I have tried it both ways...playing along with a recorded tune, straight away..no scales, etc.then , working on various finger patterns for dexterity, and exercises in William Place Jr. methods book, some licks from Sir Tater's dots, then move on to my lesson tune or ones of interest.
I find a quick go through a few exercises give my fingers a readiness otherwise not realized but ..its boring, repetitive and kinda frustrating, reward factors low since conquering something I have not been able to do before is really difficult, lots of work to gain a small change towards the goal. Playing along with a tune at the computer works but find it uncomfortable to be in the space I have set up for that ..for too long. So I also try to get the tune in my head and just play it in locations I am more comfortable in, then revisit the dreaded computer chair. Seems the where factor is important here. So, if fingers seems stiff or lazy...exercises or tunes with lots of notes are used. Seems I have best chance for visual/with auditory effort to learn or get a tune. I think that its all very individual. Still searching for the magic bullet formula to use my time most effectively. I tend to try and get a minimum of one hour a day in, one way or tother. More sometimes. As for the concept of lazy, seems to me that is related to doing a challenging move over and over and over really helps but its so mechanical, so I have to make myself do it and am lazy cause I want the reward of the tune, not a little patch of it. I also often play something I am the most capable with ...to get a positive and motivating frame of mind going. Seems to me progress is half skill and half dealing with the mind game. I am making solid progress so must be doing something right but I never get where I want to be with a given tune, ever. If I make myself do it, working on the rough patches ...over and over really helps but requires persistence and sheer will to make myself do it. Its no good playing the same bit wrong every time through, for me better to notice those bits and work em out. The silly season is nearly launched so there are challenges to keep aside enough time to do regular practice. As one can see, there is no set strategy, currently using the shotgun approach depending on my mood, (just like this posting...all over the place) other things going on in life, etc. I think its all related ..how bad do I want it...and some days that is more than other days. I would love to have a set formula and make myself stick to it for 6 months or so to see what happens. linda On Nov 9, 10:18 am, Topher Gayle <[email protected]> wrote: > Wow - I am about to put my third post up here in one day. I am not sure if > that's a good or bad thing. > > I too am quite lazy, and practice, as such, rarely. I almost never do scales > and stuff like that. I am convinced that if I did I would be a much better > player. Sometimes I to try to work new things out, and somewhat less often, > I try to rehearse them to the point I can play them easily. As a result I > have a limited solo repertoire. > > Playing along with records is a wonderful thing to do. I recommend it > highly. My wife uses Band-in-a-box to practice with, and I credit her (well > organized and directed) time with that very clever and easy to use program > with her rapidly becoming a functional and accurate fiddler. She started > playing about 7 years ago age 50. She had not played anything before that > (well, a little folk guitar in high school). > > I will say that I get more out of frequent short sessions with the > instrument than I do with marathon sessions. And I think I get as much out > of noodling and jamming with myself as I do from any sort of program, but > that's just me and my scattered brain. This approach would not work for > folks like my highly organized, and in many ways wonderful wife. > > On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 3:08 PM, Terry Bullin <[email protected]> wrote: > > Lurk mode off. > > > In some of the recent posts, there was mention of being lazy and the need > > to practice more ect.... My question is, what is lazy? How much practice > > is enough? There is only so much time in the day. Tater, how much do you > > "practice" as opposed to playing/working. How much do the rest of you > > practice. > > I try to play some everyday. Some days it may be 2 or 3 hours, others, > > hardly at all. It just depend on what else I've got to do. If I don't > > have time, is that being lazy? > > > So when you practice, what do you do? Tunes, licks, runs, scales? > > Somebody told me years ago people shouldn't play by themselves (with no > > music) because they would develop their "own timing" and it would then be > > difficult to play with other musicians whose timing might not be the same. > > I've seen people who did that and really had trouble in a jam. So, I've > > always tried to play along with records or cds. Thats how I practice. I > > have most of my music on the computer now, so I just try to play along with > > one tune after the other. Is there is a better way? How do the rest of you > > practice? Is there a routine, a plan, a method to the madness? I'm just > > looking for other ideas and suggestions. > > > Lurk mode back on. > > > bull --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
