Practice make perfect.
Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent.
Perfect practice makes perfect.
Fast practice, slow results, slow practice, fast results, no practice, no
results.
Do, or do not, there is no try - Yoda
No matter how much you buy into the practice cliches the truth remains the same; nothing can kill you best intentions like a crazy week. An illness in the family, and extra project at work or school, or a much deserved weekend away from home will usually wreak havoc on your weekly results with the guitar. So what to do because, guess what, the crazy week is here to stay. Here's how I deal with it: I don't practice -and then I do practice.
I remember in driving school one my classmates asked the instructor what to do if an accident with an oncoming car was completely unavoidable? “hit it,” he said. It was good advice.
In a sky diving class I heard a student asked what they should do if their auxiliary parachute does not open. “Don't stop trying,” he wisely recommended.
Okay, it's three in the morning and you finally finished that big project you needed to have done by tomorrow. There is no way you are going to take your guitar out and start enjoying playing Blackbird. So what to do? Just don't practice. Skip it, forget about it. And then ... think about your week coming up. Pick a long time when nothing is going on and you might enjoy playing, then guard that stretch of time like a hawk. Remember, practice time is either scheduled or captured it is never happened upon.
If you scheduling fails, then it is time to resort to plan B -and then B very sure to B there!
Everyone has trouble finding time to practice. What do you do to try to make it work? I’d like to hear about it.
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14 comments:
I'm discovering that it isn't really about making the time - it's finding the energy, because it's definitely work, especially if I have a number of challenging pieces or exercises. And true to overachieving form, I always want to do too much, too fast. So I get intimidated because I expect too much from my practice sessions, and end up burying my head in a book instead of picking up the guitar.
This week, I decided to focus on doing small things well: for example, the transition between the second and third measures in "Remembering Linda." I'm not trying to play the whole piece. I'm not even trying to play the first line. I'm just working on the chord transitions one at a time, as slowly as I need to. It's not perfect. But it was better yesterday than it was the day before, and better today than it was yesterday.
So for me, I'm starting to think it's not really the time. It's creating the right mindset. (Do I hear a resounding "duh" from your corner, David?)
As usual Jess, you are right on target. Richard Provost in his book, The Art and Technique of Practice says "Preparation for practice is the most important step in the learning process. Being relaxed makes us receptive to learning."
I agree totally with Jess, it's not finding the time that's difficult, it's finding the energy. However, what I am finding is that the longer I take lessons, the more addicted to the guitar I become, and that addiction tends to over power the energy lows I occasionally encountered.
Some of the practice techniques that I find useful are to have a dedicated space for practicing and some form of timing device. I converted the computer room into the guitar room now that I have a laptop running wirelessly. This gives me a space which I can keep everything setup for easy access to practice. Use of an egg timer provides me the means with which to monitor the time spent on each piece as well as the entire practice session. I try to spend at least an hour practicing but I don't spend the entire practice session JUST practicing David’s assignments. I dedicate approximately 65%-75% of the practice session to the assignments and the remainder of the time to either previously learned pieces or pieces that I am pursuing on my own. This allows me to stay current on old pieces that I favor and satisfy the psyche of actually “playing the guitar”. I also believe in taking a day off from practice, especially if I’ve really been dedicated and met all of my practice goals for the week. It gives my mind a break and my body time to heal, in addition to reinvigorating my enthusiasm.
I try to play after school every day for 20+ minutes and get into a routine.
"Ariellery!" screams my father each night that he wants me to practice. Then I practice for about 15 minutes. 3
I think one of the most important things you can do is try to practice a little bit every day, even if it's only for five minutes. Even if it's a song you already know well (or think you know well).
Practice is a habit, and not playing, even for a few days, makes me rusty.
I also find that there's interia around not practicing. And before I know it, it's the night before my lesson and I'm cramming. Not the way to do it!
My largest problem is that when I come home from work, doing anything other than reading, cooking or vegging is farthest from my mind. What I need to do is train myself to equate practice to relaxing.
