How you play / practice

[MaxMaps]

This can go in the music thread but I will post it in general.

I have said it multiple times but one of the best things of 2020 other than my second born child was connecting with music and you guys again. I can remember telling my Mom that I would never pick up an instrument to play again but this was a lie I kept telling myself because I was both afraid of putting myself out there and disenfranchised from previous experiences with bands that sucked and music I wasn't into. When I first came here the GAS bug hit me hard, and it was fun buying cool pedals, basses and amps to make bass go BRRRRRRRRRRRRR but it felt hollow and I just couldn't do it any more.

Now that I am playing again I feel I have a strong bond with music - last week I got lost in my delay and it was the first time I really got into what I was doing, something must have snapped or I was just ready after not playing for 5 years solid but I felt good like I did when I was playing live. It was then I realized that is neither skill, technical ability or how cool you look but just be in to what your doing and music is for everyone. (besides the fat weirdos making amp go BRRRRRRRR are kind of the best)

One of my goals for 2021 is to become a better musician and strengthen my bond with music. I know gear and pedals will play a part but its my goal to create something and become a better player, one of the things I started before I was posting here again was doing a practice log and transcribing music. I cant tell you how beneficial that was to get my chops up, I need to do it more but my time for now is limited so I have to spend it wisely.

So tell me bros:

-How you play / approach your instrument? Do you shred the gnar ? Do you Tobin Abasi that bitch? How do you sling that wood? Everyone has a different style of playing and I love seeing different approaches. I feel it gives me inspiration to do cool things. Do you model your playing after a particular musician?

-Do you practice ? Or do you think about practicing? - I started a practice log and I felt it was very beneficial to me getting up and running.

-Theory, do you know your sharps, flats, major, minor, diminished 7ths ? or does instrument go BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR BBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRR?

- Do you read books on music? Listen to teachers ? Or are there no teachers, only fuzz?

[Chankgeez]

- Do you read books on music?

Probably the best thing I can recommend:

[MaxMaps]

- Do you read books on music?

Probably the best thing I can recommend:

That dude looks like he knows what’s up.

[coldbrightsunlight]

Practice is good!! I am not as dedicated to practicing as I would like, but whenever I stick at it for a solid period of time with a real goal I definitely do improve.

Sounds like you're there already with a practice log which is great, then just set aside a chunk of time every day/two days/week whatever you can manage. Consistency is key when it comes to actually learning stuff from practice.

Use a metronome, timing is everything. And START SLOW. If you can't play something perfectly slow you can't play it fast

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

Practice stuff first:

When I have the time (which is surprisingly often), this is how I practise in an "optimal week":

* 1→1.5h of "fundamentals". Perhaps with a break in the middle. This means fingerpicking patterns to a metronome, finding intervals and melodies and whatever on the neck, theory foundations, chords changes, everything "fundamental". This I typically do on my nylon-string in standard tuning. For some of the fundamentals stuff, i.e. mind-numbingly muscle memory activities, I might watch some music-related (but not music) video on YouTube, whilst e.g. doing the fingerpicking pattern to a metronome.
* Then three times a week or so (sometimes four, sometimes two) I have band practice, where we generally do a mix of rehearsing old and new songs, and a bit of improvisation. This is typically 2→4h. There's also inevitably a bit of toying around with effects here, so I might arrive an hour early to do that before the others come.
* On the days I don't have band practise I do around an hour of just playing songs, my own or others, or just playing around with stuff that might become songs, on my steel-string acoustic.


In terms of teachers and so on, I've never had a lesson. Though I used the Justin Guitar page at some point when I decided that after playing guitar on and off for over a decade, I should probably learn what the strings are called, and what a chord is and so on. I actually really like his page. It was updated to be even better last year, or in 2019, or something.



My play style is a bit idiosyncratic. Though nothing is truly wildly original, I do a lot of small things that add up to something that I'd like to think is unique. I suppose the hallmarks of my playing would be super slow reverb drenched fingerpicking, really open dyad and sus/add chords, octave tremolo chords in open tuning, and quite a bit of syncopation. I also have some sort of flatpicking approach where I fret bass notes using my thumb, and play lead, rhythm, and bass at the same time, which just grew out of being the only guitarist in every band I've been in. If I'm playing acoustic guitar, I'm basically just ripping off Nick Drake poorly. I suppose I'm a more inventive electric guitarist than acoustic.

