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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink Let's Practice Every Day

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Some thing Richard Lloyd, formerly of Television once said

Learn small groups of notes at a time only 3 or 4 before moving onto the next group.Do it slowly so there are no mistakes.

Work out the note relations with the Key and the underlying chord while doing this.

I have found this "slowing down to go faster" works as I can play longer sequences from memory learnt this way

Freshwater Surfin'

The Murray Basin
Australia

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Last edited: Mar 10, 2020 14:57:41

A worthy bump and a worthy goal! I should definitely practice more!

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Last edited: Mar 10, 2020 14:57:24

I have replaced "practicing" with "composing". With a mind-set of composing, I'm more free to experiment and push my boundaries. Once I have a few new ideas to work on, I "practice" those as I continue to add new parts......kind-of makes the idea of "practicing" more fun. (Read: something you would look forward to doing)...just my 2 cents.

Although I know that it can be difficult at times to even FIND the time. Even just 5 minutes a day can be beneficial....(just like exercising)

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

Playing Surf is how I practice. Let me elaborate:

Many years ago, I had a lot of ideas, but was a sloppy player with horrible technique. A fine instructor confronted me and basically forced me to face the fact that I was all over the place, with regard to technique.

This was followed by roughly a year of woodshedding scales; two octave scales with very precise fingerings, followed up with linear arpeggios u and down the neck. It was painful, but I was well motivated by the fact that this instructor was only four years older than I and could play circles around me. Eventually, it paid off.

When I play Surf, these very techniques are put to good use and playing a Surf classic is a lot more entertaining than just playing scales and arpeggios. In either case, I'm able to maintain the discipline of my training, all those years ago. (I won't say exactly when, but KC and the Sunshine Band were ascendant at the time.) Smile

When I watch videos made by some of the players whom frequent this forum, I am often impressed by their discipline and clean technique. One might not expect the comparison, but in many ways, it's like watching a classical player at work.

Windmill's comment, at the top of page four, strikes me as important. "I have found this 'slowing down to go faster' works as I can play longer sequences from memory learnt this way." When I was woodshedding those scales, I learned that I had to slow down in order to get through the hard parts. This applies to every aspect of playing; if you can't playing it correctly at 1/2 speed, you can ever hope to play it correctly at full speed.

The term is "procedural memory". Many people use the term "muscle memory", but I see that as a misleading term. Muscles don't remember, but the brain, which connects very directly to various muscles, does remember.

Humans use procedural memory all the time. When you approach your car, without thought, you reach into your pocket a few steps before arriving, and fetch your keys from your pocket. You don't think about it consciously, it's almost a learned reflex, but in reality, it is a learned procedure. When you were a child and didn't drive, you approached a car and waited for the driver to unlock your door. When you learned to drive, you had to learn a simple procedure in order to have your keys ready in time to open the door without waiting. It is a perfect example of procedural memory.

The beauty of this is that once you've been playing for a number of years, you will have memorized numerous procedures and playing a song comes down to knitting a series of procedures together and executing them smoothly, without delay. Mistakes almost always occur at the transition points where one procedure segues into another. But there is a downside as well:

If you practice poor technique, you will be effectively memorizing sub-optimal procedures. If you knit these together into a song, you might find yourself executing a beautiful downward arpeggio, but being on the wrong finger and having to make a clumsy transition to the next passage. At least that's how it was with me.

What I learned after studying all of this technique was to think in terms of triads and arpeggios (which can effectively be pieced together as a series of triads) which I use as a way to orient myself to the neck and to posture myself to move effectively on the fingerboard.

For example, if I'm playing a G on the low E string and am in the key of G Major, chances are I'll finger that note with my second finger, because that would be the fingering I would use to begin a G Major arpeggio from that position. Were I in G minor, I would probably use my first finger. It comes down to where you are (the note you are playing) influenced by where you came from (the sequence of notes that led you to this point) and where you are going (if I descended in G Major but my next passage was in G minor, I might use the first finger instead of the second).

As I said earlier, Surf is a great platform for practicing these techniques.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

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Last edited: Mar 10, 2020 14:57:04

Awesome bump!! I have never taken lessons for anything, but guitar is what I practice the most. I have been thinking about taking lessons to... discover exactly what’s been discussed in this thread! Who needs lessons now?! I’ve always felt that guitar lessons can “generify” what becomes one’s personal style. But now that I’ve got my style down, lessons can probably help immensely. I’ll probably take classical guitar tho!

