Practicing 6 hours a day

[shiloh]

Hi everyone,
You know, I keep hearing that the "best of the best" practice 6 hours a day. Okay. I will probably never have that amount of free time. But every now and then I DO have a day to myself. I sit down and think "I'll practice 6 hours today, just because I have all day." I play some scales, a few tunes I know, then some bars of a few tunes I'm working on, then I sort of run out of ideas and airspeed.
Any thoughts? If you could practice 6 hours today, what would your "schedule" consist of? I know this sounds a bit silly, but I'd love to improve on my mando playing yet I get discouraged (I know I'll never sound like the pros).... It is hard when all you listen to are the best players, then you hear yourself....
Anyway, just curious what a "6 hour practice session" would consist of!
Jill
San Diego

[bush-man]

Six hours is a lot. When I was in college as a music major, I practiced 2 hours a day. The best practice is to get a scale exercise book and work on them. That should easily take up 2 hours. If you read music, there are a zillion violin scale books out there that would work. I don't approach the mandolin that way myself though. I tend to put on some music, and just play along. I'll work on stuff I like to get my speed up also. Good luck, and happy picking.

russell

[Soupy1957]

Having another body around, that plays the Mandolin and the same genre of music has always been my benchmark and stimulation.
I, like you, rarely have 6 hours to devote to the Mandolin without having to ignore a task I'm SUPPOSED to be doing.
Whenever possible, find others around you that can spend even an hour with you, challenging you by their example.
Perhaps this explains why I didn't finish College......I was so busy playing music with friends that I didn't go to class!!
(But I learned a heck of a lot of stuff on the guitar!)
-Soupy1957

[Klaus Wutscher]

Whatever you practice, don´t forget to take rests. I would not recommend practicing more than 20 minutes without a 5- 10 minute rest. Also, make sure to drink enough water.The rests are important because a)your hands need them and b) your brain needs them to "download" the new information. If you skip the breaks you will probably end up with diminished returns.
As far as what to practice, I think variety is the key. If you really have much time on your hands #I suggest to split your time to practice:
1) Music theory (harmony, sight reading, chords....)
2) Technical exercises for left and right hand, scales.....
3) Repertiore (working on tunes you allready know)
4) Building repertoire (new tunes)
5) Ear training / learning new tunes by ear and/or transcribing

Now if only I would stick to my own advice... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[arbarnhart]

I think there are two types of players who play at the highest level - those with the amazing gift of natural talent and those that will practice the same things over and over until they get it right. So one answer might be to work on one song, maybe even just a difficult passage in a song, until it is perfect.

[Lee Callicutt]

When you finish "practicing", dispense with your critical thought processes and play "mindfully" for the pure pleasure and joy of playing, the tactile pleasures of the strings under your fingers and the resonance of the instrument throughout your entire being.

See the mandolin. Be the mandolin. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif

[farmerjones]

I wuz standing beside a guy that wuz talking with Doyle Lawson. Doyle remarked something like, these musicians are profesionals and as pros they work eight hours a day just like anyone else. They work on the new tunes or to tighten up the show etc.

Listening to how tight their show is, i can imagine it would take eight hours a day at least.

[Bob Simmers]

Scale patterns all over the neck.
Scale patterns in closed positions.
Triads and arpeggios, including the minors, 7ths, and major 7ths.
Use a metronome and practice getting stuff at different speeds, including 3/4 and 6/8 pieces. Slow down Rawhide or Devil's Dream to about 60 beats per minute.
Practice playing the exact melodies to tunes......really exact....match the vocals so close that it sounds like the mandolin is pronouncing the words(listen to Herschel). Work on slides, hammers, pull-offs.
Practice triplets to the metronome.
Get a tape recorder/digital recorder, and tape yourself playing entire songs. Practice thinking dynamics and feeling when you play (Grisman).
Use the metronome to practice going from scales to tremelo and back.
Practice different pick direction patterns (Monroe, Buzz Busby).
Practice hundreds of double stops (incl. 7ths, minors, diminished, 6ths, augmented).
And triple stops (see both Jethro Burns Mel Bay books).
Practice pentatonic scales.
If you still have time to fill, get Niles Hokkannon's Pentatonic Scale book.

One tip I remember from Grisman's column in "Frets" was "don't practice mistakes!" Slow things down until you can play them clean, without mistakes.

[GVD]

...then I sort of run out of ideas and airspeed...

Are you a pilot too?

