What a difference a couple of hours make -- a day

[Rheatown]

So I was wondering why my picking sucked after playing up to an hour a day for 12 years. Then I found a video on YouTube called " Why your picking sucks". To paraphrase the video, don't expect to play like Chris Thile on an hour of practice a day. I found 2-3 hours of practice a day will yield amazing results.

I asked my neighbor whose mom played for the Pittsburg symphony how much his mom practiced and he said 12-16 hours a day before a concert.

It has to be good practice- slow and perfect before fast. Turn off the tv.

Do scales and pick accuracy exercises for at least half an hour.

I played rhythm guitar in a bluegrass band and sang several years ago. We practiced a year 4-5 nights a week for 3 hours before we did our first job. Make your gig a show instead of a jam session. Know your set list, what key the song is in and who does what when. Make all your mistakes in practice and know how to recover from them.

Know what the look on you band mates faces mean.

[Petrus]

I saw that video too some time ago. Not a huge fan.

My picking doesn't suck, as such. It is okay for where I'm at as a low level amateur. If it really sucked that bad (for anyone) a person wouldn't continue with the instrument for 3+ years.

You won't get to play like Chris Thile on an hour of practice of day, obviously. You won't get to play like Chris Thile on 2-3 or 5-6 hours a day, either. But you may improve.

Practicing the right way will create improvement if you are capable of improvement. Practice certainly cements habits, so make sure those habits are the right ones for you when you start.

The rest of the advice is good, though.

[pops1]

I have always told students " If you practice 1 hour a day for 8 years you will be X good, but if you practice 8 hours a day for 1 year you will be far above that"

[Bertram Henze]

"turn off the tv" - to concentrate is essential, of course. Who needs an hour to get immersed before true practising can begin will easily accumulate several hours a day for solid results, the same with warming up muscles etc. I tend to not count that time as practising, since I can do that without the instrument, too.

[Ivan Kelsall]

When i started playing mandolin 10 years ago,i'd put 2-3 hours a day in if i could & maybe 5-6 at the weekend, every day. After taking early retirement 8 years ago,my daily practice went up to around 5-6 hours every day. After having played banjo for over 40 years at that time & guitar for 15 years,my left hand wasn't any problem. I concentrated on my right hand picking & 'finding the sounds' on the fingerboard. I didn't 'need' to practice so much. After i'd pretty well nailed my 'personal technique' to the point where i could play pretty well,i just loved to play ! . Of course the more you play,even for the sheer enjoyment of it,it must help.
For new players who come from other instruments,like myself,some things will come 'easier' than to absolute beginners,so the thing to do is to work on the things which 'don't' come easy. Get those right then add them to the complete mix. For me,it was the simple thing of holding a pick & keeping it in my general vicinity !. Only after i managed the trick was i able to concentrate on the actual playing.
Practice as often as you can for as long as you're enjoying it. If it starts to feel a bit 'samey',leave it for a few days & come back to it. It won't hurt, & very often the 'ole sub-concious' carries on working in the background, & you come back to it even better - it does happen, & many folk on here as well as myself have experienced it. Above all - enjoy it. When that ends - take up knitting !,
Ivan

[neil argonaut]

Just be careful not to overdo it, and make sure you warm up properly etc. I used to practice about 10 hours a day for a while and I massively improved. However, despite always making sure I stretched / warmed up, I now have hardly touched the mandolin in over a year due to tendinitis / possible arthritis. I feel like i've used up my lifetime of playing despite being in my mid 30's.

[derbex]

I'm having to cut my practice down because my elbows are hurting, not bad at the moment but I am worried that it will get worse.

[Tobin]

I find that an hour a day just keeps me at my current level. It's my minimum for "maintenance". I'm not even truly warmed up and fluid until about 45 minutes in. So there's very little true practicing "in the zone" with just an hour.

When I really make progress is when I can spend 3+ hours playing. For a working stiff, that's not realistic on a daily basis. I usually can only get that on weekends (and if the wife is not there, I'll spend 8+ hours playing).