I have two things I’d to bring up. First, playing slow in order to really play a song perfect, is great! Using a metronome of course, and then increasing the speed gradually has really helped, as mentioned. But what REALLY seals the deal - and not just for guitar but the whole band - is playing the song faster than it’s supposed to be. Not much just 10 or 15 bpm. Then when you slow it down to its normal speed, any difficult parts become WAY easier to play. In a band this pretty much only works with a drummer on a click, but by yourself just imagine how far you can really go with this. Also, changing the tempo back and forth has resulted in a far more accurate internal clock.

Secondly, I 100% agree with setting your own style of playing AND practicing. I mean The Lifestyle. Becoming a pro requires a shitload more work than a hobby band, as well as an entirely different lifestyle.

For those who want to make music a lifestyle (= make a living), they can start by making their lives amenable to hours of practice per day. That usually means holding down a crap part time job, staying up super late every night, and dealing with having a band. Sometimes they even have to be the band leader, booking agent, promoter, manager and producer too! Until things start happening, which can take years or never. And THEN things get complicated. Traveling way too much, relationships, labels, endless interviews with identical questions. And then there’s the sharks who hate on you for no reason, and the fact that what, about 95% of all professional musicians aren’t making all that much. At all. It’s kind of sad. Even big major label touring bands often only make money on their tours, which are exhausting and usually not overly lucrative.

My dreams of being a rock star died very early on. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to practice, it was me realizing that I just didn’t want it “that bad.” Not bad enough to give up my lifestyle which included sleeping in my bed every night, having cats, and not having to find three other wives I can not just play music with, but live with in very close quarters for months.

But I’m damned if I’m ever gonna stop playing music, or wanting to share it with people.

How does this relate to practicing? Welp, I think hours per day is excessive. It’s also, for me, not yielded the best playing. It’s so weird how some of the best takes I’ve pulled off were after not playing for a week. I actually think it’s bad to practice the same muscles every day, especially tiny ones like fingers. For me about 2 - 4 times per week (including band practice) is great. I’m able to pull off stuff that has always been hard since I started that.

Once I switch to a less demanding job, I plan to play music as much as possible. Three bands would be good, surf for guitar and then bass and drums for other styles. But even then, I ain’t gonna be playing every day!

Daniel Deathtide

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Last edited: Mar 10, 2020 14:56:45

Many things DeathTide said resonate with me. I've learned to play guitar through my own meandering path, and thus I play in my own way. I'm not interested in taking lessons to play rock music and its various forms in the "right" way. But maybe for other styles that are harder to learn on your own.

And playing things fast is a good idea. Of course, I like to play things faster anyway, so I probably wouldn't slow back down to regular tempo.

As for practicing every day, I usually aim to carve out that time, and usually succeed, but I don't worry about what I actually play. Maybe I'll learn a new song or practice something I know by heart or just mess around and come up with something new. Sometimes I'm inspired and everything is dialed in just right and could just keep playing for hours. Other times the sound is just not there and I'm not inspired to do much, yet a bit of practice is good no matter what, and it gets you away from all the other stuff in life.

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Last edited: Mar 10, 2020 14:56:29

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Last edited: Mar 10, 2020 14:56:10

Thank you Delrin96mm for reactiviating this thread! All of these comments are encouraging and insightful. So much I would like to say cause I see a few themes here, inspiration, motivation and trying to develop in the face of life's demands. I have a 5 month old, I've been slowly accepting my 2 hour practice sessions be cut to 30min, or an hour if I'm lucky. All throughout my music-playing life I've bounced between tenor sax and guitar, with my guitar playing not really getting serious attention.
Then in August I got this bug of inspiration to learn and play surf music, I have no pretensions of becoming a star, my dream is simply to put together a band and jam out a set of tunes in the style of Centurions-Sentinals-Phantom Surfers-Ventures. It's proving difficult to do here on Tenerife.

I've actually been trying to play faster then I can and then slowing it down to my capable speed. So I can only play 16ths solidly at 105bpm (that's embarrassingly slow, I know) so I'll crank the metronome up to 135 and I can play triplets but when I attempt 16ths I can see my pick position goes whack and my wrist feels like it's just moving wrong.