GVD

[arbarnhart]

When you finish "practicing", dispense with your critical thought processes and play "mindfully" for the pure pleasure and joy of playing, the tactile pleasures of the strings under your fingers and the resonance of the instrument throughout your entire being.

See the mandolin. #Be the mandolin. # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif
I have been trying to do this. "Effortless Mastery" and "Free Play" are pretty good resources (books) though "Mastery" is a little ego heavy for my spiritual tastes (still a good read). But I keep finding myself just doing very simple rhythms or melodies over and over and over. I am really not disappointed in that as a spiritual practice, but I am not sure it really improves my playing like "real practice".

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e396/arbarnhart/chant.gif

[Santiago]

I agree with Klaus on resting every 20 minutes. Besides preventing injury, I believe it helps your "muscle memory" as you get tired and sloppy after 20 minutes which may reinforce bad habbits. So practicing in intensely focused bursts is better than a marathon in my experience at least.

[mandocrucian]

Don't worry about what to practice for 6 hours a day. #When you break the three-hour barrier, finding stuff to practice/play for another three (or more) hours won't be an issue.... Cause you really don't want to do anything else but pratice anymore.

Make no mistake - it's a form of self-induced obsession/mental illness. When it is "dedication to the arts" (music, dance, painting, etc.) or athletics/sports or your job, it's a lot more socially acceptable than if a similar fanaticism was centered around "consuming mass quantities"(testify Beldar!) of sex/food/drugs/Star Trek/Star Wars/celebrity news/videogaming..... #

(When it is #religion and/or politics it could fall anywhere between the extremes of Mother Teresa>Jim Jones or Ghandi>Bin Laden.)

And remember, practicing isn't only just "mandolin" but it is also ear-training, transcribing solos off recordings, and "music in general".

Niles Hokkanen

[JoeD]

I love days like that, but I wouldn't call it practice when I play that long. Usually, for me it would consist of trying to learn a couple new tunes for mando and/or guitar, and then moving on to try to maintain or polish tunes I already know (ideally by recording them and trying to make the recordings sound as good as possible). If I'm really feeling motivated, I might put in a few Kaufman "4 Hour Bluegrass Workbook" CDs and play along to those as well. In short, I'm totally disorganized, and I'll just play as long as it's fun.

I'm not very good about doing scales or arpeggios, which I think would make me a much better player. Wish I had six hours to practice this weekend.

[Brady Smith]

I practice multiple hours a day. Although there are occasional days I never touch it, most days range from 2 to 4 hours a day with 6-8 hour days occasionally as well. I have the oppurtunity to practice 10-12 hours a day or more if I wanted to but I don't. I can practice at home or at at work some as well. I've only been playing for 10 months and although I have a long way to go I suppose I'm above the average. I have taken the advise of several pros who I have heard say not to practice scales. Mike Compton included. Although I still know them I don't spend any time to speak of with them. Their biggest practice advise was to practice songs. So thats what I do. I try to learn as many songs as I can and get them to memory so I can play them without thought. It takes me several days to accomplish that for the average song. I think for me the memorization is the hard part. Playing it is the easy part....but it doesn't come out well until it's memorized and can play it without thinking about it. I've been at Big Indian Blues for the past week. It is taking much longer than the average song as what's on the tab doesn't match as played on their recordings. So it's a long frustrating journey with this one but it's getting there I suppose. Right or wrong, I don't know, but it's got me farther in 10 months than 18 years of scales and excercises did on the guitar.

[Got8Strings]

These are great answers - there's a lot of experience speaking here.

I would add that it is helpful to have a mental framework for what you are doing. For example, there is study and there is practice - though there is some overlap and definitely a lot of cross-pollination, but they are not the same thing.

Study is learning new music, new techniques, making new mental connections between things, etc.
Practice is taking what you have learned and improving and refining execution - repetition, repetition, repetition

So if you take all the things mentioned - working though your reperatoire, scales, sight-reading, arpeggios, chords, picking patterns, double stops, etc..... and divide all that into both study and practice.... 6 hours starts to disappear pretty fast.

[Brady Smith]

6 hours starts to disappear pretty fast.
To the point if I look at the time and see I can only play for an hour, I think to myself, man I don't have time to do much right now.

[farmerjones]

i could burn up 4 hours easily pickin along with sirius blugrass. Admittingly, my definition of practice is pretty loose. If it ain't a gig or a jam it's practice to me. My reality, my definition.

