Practice vs. Habit

[Ivan Kelsall]

''Hours of practice v progression'' is down to any individual's capacity for constant improvement. Some folks can pick up an instrument & play it almost at once (almost !). They may make rapid progress - up to a point where they'll not make any further progress. Others will progress almost beyond belief. Othe folk will pick up an instrument & find it hard going & make very little progress. Others will find it hard going,dig in & learn, & eventually make huge progress - & everything in between.
Most of us have heard of 'child prodigies' who, when young, show awesome talent,then fall totally flat as they get older. We've also heard of the others who start off good & become 'the finest'. That goes for other things as well as music - sport for instance.
I think that this 10,000 hour 'thing',is an estimate of how long somebody with a real talent for playing a musical instrument, might take to become 'proficient' . It certainly isn't the allowed time to become another Isaac Stern/ Andre Segovia - that's a lifetime job.
All we can do as 'ordinary' musicians ( & i include my own incredibly awesome talent in this ),is to practice regularly what we wish to learn, in a way which is eventually brings us to our goal. How many hours that will be,will be different for each of us.
When i say ''what we wish to learn'' - i wanted to play Bluegrass music,so that's what i did. I learned a lot of chords & then began picking out melodies. Eventually,my understanding of the intervals /scales etc. arrived within the context of what i was doing. I didn't sit down to practice scales as an entity,they arrived on their own. Other folk will do it differently - just as it should be,after all,we're not all the same or have the same goals in mind.
The bottom line should be - enjoy it !. If it becomes tiresome,practice someting else,or have a break,as the saying goes, ''a change is as good as a rest'',
Ivan

[Petrus]

I'm sure many of the members here play in a band, but if you don't I would say join one, no matter what level you are at. You can find others at your own skill level. Once you are in a band the learning and growth is so much more than what you can do on your own. Not to mention the sharing, bonding, and the "gel" (gelling?) that takes place. It is really exponential and happens quickly. And it is more fun than "practicing." Like they say the sum of the parts is greater than what each person can do on their own (or something like that!)

I wouldn't mind doing that someday. I once suggested to a group of close friends that we try to do something musical as a group, as an impromptu band, for a local folk craft festival. They reacted like I had suggested that we should run through the streets buck naked or something. That was the end of that.

[Bertram Henze]

run through the streets buck naked

That's exactly how you'll feel at your first performance. Better get used to it, i.e. practise it.
Anybody hoping to do something real musically and still be the same person is a dreamer. Serious practising is brain surgery on yourself - try that at home!

[gtani7]

There's a book for that. Here's some i've read (I really liked Klickstein, Barry Green and Werner's books) and others i saw because Amazon said "People also bought this so you should too":

- Klickstein "Musicians Way", https://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Way.../dp/0195343131

- "Inner Game of Music" and Barry Green's other book

- "Practice of Practice" by Jonathan Harnum,

- Dave Berkman "jazz guide to Practicing",

- others by David Dumais, Tom Heany

- "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner

[T.D.Nydn]

The detailed photos reveal that the G string is roundwound, so it can't be bowed and therefore must be a mandolin, but it also nicely demonstrates what happens if you leave your mandolin and your violin in a room together on their own. I'll call it "Hermaphroditus Gedeaeus".

Bertram..that is so funny, really made me laugh this morning,,thanks....it looked campenalla to me,, but last night I got so confused...

[Br1ck]

Both my daughters are trained classical musicians, on cello and viola. One has her doctorate in viola performance, the other her masters. The classical path is a very ordered method developed over centuries. Both their early teachers through high school were Russians, who arguably have the best string tradition. They both played scales and etudes developed to give proficiency to all aspects of playing.

They can both sight read to the level of studio musicians. Every bit of their 10,000 hours was structured and goal oriented.

They both wonder how I can improvise on a 12 bar blues.

[zedmando]

Hmm, this is why over the last few years I modded a guitar I wasn't playing so I would like it again (New pickups & some other parts & a good setup) and set it up for slide & got serious about trying to learn slide.
Since then I have added fretless bass & mandolin.

I am far from mastering any of those, so still looking to improve.

[Carl Robin]

Making a real habit of practicing was the most important step for me to get off that plateau, and make steady progress. Having a goal made it possible to push beyond the "comfort zone" physically and emotionally. My goal is general enough to get in some real mileage, such as to be able to play competently with others, even advance to lead. So there is no shortage of directions in which to push. Many of these have been mentioned in previous posts. I love the phrase "analysis paralysis" because in a nutshell that means a narrow focus, and that equals the death of fun and motivation--the on-ramp to the dreaded plateau.