first practicing on their own, - are time-wasters . . .
Nothing worse than trying to rehearse with someone who never practices on their own; you'll wind up showing them the same stuff, over and over, because they never practice.
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Here's a way to remember the difference, "If you want to rehearse with me, then you'd better practice.

I rehearse w/ my group 1 - 2 times a week.
I practice about 1 - 2 times a day.
I write lyrics about 3 - 4 hours a week.
I review my musical notes (new ideas and such) about once a week.
I listen to recorded new song ideas about once a day.
I edit tracks or songs about 10 hours/week/
I record new material about 5 - 10 hours a week.