How you play / practice

[Never]

I have a bunch of learning books from Janek Gwizdala so occasionally I’ll open one up and learn an exercise and then mess around and jam leveraging the new ideas or patterns. When I learn an exercise, I like to really break it down to understand what’s happening musically and how to apply it in different contexts and keys. I have his chordal harmony books also and slowly am creeping my way through those. It is all about applying the learning for me so I can internalize it and add it to my bag of tricks and have new places that my fingers want to go to.

This sounds like a great idea, maybe I should try something like that..

Anyone have thoughts about how to practice theory? I feel like a lifelong music theory learner, in that I’ve spent my whole life never understanding it.

[cosmicevan]

I have a bunch of learning books from Janek Gwizdala so occasionally I’ll open one up and learn an exercise and then mess around and jam leveraging the new ideas or patterns. When I learn an exercise, I like to really break it down to understand what’s happening musically and how to apply it in different contexts and keys. I have his chordal harmony books also and slowly am creeping my way through those. It is all about applying the learning for me so I can internalize it and add it to my bag of tricks and have new places that my fingers want to go to.

This sounds like a great idea, maybe I should try something like that..

Anyone have thoughts about how to practice theory? I feel like a lifelong music theory learner, in that I’ve spent my whole life never understanding it.

It's similar to really examining an exercise. If you look at what the player is doing compared to the key or the chord and really analyze what's going on and think about it and then apply it to a different key or chord and move it around the neck. I'm trying to get the patience of going through the cycle of 5ths and covering all keys. Just going through the cycle of 5ths in general is good theory practice.

I'm very into improv/jam music and love phish - this guy breaks down one of my favorite studio solos for the band...

https://amarguitar.com/song-studies/tun ... -solo-tab/

in the youtube video he talks about what is going on theoretically and really shows you what's going on which I found really cool

[coldbrightsunlight]

Yeah best way to practice theory imo is to transcribe songs you like, and think about how they work functionally.

There are also a lot of more arbitrary exercises I'm sure you could find online that are like what we did when I was taught it formally (write a melody that works over a given chord progression or vice versa, the chords in this progression and the relationship etc) but you'll probably get more out of doing it yourself with a song you like. Maybe try one that sounds kinda weird or cool to you, then when you've transcribed it, you know how to do that thing. Then as cosmicevan said you can practice applying this new technique/lick/progression in different keys and contexts.

[dubkitty]

it really depends on where i'm at and what my concerns are. if i'm trying to assimilate a new technique it'll get at least 15 minutes a day. back in the 70s Jim Messina (Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Loggins & Messina) said in a 70s Guitar Player interview that it takes at least three months to fully integrate a new technique...it might have been six months. for example, i quit playing guitar for about a year and a half due to weird psych med effects, and when i started again my chops were totally shot. since i was relearning, i decided to work up octave runs a la Wes Montgomery or Willie Nelson and work on using my small finger on the fretting hand and going from two-finger to three-finger picking. it improved my playing a lot from before i stopped.

but it's kind of rare to find that kind of stuff nowadays...my playing is adequate for what i do/want to do. so usually i either noodle around trying ideas, making up song structures on the spot, or playing other people's songs, or work with the looper. the looper really isn't a technique-oriented thing...usually i never do anything more complicated than an 8th-note triplet and the tempi are sloooooow. i should do more directed practising, and if i'm ever in a playing-out situation i'll work hard on it. but as of now, given my lack of contacts here the most likely thing is me doing solo performances with two loopers so i can crossfade from one piece into another. before my world fell apart in 2010 i had a 50-minute set worked up, but i lost all that material because it was never recorded.