Of course, it does need to be balanced with physical limitations. The advice not to over-do it is good advice. The body requires quite a lot of developing in order to sustain that kind of intense practice, so it's something you want to work up to, not jump into immediately. Repetitive motion injuries are real, and they suck.

[jmagill]

So I was wondering why my picking sucked after playing up to an hour a day for 12 years. Then I found a video on YouTube called " Why your picking sucks".

There are lots of YouTube videos about how 'your picking sucks'. Would you care to provide a link to the one you're referencing?

[nickster60]

As some have mentioned if you over due your practicing it will come back to haunt you later in life. After years of play musical instuments, riding motorcycles and work with my hands I have issues. It is great to progress but it shouldnt come at sacrificing use of your hands later in life. Give yourself some recuperation time, playing instuments is a life long adventure.

[Bertram Henze]

... it will come back to haunt you later in life.

[slk]

I am still very new at this mandolin playing. Lots of my friends have said since I have been playing guitar for over 50 years, it should come natural. Well learning the chords did, although they were much different I have managed to remember them. Getting them to flow with ease is another story. I am progressing, but I am also trying not to frustrate myself. What Ivan said is so true that sub consciously you can still be practicing. I find that I can walk away and come back a little while later and nail a song that was giving me problems before. I don't practice that long right now, but will start to make the sessions longer, as I get use to the instrument. My routine now is play my guitar for a while then switch to the mandolin.

I do seam to have one problem I need to overcome with the mandolin and that is being too tense with my left hand. I feel myself griping it like I am strangling it. I need to loosen up and relax. I have only been playing since November

Steve

[gtani7]

there's a few books about practicing i really like which cover a lot of topics like how to practice, keeping a journal and recording log (which i was setting up yesterday with a couple condensor mikes), competition in music schools, injury, etc. I found all these in my local library:

- Kenny Werner "Effortless Mastery"

- Gerald Klickstein "Musicians Way"

- Barry Green "Inner Game of Music" (co-author is Timothy Gallwey) and "Music Mastery"

- Cutler "Savvy Musician" (about actually making a living)

[Steve Ostrander]

I heard this (possibly on this site) and it has always rung true with me:

Amateurs practice until they can play it right.
Professionals practice until they can't play it wrong.

I see this happening in our trio. We practice a song until we play it correctly, then it's on to the next song. I'm the one who says "let's do it again" but I get overruled because they are bored with it and ready to move on.

[Londy]

I heard this (possibly on this site) and it has always rung true with me:

Amateurs practice until they can play it right.
Professionals practice until they can't play it wrong.

I see this happening in our trio. We practice a song until we play it correctly, then it's on to the next song. I'm the one who says "let's do it again" but I get overruled because they are bored with it and ready to move on.

Powerful stuff right there. I love that quote...so true!!!

[neil argonaut]

I heard this (possibly on this site) and it has always rung true with me:

Amateurs practice until they can play it right.
Professionals practice until they can't play it wrong.

I see this happening in our trio. We practice a song until we play it correctly, then it's on to the next song. I'm the one who says "let's do it again" but I get overruled because they are bored with it and ready to move on.

Yeah, and that leaves you in the situation where you've played it wrong maybe 15 times and right once, so you've reinforced doing it wrong far more than doing it right.

Another thing which can work wonders is mental practice, without actually having the instrument (with the advantage also that it can be done any time, even if you don't have an instrument, or others are sleeping). I wish I had realised just quite how effective it was before injuring myself!

[slk]

I heard this (possibly on this site) and it has always rung true with me:

Amateurs practice until they can play it right.
Professionals practice until they can't play it wrong.

I see this happening in our trio. We practice a song until we play it correctly, then it's on to the next song. I'm the one who says "let's do it again" but I get overruled because they are bored with it and ready to move on.

Steve that is so true. It is up to the individual how far you want to take things. When I use to play in bands we played it till we could do it in our sleep. You do have to take things to the next level if you are going to play in front of people. I myself anymore seam to be satisfied when I can play it right. But the wonderful thing about music is that you can play it for your own amusement and others, and it is always enjoyable.

Steve

[bingoccc]

All things in moderation...http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0122083805.htm

Just out today.