Years do seem to be a misleading gage.
8760hrs in year. i know i haven't played 2500hrs yet.
Are you happy with what you sound like?(just about but not quite) Can you make the sound with your fingers what you hear in you head?(Just about but not quite)i could very well be at capacity. But it's fun. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Jonathan Peck]

Any thoughts? If you could practice 6 hours today, what would your "schedule" consist of? I know this sounds a bit silly, but I'd love to improve on my mando playing yet I get discouraged (I know I'll never sound like the pros).... It is hard when all you listen to are the best players, then you hear yourself....
Anyway, just curious what a "6 hour practice session" would consist of!
Jill
San Diego
Hey Jill,

Sounds like you are doing a good self evaluation of your expectations and ability...a reality check if you will. It might not hurt to record yourself and then listen back with a critical ear. You should be able to identify any weaknesses in your playing that you would like to improve. If you can isolate one or two things to work on at a time, you should see progress without needing to practice for six hours a day. A big key for me is setting short term attainable goals.

I also find that it helps to keep a notebook...I keep several. I have a place where I practice that is comfortable, has good lighting and I have everything that I need there.

Some things that you might need:
1) computer, i-pod, or cd player. I use an i-pod and an edirol R-1 for recording and playback. Both can be plugged into a small set of powered monitor speakers. I set up playlists on the computer and download them onto my i-pod. I also use a guitar to record practice tracks on the edirol.

2) metronome and tuner

3) notation paper and a pencil

4) your notebooks or other educational material.

4) time to practice #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

-jonathan

[hungry mountain boy]

Patience! was my first reaction reading the topic.

[Got8Strings]

One additional thought:

When deciding how to use our study and practice time, we may tend to lean toward the things that are our strengths, because it feels good to do what we do best. But to become better players, we should make sure we spend plenty of time working on improving our weaknesses. This is where it takes real dedication, because it doesn't feel good and isn't much fun until we start noticing improvement....which won't happen unless we put in the time.

[Alex Fields]

I usually practice 4-6 hours and I don't find it difficult to find stuff to play. I usually warm up with scales and arpeggios and FFCP excercises for at least an hour, then work on a few folk tunes for maybe another hour, and when I start to play classical (mostly Bach) I find I can play it for hours and hours if I want to. If you didn't play anything more than a couple of times I can imagine it would be difficult to fill such a long time, but if you're really serious about mastering something you should practice it over and over and over, not just playing it but slowing down and working on small parts that you have trouble with until they're effortless. When you lose yourself in a piece like that time flies.

[jmcgann]

Tone and time.

[Bob Simmers]

"I play best when I am happy or sad, or when I was young and in love. If I
have ordinary troubles, I forget everything when I play. I split into two
people and the other plays."
Stephane Grappelli

At some point during your 6 hours you want to reach this point.:)

[Lee Callicutt]

But I keep finding myself just doing very simple rhythms or melodies over and over and over. I am really not disappointed in that as a spiritual practice, but I am not sure it really improves my playing like "real practice".
True, grasshopper, but we do what we can when we can.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Somedays it's the only practice I'm able to get in, and I choose that form of playing just before I put the mandolin down because I find it the most joyful, and then I find myself really looking forward to the next time I'll be able to pick up the mandolin. But I also find it to be a pleasant break from more serious stuff, when I have the better part of a weekend morning or afternoon to play.

Maybe that's why they call it "playing?"

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[MandoSquirrel]

But I keep finding myself just doing very simple rhythms or melodies over and over and over. I am really not disappointed in that as a spiritual practice, but I am not sure it really improves my playing like "real practice".
True, grasshopper, but we do what we can when we can.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Somedays it's the only practice I'm able to get in, and I choose that form of playing just before I put the mandolin down because I find it the most joyful, and then I find myself really looking forward to the next time I'll be able to pick up the mandolin. But I also find it to be a pleasant break from more serious stuff, when I have the better part of a weekend morning or afternoon to play.

Maybe that's why they call it "playing?"

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
Mastering the "simple" is the key to good musicianship; the more solid the foundation, the better the building.

[mythicfish]

Make NEW mistakes every day.

Curt

[gnelson651]

I'm of the philosophy that you should pick up your mandolin everyday and play it for atleast 15 minutes.

Most of the time I practice everyday for about 1-2 hours. If I have the time, I might even practice 4-5 hours. But some days I'll just noodle. #Maybe I'll sit in front of the TV and noodle during commercials. I do this for fun, not to be a professional player. I find it relaxing and frustrating. #Lately. I've been working on a hard piece and find I have to s-l-o-w down to get it right. When I feel to exhausted or frustrated, I'll stop and go do something else. Taking short breaks to refresh myself.