I have to say my experience is showing me what Synchro means, i'm having better results, playing at 105 and then 30mins. later if I try 110bpm I can actually hit the 16ths for shorts spurts of time.

Why is it so difficult to enjoy the process and let go of getting there already?!?

Last edited: Oct 24, 2018 04:39:55

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Last edited: Mar 10, 2020 14:55:06

My approach is that I play guitar because I really enjoy it. I don't aim to be a rock star or become a "great" player, I just want to play (and create) music I really like and to play it well. I think I'm actually very good at some things, mediocre or lame at other things. I don't want to know how to shred, but would like to get goood at finger style and maybe learn a bit about playing jazz. So I don't have to waste anytime on shredding, but I'd have to do a lot of work to play jazz. In the meantime, I can play surf, punk, garage, and other things I'm really into and enjoy it whether I'm playing Wipe Out for the millionth time (since I started playing in the mid-80s), learning something new, or coming up with new stuff of my own.

I can relate to the problems of carving out time to play in light of family and work. When my kids were really little, it became very difficult to play guitar at all (not enough time or they would crawl all over me when I did get the guitar out). So I ended up not playing for a number of years. Then when I was talkng to a guitar playing friend of mine and lamenting not having time, he insisted that you can have time if you decide to make the time. And it was true for me for sure - we all have some bits of time we waste on one thing or another (TV, social media, etc), and we can determine to take some of that time to play guitar. So I aim to play around half an hour every evening after dinner. I usually manage to do that, sometimes I can't because things really are too busy, and sometimes I end up playing a lot longer when things really click.

I've found that the only thing better than playing the music I love to inspire me to practice is to play the music I love with other people. Fear of letting others down is a powerful motivator to improve myself!

I'm so terrified of letting my bandmates down that I have no problem ditching my family after dinner to practice. Big Grin Dishes and homework will always be there but the gig is next weekend, dammit!

Seriously, even if you can't get a surf band together for whatever reason, find someone else to play with - even if it isn't surf or even guitar. Playing Christmas carols on accordion with someone else will make you a better musician.

Jonathan the Reverbivore

The Reverbivores

Please check out our latest album The Reverbivores Watch TV!

www.thereverbivores.com
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h3dg3h0g wrote:

I've found that the only thing better than playing the music I love to inspire me to practice is to play the music I love with other people. Fear of letting others down is a powerful motivator to improve myself!

I'm so terrified of letting my bandmates down that I have no problem ditching my family after dinner to practice. Big Grin Dishes and homework will always be there but the gig is next weekend, dammit!

Seriously, even if you can't get a surf band together for whatever reason, find someone else to play with - even if it isn't surf or even guitar. Playing Christmas carols on accordion with someone else will make you a better musician.

Good points. I find that playing in a band is a wonderful motivator.

For the last couple of months, I've been swamped and haven't practiced much. Tonight, I had my ducks in a row and felt that I could take time to play, for about an hour. The first 15 minutes were encased in rust, but then I found my movements becoming better and more fluid. By the end of the hour, I was finding things much easier than at the beginning.

h3dg3h0g wrote:

Playing Christmas carols on accordion with someone else will make you a better musician.

Many years ago, I played rhythm guitar for a sing-along gig, two nights a week, for about 3 months. I learned a lot during that time, even though most of the music was 180 degrees off of my tastes.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

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Last edited: Mar 10, 2020 14:55:21

There's a badass timbales player who goes to the same practice space as me. He suggested we jam sometime, talk about getting out of your comfort zone. I had my doubts but now I'm starting to think it might be cool. Weird for sure!

Delrin96mm wrote:

h3dg3h0g and synchro: I'd been thinking about a band that plays surf and 1960s garage punk influenced stuff, but that's a really good point you've both made about grabbing the opportunity to play with anyone, regardless of musical genre. Again, some very welcome and valuable food for thought. The next time a death metal/jazz-rock fusion band in my neighbourhood advertises for a guitarist, I'll be in there like a shot! Smile

Sometimes you learn a lot from crossing into new genres. I was a Jazz player before I did much with Rock. When I learned some Rock licks, my Jazz improved as a result. Country can be another great learning area.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

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