[starmansam]

I don't really practice unless it's a specific piece of music that I'm writing. At any given time I've got three or four riffs or song ideas kicking around that are what I'm currently working on, and most of the time I come up with something I can't quite play, so my practice routine is warm up a little, then run through those ideas until they sound right, then either record a snippet, or get lost playing with effects.

I've got 0 music theory, no books, maybe the occasional YouTube video about a specific technique, but I pretty much just play by ear and by feel. It's a slow iterative process and I don't really know any music by anyone else, but it's what works for me.

As far as style, I like to combine heavy riffing with weird tight intervals, lots of open strings, very few big strummed chords. I'm more influenced by rhythm guitar parts than lead, but since I play alone most of the time I tend to try to play two things at once, usually something low that isn't moving and something high that is.

[Errant Tiger]

I had three years of theory and composition in high school (~30 years ago), and private lessons before that, but once I discovered the Ramones my adolescent interest in theory pretty much got trashed. Now about once a year I'll spend a week or two thinking "man, I gotta get my scales and modes together and also work on 'technique.' " And I think about it, but never really do it. I don't practice in a formal way as such; most of my time playing is noodling and twiddling knobs. When I do feel the need to "work on something" it's usually a vague notion of "developing a more direct connection with my instrument" and so I'll strip down the effects to just reverb (and maybe a simple delay) and focus on, uh, "meditating" and "channeling" with the guitar. There are a few specific technical things I'd like to improve, but I always forget what they are until I've already blown out my earballs for the night.

I have been thinking lately that it might be interesting to try to write some songs again.

As far as models, sometimes? I spent about five years trying halfassedly to be Nick Drake, and now I guess I kind of halfassedly try to be David Torn.

That being said, I recently acquired a couple simple synths, and so my playing time with those has been a matter of learning how they work and what they sound like and how to get sounds I like, all by experimentation. The next step, I realized last night, is to figure out how to make those cool sounds more "musical." For whatever broad parameters of "musical."

Dunno if that helps or is interesting, but I like this discussion.

[Errant Tiger]

- Do you read books on music?

Probably the best thing I can recommend:

Just ordered a copy, which I will no doubt eagerly receive, skim, and then hope to absorb by osmosis. Looking forward to it.

[Chankgeez]

I go back to that book often.

It's great to skim… or just read a section of and put back down… or randomly open and read a few sentences of…

Keep it close by.

[ProCarsteNation]

- Do you read books on music?

Probably the best thing I can recommend:

Just ordered a copy, which I will no doubt eagerly receive, skim, and then hope to absorb by osmosis. Looking forward to it.

Same! It goes on my nighttime reading table joining Jose Medeles Stoic Drummer & Yung Pueblos Inward.

I also just finished Benny Grebs Effective Practicing For Musicians,
and can say it is a great manual for any kind of practice
"It is time to treat the progress on your instrument
with the respect it deserves"
https://bennygrebshop.bigcartel.com/pro ... cians-book

This motivated me to concentrate on three guitar goals:

The Country/Bluegrass Book I've had for ages - for fingerpicking

the Funk book I've had for ages - for solid rytm

CAGED which I tried many times but am only now really starting to see the usefulness
beyond "lining up chords" thanks to Stich Guitar Method on YT

I also really liked this Don Juan/Celestine Prophecy of music books by Victor Wooten:
https://www.vixmerch.com/products/the-m ... rback-book

[MaxMaps]

I had three years of theory and composition in high school (~30 years ago), and private lessons before that, but once I discovered the Ramones my adolescent interest in theory pretty much got trashed. Now about once a year I'll spend a week or two thinking "man, I gotta get my scales and modes together and also work on 'technique.' " And I think about it, but never really do it. I don't practice in a formal way as such; most of my time playing is noodling and twiddling knobs. When I do feel the need to "work on something" it's usually a vague notion of "developing a more direct connection with my instrument" and so I'll strip down the effects to just reverb (and maybe a simple delay) and focus on, uh, "meditating" and "channeling" with the guitar. There are a few specific technical things I'd like to improve, but I always forget what they are until I've already blown out my earballs for the night.