It is all a matter of finding a balance in your practice. And get the maximum amount of benefit for the minimum amount of effort. I agree that short term goals are important to move forward. I also write out a weekly practic routine. It changes as I progress or find that somethings are not working.

Above all, have fun. Unless you're aiming to be a professional musician, practice to get better and to enjoy it along the way.

[shiloh]

HI everyone,
A coupla my thoughts to your responses:
To "Got 8 Strings" - I completely understand about 'when it doesn't feel good and isn't much fun' as I seem to be in that position a bit too often. I am usually pretty dedicated but sometimes I let discouragement get the better of me. Also, I tend to play alone and don't reap the rewards of playing with others. That sort of makes it a bit discouraging, too. Think I'll go to a jam session this week. I'm too shy to just show up and play, but I could watch, listen and learn (okay, maybe I'll bring the mandolin along and leave it in the car, just in case!)
To GVD - Yes, I'm a pilot. Flying is a whole lot easier for me than 'pushing through' frustration of mistakes and learning difficulties on the mandolin!
To Captain Crunch - what is an edirol R-1? I have a digital, small recorder but have yet to figure out how to use it (in the Irish sessions, it is called a "tune sucker" - comes in handy when sitting in a session and trying to figure out what is going on! I just need to figure it out!)

Thank you all for such great advice and comments. And from such talented players! Wow.
On a personal note, my mother, with whom I was very close (and I was her primary caregiver) passed away a few weeks ago. I've been trying to push through my weak spots on the mandolin, but recently I haven't been "up" for more disappointment. So I thank my mandolin cafe family in helping me get back into this with more vigor. It's all about having fun, and not losing sight of what and why we play. To me, a large part of the fun of playing the mandolin is our marvelous mandolin cafe website. It is hugely instrumental (pun intended)in the encouragement, support, and fun of playing the mandolin!
BTW, last weekend a dobro instructor suggested playing things "stupidly slow" to learn them. Rather smart advice, eh?

Sincerely,
Jill
San Diego (and soon moving to the San Francisco area)

[JeffD]

I think Satchel Page said it: there is no point in practicing what you are already good at.

Given how much I have yet to learn, I could easily fill six hours.

[fishdawg40]

Jill, sorry to hear of your mother's passing.


BTW, last weekend a dobro instructor suggested playing things "stupidly slow" to learn them. Rather smart advice, eh?

I think this is good advice. #When learning new tunes play them slow. #Also, keeping everything fresh helps your practice routine. #I was in a little rut recently but to get out of it all's it took was an interesting, and somewhat difficult tune (Panhandle Country). #I'm working at it slow and can work on several parts of it for considerable lengths of time. #Keep it fresh, but therein lies the problem, sometimes we or just I am lazy and do not want to learn new stuff.

[BradB]

I'm trying to learn mandolin, flatpick guitar, and fingerstyle guitar, and recently added some clawhammer banjo as well. I also like to play many styles of music. I can only find about an hour a day to practice, so that obviously just isn't enough time for all of my musical interests. There are a number of DVDs and method books that I'd like to get through, so it would be easy for me to fill up 6 hours.

On the rare occasion that I do have a good part of a day free to practice, I'll usually arrange and record some tunes. It's easy to spend a lot of hours working up the guitar and mandolin lead and rhythm parts, arranging them into something that sounds good, and recording and mixing them.

[Jonathan Peck]

To Captain Crunch - what is an edirol R-1? I have a digital, small recorder but have yet to figure out how to use it (in the Irish sessions, it is called a "tune sucker" - comes in handy when sitting in a session and trying to figure out what is going on! I just need to figure it out!)
Hi Jill,

I think we're talking about the same thing. "tune sucker" (http://www.roland.com/products/en/R-1/specs.html) by a different name. The Edirol is the one I'm using, but several companies make good portable digital recorders.

I also want to thank you for getting me thinking about using my practice time more efficiently. I had a great practice last night just working on right and left hand technique, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and picking direction. Boy howdy, when you get this right, everything seems so much easier.

-jonathan

[mandocrucian]

Unless you're aiming to be a professional musician, practice to get better and to enjoy it along the way.


