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Thread: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

  1. #1
    Registered User mobi's Avatar
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    Unhappy Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    What is a better approach?

    A few minutes (10-15 minutes) of practice everyday

    or

    A long (an hour or more) only on weekends

    With daily responsibilities in life, getting time for mandolin is very difficult

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    A little practice daily and a long practice on the weekend.

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    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    30 minutes every other day, and long practice on the weekend, for the moment.
    Longterm strategy: eliminating* or re-grouping other chores to make a consistent practising hour every day.

    (*) "No" is a magic word for that. It takes time to learn, but it's worth it.
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  5. #4

    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    I understand about no time.
    Regular mindful practice is far better, imho.
    You will be attuned to sound and muscle.
    I could see a few minutes of metronome and string skipping, scales, then practicing one song a few times through.

    We do the best we can. Routine makes it happen.

    Long sessions are fine, and offer their own rewards, like working a song, solos , variations on the head. But, as for being in the saddle and able to pick up and play with confidence, daily or as close as you can come will be better imho.

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    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    I agree. I'd rather have short daily time with my instrument than one long session only once a week. Familiarity requires regular playing. Building calluses, getting muscle movements fine-tuned, and all the various motor skills required to start getting better at the mandolin just can't be achieved with a once-a-week schedule.

    I try to play a minimum of an hour per day. And yeah, as a working stiff who is gone 13 hours a day for work, it's tough. It doesn't always happen. But even with the very small amount of time I have in the evening, I manage to get between a half-hour and an hour. You just have to let others in your household know that you are setting it as a priority, and you demand some "me time" for it. A half-hour a day is not too much to ask.

    If your life is so busy that you can't even get a small amount of time each day for yourself, then your priorities need to be reevaluated. In the long-term, that kind of hectic lifestyle can only lead to problems and stress. Demand your music time, and use it for enjoyment and self-improvement. It pays dividends far beyond just your mandolin skills.

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  8. #6

    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    One way I found time to practice was to walk away from the tee vee.

  9. #7
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    If you can get behind the mandolin every day, you are going a whole lot. A whole lot.

    Those of us (likely most of us) without professional musical careers to pursue, are better off with some kind of do-able regime, rather than the perfect practice that we can't seem to get to. For me, if I get behind the mandolin every day is it.
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    I have two mandolins hanging on walls around my house,
    And when I get the daily urge, one comes down to play for a minimum 15 to 30 min. session.
    More often than not, there's a few urges in the course of my day.
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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    Quote Originally Posted by CarlM View Post
    One way I found time to practice was to walk away from the tee vee.
    Me too. I mean, I walked away from the TV for lots of reasons, but one of the benefits is more time to be alive.
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    Plays Well With Others Nate Lee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    Short practice sessions regularly are usually more effective than long practices occasionally. Whatever the length of the session, make sure you are enforcing good habits and not bad. Your brain makes habits from repetition, so make sure that all practice time is spent doing things correctly, or else you'll end up engaging in "reverse practice". Kenny Werner talks about this type of negative practice in his book "Effortless Mastery". When I was in college, my music theory teacher always said "Practice doens't make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect"

    I'm reading a great book about practice called "The Practice of Practice", written by Jonathan Harnum. I'm only halfway through, but I've already learned a lot. It goes into detail about what is happening in our brains when we practice, and has changed the way I practice.
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  14. #11
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    I'd say practice every minute you can afford to, and then you never have to worry about when to practice again.

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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    I used to think short practice sessions were only good for a quick noodle - nothing much gained. but I've found that if I have a specific (and small) goal - a 10-15 minute session can be quite productive. I can permanently fix a tight spot in a tune if I work it slowly for 10 minutes. Learn a measure or two of a new tune. Double stop tremolo for 10 minutes. Endings in C chord. etc.

    Knocking out 5 tunes in 10-15 minutes of playing is fine for fun and maintaining but it ain't practice unless I remember to have a little focus/goal to go with it.

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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    Me too. I mean, I walked away from the TV for lots of reasons, but one of the benefits is more time to be alive.
    know what you mean. I just got a new tv and it killed most all of my next-mandolin budget

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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    I'm with JeffD, I have to get behind my mando every day.