I have been thinking lately that it might be interesting to try to write some songs again.

As far as models, sometimes? I spent about five years trying halfassedly to be Nick Drake, and now I guess I kind of halfassedly try to be David Torn.

That being said, I recently acquired a couple simple synths, and so my playing time with those has been a matter of learning how they work and what they sound like and how to get sounds I like, all by experimentation. The next step, I realized last night, is to figure out how to make those cool sounds more "musical." For whatever broad parameters of "musical."

Dunno if that helps or is interesting, but I like this discussion.

We are music twins - This in a large part is my musical make up.

In high school I played Tuba / Bass in Jazz band - at one time in my teens I was reading music and doing a walking bass line. All of that shit went down the Tube and lost when I started to gig in Metalcore bands and the women who were loose enough to go in the back with me. (lol) I have had several teachers, many who were great but I lost interest once I came to the actual music part. I can talk gear / pedals all fucking day even music I like but when it comes to creating something for me - I havent done that in over 20 years.

I have such a wide admiration for musicians it goes all over the place for playing styles, I spent my youth idolizing Alex Webster and David Vincent in a large part because my cousin was a metal head in the Portland Oregon underground that helped forum what heavy music is today. Once Les came out with Sailing the Seas of Cheese I was completely hooked. Then on the flip side my parents listen to great R&B (Earth Wind and Fire, Johnson Brothers, ect) - I was also exposed to great 60-70 rock (Hendrix , Beatles, Neil Young, JJ Kale,) Jimi Hendrix will always be my favorite musician that ever walked the planet. Then in my late 20's I was on a electric, DBM, down tempo deal - where all traditional rock music left the door and it was just washy beats for hours on end.

My 30's when I came to this forum I then embraced some of the Jazz players who are cult gods of bass playing world today. Stanley Clark was absolutely breath taking live, and then I developed a crush on Esprinza Spalding. Then came the Victor Wooten / Marcus miller jaunt.

If your seeing a pattern I was all about the techinal fast playing bass player but when it came to my part I never dedicated the time and or energy to reproduce it on my side. My style now is a more of a basic Sean Yuselt, Al Cineros, Geezer Buttler feel. Patters that are basic and yet complex at the same with out dancing all over the neck.

And just because of time, it really is twiddle knobs and make pedals go BRRRRRRRR - its a lot of fun but I feel I have reached a point where I have inspiration enough to create something.

[Lurker13]

Jimi Hendrix will always be my favorite musician that ever walked the planet.

I'm in this camp too. If it wasn't for Jimi Hendrix, I probably never would have learned to play guitar.

When my sister was in elementary school, our parents took her to band night at school. She wanted to play the drums, but our father said no daughter of his was going to play the drums. The bandleader told my parents that good oboe players had an easy time getting college scholarships, and that was all they needed to hear. My sister started playing the oboe, and two years later so did I. I decided to play the oboe partly because of my parents, and partly because of my sister, who managed to be an honor student and a rogue all at the same time. So, I learned how to read and play music, but I gave it up at the beginning of high school because my heart wasn't really in it.

Years later, I started learning guitar, and of course I had to learn some theory. My guitar teacher taught me some basics, and I read some books on it. To me, the big takeaway from music theory as a guitarist is just basic understanding of which chords fit into a key, and the corresponding scale (or mode).

My current style of play/practice involves running some scales to warm up, practicing a few cowboy chords and a few barre chords, then kicking on the fuzz and noodling/jamming and practicing some standard (trite) lead guitar licks. I haven't tried to actually write a song in years, these days all I seem to do is improvise, which hasn't lead to anything worth listening to.

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

I pretty much picked up the guitar because of Bob Mould. And, yes, I play a flying v.

[jirodreamsofdank]

Photography/painting and writing, I needed rigorous practice and an audience - crit sessions in college to friendly writing group readings, pretty much anything to not make it pure masturbation.

Music, though, I'm content to almost never hit record, never harbored a desire to be in a band, never practice really. Like tonight I hooked up a Rat and a Volante and my little practice amp just spent an hour fucking around zoned out and it felt good. I would like to learn more theory, though.

[qersty]

I just pick out songs with parts that sound cool in them and watch youtube vids about theory once in a while but I dont get much of it