If that's the goal and you are putting in long hours, then a couple hours should be on a different, more ecomonically viable and marketable instrument* - like electric bass. In fact, if you had the intent of doing music full-time, proficiency on another instrument(s) should as important (if not more so) than your mandolin chops. Bass is a "bread and butter" instrument which will get you through lean times a lot smoother than your mando will. #And it's not as if diverting your time is really ging to hurt your mandolin playing, because it'll just make you a better musician all around.

*this includes vocals

NH

[mandopete]

I think Steven Wright said it best...

" Practice makes perfect. I noticed that nobody's perfect so I quit practicing."

[Bob1300]

I always start out hoping I can "practice" for several hours. In reality, even after a year and a half of trying, I stop after about 10 minutes. Why? Rage-inducing frustration!!! I envy all you forum members who can slide right into playing almost anything with relative ease. Problems I have encountered are:

- I still can't form the closed G chord shape on any fret below the 7th, as my pinky finger is simply not long enough to reach the 4th string in the correct place. (Look at the hands of any good mando player - their fingers are almost invariably super-long; they don't even suspect that this is a big factor in ease of playing.)

- I still can't change from the closed G shape (above 7th fret) to the closed D shape in one motion, if at all. The tendons just don't seem to be aligned like other people's.

- Can't play using a light touch despite constant effort to do so. Even with low action, pressing the strings down is tiring. Fingers frequently slip off the string from even moderate pressure.

- Even with tons of mandozine tab tunes in a folder on my desktop, it's near impossible to come up with a starting point for actually LEARNING TO PLAY.

- I still can't "play" at more than 45-50 beats, tops. Usually more like 20-30. Either the coordination of the hands doesn't match, or the pick gets caught in the strings and everything comes to a dead stop. If I get through a tune, it still isn't clear that I've had a learning experience.

- I have several of the pros' instruction DVD's - but these guys fail to remember their beginnings and don't address any of these issues. It feels like they assume that all beginners are like the kids who can pick up a mando for the first time and play all of Dresden Reel after 10 minutes. Thile is the least realistic; he actually thinks we'll be playing Ode to a Butterfly at full speed after 10 minutes of practice.

- I have no access to professional teachers of mandolin within any reasonable driving distance.

That's my list I've been struggling with. I've been a bluegrass person for many years and am still hopeful that something will click eventually so I can transfer what I am hearing into what I can play.

[45ACP-GDLF5]

Hey shiloh! Everybody's advice/suggestions here are great! Just don't try to do everything at once. Pace yourself. Then do what Briscoe Darling and Bill Monroe have said in this order: "Just jump in where you can and hang on" then "whip it like an old mule" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[250sc]

I'm fortunate to be invited to my sister in-law's home in northern michigan each summer and while my wife and her family do whatever they want I sit out by the lake and play guitar and mando.

It's easy to put in 6 hrs. Run through whatever I'm working on that is new for a while....stare out at the lake.....run through my list of songs on guitar.....drink a beer.....play some scales on mando.....go in the house and see what's going on for 5 minutes.....work on jazz chord voicings for mando...stare at the boats going by.....and on and on.

Nothing to it. Relaxing, no preasure and very effective. I know what I'll be doing if I ever get to retire.

[JeffD]

Shiloh's real question is what to fill up 6 hours with, if and when you can find them.

So, from a practical point of view, here is another idea: When you can identify a six hours you can dedicate to playing, throw a music party! Its easy. Pick a day in the future when you know you will have your six hours and spread the word. Make it dish to pass, you supply the ice cream, or what ever is appropriate.

We have several music parties during the year here, mine is the one in Spring, usually the end of May. The last party we had four or five fiddles, a viola, a couple of banjos (you know, the diversity thing), four guitars, two mandolins, a hammered dulcimer, string bass, penny whistle, flute, and my piano (which I don't play but which I keep around for just such activities). Six hours went by like nothing, and that doesn't include the stand around and eat time.

I can't think of a practice routine that would have been better for me than that. Ear training, tune sharing, solo attempts, chords, arpeggios, improv, it was all there.

Jeff

[shiloh]

Hi
To Bob1300: Man, I'm bummed for you. But there have been numerous posts on the boards about being frustrated and discouraged. (I printed them out a while back and re-read them when I need encouragement.)Maybe reading them will help you realize EVERYONE goes through that. Would be nice if you could have at least one lesson in person....