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    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    Brief practice is really effective particularly if you have a focus to it. If I only have 15-30 min to play I focus on one tune, usually working on a part that's been tricky for me, or work on building speed up, or working on ornaments and variations (I play irish trad music) Sometimes I'll just and just run through 15-30 min of tunes but I actually get more out of it if I have a purpose. I use the same approach with drums At one point a few years back I was working 4 part time jobs, only had one day off every three weeks. I still sat down behind the drum kit every single day, even if only for 15 minutes. I was studying jazz drumming (still am) and it's amazing the consistent progress I made despite my work schedule not appearing to be conducive to it.
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    I'd go for ''as long as you can'' on any single day. If all you can manage is 10 minutes,ok. If however, you can get a longer practice period in,do exactly that. Don't limit your practice time in any way if you can avoid it,it all adds up.
    'What' you practice is entirely up to yourself. If it's learning a new song/tune,do that. If running through scale patterns is important,then do that - or whatever. Only you can determine what's actually necessary for you to progress, Ivan
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    Actually, I wonder how much time many of us spend looking at Mandolin Cafe! Or for that matter Facebook etc.
    Cut back on that and I'm pretty sure you could fit in a bit more practice if you wanted.

    But generally I think you should try to play a bit every day.
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  22. #18

    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    Quote Originally Posted by Dagger Gordon View Post
    Actually, I wonder how much time many of us spend looking at Mandolin Cafe! Or for that matter Facebook etc.
    Guilty as charged. But I'm clearly not alone

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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    A great deal of fretted instrument playing is muscle memory so the more often you reinforce that the more rapidly your brain picks it up and you can move on to memorizing other things. That said playing daily for about forty-five minutes or an hour day in and day out will make a real and noticeable difference in your playing. R/
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    There is some science that demonstrates that consistency is more important, and also that is more beneficial to practice not long before you sleep, because your mind can keep assimilating during sleep. May as well use that for something constructive, right ?

    Another thing to consider is that the appetite for practice changes along the curve of your progress. The early stages of learning once you get past an initial, basic skill acquiring burst, are relatively slow and unrewarding. It does gradually get more fun as you get better and IME it can get to a point where your problem is stopping, not finding time.

  25. #21

    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    The pros put in 8 to 12 hours practice daily but don't have to worry about a job taking up all of their time. After all, it is their job.

    Len B.
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    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    Quote Originally Posted by lenf12 View Post
    The pros put in 8 to 12 hours practice daily ...
    That's what my mother told me to make me practise my much-hated violin. I believed her at the time, and it made me swear I'd never be a pro.
    In the meantime, much other input made me doubt if this is more than an urban legend.
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    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    My thinking is the same as what most people have posted -- a little every day rather than one big day on a weekend. But whatever you do, please be as careful with proper posture, hand position and wrist position even with a 10-minute practice as you would with a longer one. don't get in the habit of thinking you won't pick up bad habits in just 10 or 15 minutes. Whatever you decide, do it the right way all the time.
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    I practice everyday, at least 30 minutes... which many times end up to 60+ minutes. I love (and need) to play my axe.
    I think, therefore, I pick.

  30. #25
    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Little practice daily vs long practice occassionaly

    Quote Originally Posted by Randi Gormley View Post
    My thinking is the same as what most people have posted -- a little every day rather than one big day on a weekend. But whatever you do, please be as careful with proper posture, hand position and wrist position even with a 10-minute practice as you would with a longer one. don't get in the habit of thinking you won't pick up bad habits in just 10 or 15 minutes. Whatever you decide, do it the right way all the time.
    Very good point. And taking it one step further, there is a danger in only playing 10-15 minutes at a time. Those bad habits like poor posture and poor left hand/wrist placement will not be as evident in such a short period of time. It's possible to spend years playing with poor technique and not know it's a problem until you try to play, say, a 3-hour jam session. Then all of a sudden you hurt and can't figure out why.

    Short duration practice is helpful at first as you are building calluses and finger strength. But really, over time, you NEED to start increasing the time spent in each session. You'll never be able to play in a long jam session or other group event if you never spend that much time at home playing in one sitting. Stamina becomes a real issue, and it has to be built up.

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