30 minute practice

[devilstone_the_bard]

Hi All, I've searched out the forums for practice tips, and I've seen some great ideas for someone who has 5 hours to practice and no idea what to practice. Can anyone chime in on what I can do in a 30-45 minute window on my lunch? I usually get to practice most nights as long as I need to, but sometimes I like to disappear at lunch and tinker for a short clip. Any suggestions on how I can maximize this time and still have a little fun?

Thanks in advance!!!

[seanonabutton]

i'd split it up into segments: work on the tunes you already have down (10mins), then work on tunes you can't play (10 MINS), then work on, if you can't sight read, reading music notation or if you can sight read work on composing or something. i typically do two or three half hour sessions a day cus i think that the mind can only absorb so much much in an amount of time. my sessions include 10 minutes of bach 10 minutes of soloing to the music in my head and then 10 minutes of trying to write stuff. much of that is disgustingly awful but it helps in the long run with improvising and just having cool songs to play that you can call your own.

[Super400]

Oftentimes, when I find some time to shoehorn in a quick practice I find I lack inspiration. So, that is when I work on scales only - utilizing the lazy pinky as much as possible. It helps to have a backup when the "music" isn't there but the desire to improve is. The routine of repeating those basics comes in handy when the "music" is there.

Having the mando in my hands usually brings some inspiration, but there are those times...

[farmerjones]

i warm up with "scaley" tunes like Whisky Before Breakfast or similar. i pretty much play just fiddle tunes when im by myself. Then i might try to puzzle out a couple new tunes. But i don't wear myself out on them.

Then i look up and find out im five or ten minutes late for something. Then i catch hell. Then . . . . .

[Fretbear]

Arpeggios are an amazingly productive thing to practice. You can "figure them out" on the fly if you don't already know them by playing the I-III-V notes of the chord or chord progressions that you want to work on. You can also extend them and apply them to the harmonized major scale of any key, for instance, C-Dm-Em-F-G7-Am-Bdim-C. Add the II & VI and you have the pentatonic scale. Tunes are great if you don't know them (and want to learn them) and are good practice for timing and execution, but they're limited in their ability to help you master the instrument and improvise.

[gnelson651]

Quicky Practice:

1. John Moore's Picking Exercises
5 mins.

2.Carlo Aonzo Family Scales(He recommends 3x through, but abbreviate for once through or twice through when you come up to speed).
10 mins.

3. Review songs you already know, pick two diffferent ones each day.
15 mins.

4. Learn a new tune of the week. Work it slowly until you can play it through without mistakes from sheetmusic or tab. Put it in your songs review(#3) to memorize.
10 mins.

Total time = 40 minutes

[Brad Weiss]

How would you evaluate your level of play and - most importantly - what is your GOAL? #Whatever your goal is, figure out how to break it into component elements (chord shapes? timing? ii V I progressions? reading notation? depends on what you're shooting for) and do 3#things for 10 minutes a piece. #

Small bits on a regular basis will get you pretty far...

[Fred_Murtz]

I don'[t have a specific practice routine for mando, but let me explain what I do on guitar (my primary instrument). I have a 40 minute exercise I play each day as a the foundation of my guitar playing. I run through about 400 different two-octave scale and mode fingerings of the major, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales - and the arpeggios nested inside of those scales and modes.

This exercies covers the entire fretboard of the guitar and works out my fingers, ears, and brain simultaneously. Over 20 years ago when I left the world of being a full time musician, I gave serious thought to what would be the best use of my limited practice time and this is exercise is what I decided upon.

Perhaps you could come up with something similar for the mando?

Of course, the primary objective of being a musician is to play MUSIC, not scales. So you need to have some additional time somewhere where you learn and/or write, and/or arrange, and/or master SONGS.

BTW, I have a book coming out in the near future which lays out my guitar exercise in block diagrams, standard notation, and TAB. 388 pages.