Of course, I feel that I am the only one in the world that doesn't make enough time to practice.
Dave and I have discussed this before, and he's helped me by altering my curriculum to bring it more in line with my likes and minimizing dislikes.
I feel light years behind where I should be, and realize that if I put in sufficient effort (on certain things that appeal), I could catch up quickly. But, when do reality and practicality intersect? ;-)
Jess' comment about creating the right mindset was right on! I look at practice as a chance to improve my skills, learn something new, and/or just have fun. I do try to practice 4 -5 days a week, because when I do practice, I usually spend at least an hour playing. I also enjoy playing pieces I've learned in the past to build the repertoire of songs that I can play, even though the only one I play for is myself. I enjoy the music, and I enjoy being able to create the music.
Specific techniques that I have found helpful are: (1) when learning a new piece, I use the metronome to help learn the flow and to accurately execute the song from the onset of learning it; (2) I pause between each group of notes so that when I play it, it is correct and sounds beautiful - this has helped me to learn the proper fingering, etc., and usually within the week, I am playing it much, much better; and the sound is richer and fuller; (3) I try to spend some time during each practice on improving technique, either through scales, exercises , and/or Segreras exercises. David even has me reviewing Music Theory, which at times can be boring, since I learned it years ago on the piano, but I understand that he's using it as a tool to get me more familiar with the notes, chords, and progressions on the guitar, and that it will help me to become a better guitarist. That's my goal, so anything that helps is desirable!
Great advice! I play guitar, piano, and clarinet so I just practice them all together.
I'm most inclined to practice when there is a really hard piece otherwise I don't feel motivated to practice. I always do just enough to get by.
I like what Duke Graham said about equating practice to relaxing. After a hard day at the office, I need to take myself somewhere else and I shouldn't decompress by vegging out in front of the TV. I should embrace my practice session as not a chore but a very healthy way to relax. After all, I'm not a professional guitarist so I'm not under the gun to learn several pieces for an upcoming gig (except the Winter Recital!!).
I concur, big boy (whoa, that sounded very Marilyn Monroe). Found myself doing the very same thing last night - had a stress-inducing houseguest this weekend, and after I got back from the airport, I locked myself in my office and practiced/played until my fingers were too sore...and that was the only thing that finally made me stop. But I realized that while I was blowing off steam, I was actually accomplishing a lot. Go figure.
One of the things I remember about my first lesson was David saying the sort of progress he liked to see seemed to come about when people spent at least 40 minutes a day five days a week practicing. That cemented something in my mind, coming to guitar lessons as an adult. If I was going to sign up, and pay the money, and really learn, I had to be willing to do the work. I was thrilled to have expectations set out so clearly so I always kept that 40 minutes/5X a week thing in the back of my mind.
To do it, I had to do it. No duh. What worked for me was making it a part of my routine. I practice when I get home from work before I let myself turn the TV on. For me, it signals a shift; my brain stops worrying about work and gets caught up in the mechanics of what it is doing with the guitar. Music only comes to me with a lot of effort, but having that little "reset button" in my brain when I practice was one of the first and most immediate benefits that I realized when I began to play.
Jess is right, it's all about where your head is at..
Just like anything else that takes some effort, you have to prepare your mind as you do when you exercise or write a computer program etc...once your there, if your in the right place, good things happen...if I'm relaxed, not worrying about messing up and think of it has fun and just play, then I play better and I can get through previous obstacles with ease...
After a year of some major transitions, I've actually been preparing myself physically, set up a music room, organizing my music and I'm working on the mental part getting back to meditation and yoga to become balanced once again...then I can catch up and play like a pro one day..
bottomline, i'm going to do what I need to do to get where I want to be...that's practice, practice then practice some more and listen to Dave ; ) no doubt, I'll become pretty d'm good if I stick with it!
after all, we all just wanna be rock stars ; )
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