I sat down for about an hour today and decided to pick up Ronnie McCoury's DVD. I've seen parts of it before but knew it was "too advanced" for me. As it turns out, with a little concentrated effort, I was able to actually play quite a bit of what he was teaching. But take note: I was very patient with myself, only worked on a few bars or concepts at a time, then I took a break. And after he would play something, I paused the video, tried humming the tune to myself, then played using the music in the booklet he provides. #Maybe you can try that? Just pick a few measures. Like with Chris' (Thile) video: just take one of the arpeggios and play maybe 6 notes. It can actually sound quite nice. And I think a key to not "getting the pick stuck in the strings" is to keep a very loose wrist, and hold the pick loosely. (I struggle with that, too. So I started holding the pick like Ronnie M. recently; with just the thumb and index finger, which allows me to keep a looser pick hold.)Also, maybe you can "over compensate" by almost 'brushing' the pick across the strings, just to start with a little less pick digging in?
Anyway, hang in there and don't give up. Aim for "baby steps" and enjoy the process. Maybe if you could find a jam session to sit in with (just to listen)?
Good luck,
Jill

[Bob1300]

Thanks Jill

I'll keep trying everything but it really is a bummer not to have a good instructor around.

[moku9]

Segovia stated he practiced 5 hours per day. Half that spent running through scales the rest split between known tunes and new material.

[ronlane3]

NO FINANCIAL INTEREST - Get Brad Laird's Mandolin Training Camp book from MandoUniversity.com and a metronome and work through all the exercises as he suggests, it will take up HUGH amounts of time and that is just in the key of G, then you can sit down and do the exercises in every other key and you will be a lot better. If I would just make myself do it everyday, I COULD have been okay by now.

[JeffD]

I heard Chris Thile on Woodsongs the other night, and he talked about being able to hear what you want to sound like in your head, you know, like a goal. Without that, he said endless hours of practice don't move you forward. I thought it was interesting.

[Pete Martin]

Sorry to be late, I don't come to the board much anymore. Hopefully sharing my experience will help you decide what to practice.

When I was in my biggest learning stage, I worked the night shift in a 24 hour self serve gas station and practiced all night, often playing as much as 14 hours a day, usually at least 70 hours per week. I did this for about 5 years. A player can learn and improve a lot in a couple years of doing that.

I would spend the first two hours playing all the modes of the major scale plus major, minor and dominant 7th chord arpeggios in EVERY key in EVERY position on the fingerboard. The next hour was spent on right hand exercises with the metronome. After this was over, I would work on band material, especially the more technically challenging stuff.

After I had accomplished that, I would do the following in no certain order:

Play with recordings to work on improvisation.

Transcribe and learn great player’s solos (at one point I had learned over 500 Sam Bush mando and fiddle solos)

Play easier common tunes (Soldiers Joy, etc) using no open strings, so I was forced to use the pinkie. I would often play these in every key.

Work on learning the rhythm parts to various tunes (once again Sam Bush was my usual model)

Play what ever I felt like playing.


For the past 10 or so years, I have been so busy I rarely get practice time. I am very glad to have spent that time on all those scales and arpeggios. I still draw on that in everything I play.

Oh, to be young and have a lot of free time…

[JeffD]

Woo hoo, makes me want to get a job as an all night security guard or something.


Jeff

[devilstone_the_bard]

When I hit that level of frustration, I crank out some chords as loud and hard as I can, then I take a tune I know *cold* and play it as loud and fast as I can (early on it was Mary had a Little Lamb, as long as you know it cold) then I put the mando down for a few minutes and "just walk away"

If that doesn't help, I grab my Fender J bass and headphone amp and take some frustrations out on it http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Works for me...

[glauber]

Anyway, just curious what a "6 hour practice session" would consist of!
The same dang thing over and over again, until i get it right! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Michael Gowell]

To Bob 1300 - go to the Mandouniversity site and download his free 18-page lesson for beginners. #It's got more useful stuff for starting and frustrated players than anything else I've seen.

[mandopete]

Yeah, but what about your gas pumping skills?

[OregonMike]

And to think I've been practicing religiously for 8 minutes a day (keep the mando out and pick it up and play a song or two each time I pass it) I'm definitely the dedicated slacker in the room. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Dale Ludewig]

Pete, gads. No wonder you're so good. What you've described is virtually exactly what I think is necessary. But I don't have that amount of time. So, I guess I fake it. But, as you know, once you can play in closed position anywhere on the neck, you're at least "safe". And then again, maybe you're set free 'cause you will wander out of that position and have to just wing it and play by ear until you get back into a "position". What fun!