some thoughts on practicing

  1. Every session. Find mistake. Ask why? Create exercise to remedy. Reintroduce to tune
  2. Have a clear target. Not just a goal, a target. Goals seem too broad. A target is narrow and precise.
  3. 10,000 kicks
  4. Pick a good hammer. Choose a few choice tools/devices/licks and make everything a nail. It seems to be what the great improvisers of old did.
  5. Listen Deeply when you practice.
  6. Belief may be essential. You have to believe you are special. You have to believe you are magic. But, it must be uncovered. It is buried deep beneath much rock and clay. You must dig it out. Dig most every day.  Some days, rest.
  1. Practice is for practice. Don’t spend too much time on stuff you already know, except to warm up.
  2. Forwards and Backwards. Creates variety and the ability to use the device elsewhere. Scales, fragments, licks, etc.
  3. Rehearsals are not individual practice time, they are focused on ensemble playing. Get you stuff together on your own time.
  4. Guitar is an athletic endeavor, especially if you play acoustic, in particular gypsy.
  5. Relax
  6. No, Seriously, Relax
  7. Muscle it. Contrary to the relax. You need to develop volume and tension. Then maybe you can blend the two. But volume won’t seem to happen without it.
  8. Use metronome- to mark progress and push yourself.
  9. push yourself
  10. relax
  11. push
  12. Have fast days and slow days. Don’t try extented fast every day, you will hurt yourself. Don’t only do slow days, you will never get fast.
  13. Don’t use metronome. Forcing yourself to listen more closely to articulation and rhythm without metronome covering anything or making it sound more driving than it really is.
  14. Different strokes for different folks. Getting to the same place as others may take a different path for you. Depends on which habits you need to correct.
  15. Practice can be meditation. Single-minded focus.
  16. Real practice is hard.
  17. You can’t just flail away and hope fir the best. You must dig into the nitty gritty. It’s taxing.
  18. Record or use play alongs. They can be a great help and barometer.

  19. “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” -Bruce Lee (Bruce Lee Quotes)

  20. “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.” -Bruce Lee

  21. “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”  ~Bruce Lee
  22. “Rule number one: for speed you must compromise volume. There is no other way, you can’t play ultra-fast and ultra-loud at the same time.” Thomas Lang
  23. Take a walk. A walk makes everything better.
  24. Areas of developement:
    1. Muscle development
      1. RH
      2. LH
    2. Scale patterns
      1. LH patterns
      2. RH patters
      3. symetry between both
    3. Arpeggios
      1. LH
      2. RH
      3. Symetry