[Tobin]

I heard this (possibly on this site) and it has always rung true with me:

Amateurs practice until they can play it right.
Professionals practice until they can't play it wrong.

I see this happening in our trio. We practice a song until we play it correctly, then it's on to the next song. I'm the one who says "let's do it again" but I get overruled because they are bored with it and ready to move on.

Well, by that standard, there aren't any professional musicians. Every single one of them makes mistakes here and there. But, I agree with the intent of it.

I get frustrated by it too. I'm the kind of guy who will play something over and over and over and over. Not only when I'm learning it, but even after I've got it. I just enjoy getting in the zone, or a sort of trance-like state, where I want to keep going on it and feel the tune for as long as I can, and burn it into my memory. But I generally have to do this when I'm alone. Everybody else gets bored with it after a few repetitions of playing it, even if we haven't even played it through without mistakes. I guess I just can't understand how people who play musical instruments would get bored with a tune that quickly.

[cgvm]

I do seam to have one problem I need to overcome with the mandolin and that is being too tense with my left hand. I feel myself griping it like I am strangling it. I need to loosen up and relax. I have only been playing since November

Steve

A shoulder strap helps keep the left hand looser so you do not have a "death grip" on the neck of the mandolin. As a relatively new mandolin player (practiser?) I have found resting my left thumb on the upper edge of the neck and letting my fingers fold naturally around the beck of the neck makes it easier to position my fingers on the strings. If my left arm tenses up I stop, shake out my arm and reposition my thumb and fingers. There should always be an air gap between your palm and the back of the neck. As with all new skills it takes time, practise, and above all patience.

[pops1]

I also find that wearing a strap whether you are sitting or standing puts the instrument in the same position all the time instead of having different positions to get used to for each chair you sit in or standing.

[farmerjones]

Amateurs practice until they can play it right.
Professionals practice until they can't play it wrong.

Yep. It's not that a clam doesn't occasionally happen. But the very thought of a clam has been diminished, until it's nearly gone.
As mentioned in Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery. Learn to Love every note you make. I don't know at what hour point I lost the fear, on mandolin. But it differs for each instrument, I've learned. Obviously, some are harder than others. I think some instruments fit some people better. Get comfortable, loose the fear. Peers are big deal for this. How can one get comfortable if one's constantly competing? Supportive peers, easier to loose the fear.


And I like the way to OP talks about experience gained in hours not years.
Now then, jump that paradigm and move into thousands of hours.
Then you're getting some time built. Yesir

[FLATROCK HILL]

I'm not even truly warmed up and fluid until about 45 minutes in. So there's very little true practicing "in the zone" with just an hour.

That is the issue for me right there. I'm no mandolin virtuoso by any means, but I can recognize when I'm "in the zone" and it takes most of the day to get there.

Morning practice seems to be an effort to get loosened up. Afternoon practice (if I have that luxury) is only slightly more productive.

By the end of the day, I find that my right hand is actually keeping a decent rhythm. My left hand is fretting the notes in such a way that there is actually a connection with the right hand. I'm in the zone. Maybe it's the culmination of the earlier practice sessions; maybe the fluidity is enhanced by the two IPAs I had with supper.

Maybe I should have a couple of IPAs for breakfast in the interest of physiological scientific research.

[Tobin]

I've said before: I play better after having a beer or two. Alcohol relaxes the muscles and makes me more loose and fluid, up to a point. Past that, coordination suffers. It's a very small window between alcohol helping me actually play better and making me play worse but just think I'm playing better.

[JeffD]

Just getting behind the mandolin every single day, is a gigantic improvement over those that don't, what ever it is that the others do do on their practice days.

Its the habit of it. Like how you feel funny going to bed without brushing teeth, or driving without a seat belt. A day without some time playing feels weird.

I can't claim the hours many of you are putting in. And I doubt if I could really do it. I manage about an hour of practice every day, except jam nights, which last two to three hours and occur once or twice a week.

But I think, for normal people pursuing musical growth, the discipline of getting behind that instrument every day is hard enough. And if you are a prodigy with the chops for over the top playing, you are probably not reading this anyway.