I have been practicing a little bit more than usual lately.

[desertbluesman]

I have been practicing a little bit more than usual lately, and lo and behold my licks are getting more exact, and so is my chord work. I used to practice relentlessly day in and day out for hours and hours. On the days following my day off (if I get one) the playing is harder to get to exact pickin. Of course I always knew that hours of practice is "talent", (at least a form of talent). Some have that gift of a natural melodic sense, and do not need as much practice. I was not one of those gifted ones, I was just tenacious in my practice habits.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Talent is the seed God gives you. Skill is what you get when you water and fertilize it.

[whitefang]

Gotta be careful though....

 

A friend of mine said he got to practicing so many hours a day it took him, on a trek to the bathroom for a "pee break" seeing his wife and all her luggage at the front door waiting for her cab to realize he needed to cut down.

Whitefang

[Larryz]

I've been too busy lately to set aside serious practice time. I do pick up the guitar for at least a half hour a day. Some buds want to do some practice sessions for a gig coming up in a few weeks. We start practicing for it this afternoon and I have a BBQ party jam coming up this weekend. So I may be able to get with the program again...as much as my old hands will let me LOL!

[skipclone 1]

I have more free time this month but, it`s been hard to summon the motivation. I lost two good friends recently, within five weeks of each other. I`m stuck here for the whole summer, reading about other people and their great vacations. It`s an emotional, financial and physical tiger pit. But I`m slowly climbing my way out, I`ll do some playing today.

[Larryz]

My condolences to you Skip, and to all of their friends and family...

[skipclone 1]

Larryz

Thank you sir. In both cases it`s not only me who suffered the loss. These were two brilliant minds. It`s a loss to all of us. If it was anyone else I would just say, I understand. No, actually no one else does. I`ll just leave it there.

[d halfnote]

I have been practicing a little bit more than usual lately, and lo and behold my licks are getting more exact, and so is my chord work. I used to practice relentlessly day in and day out for hours and hours. On the days following my day off (if I get one) the playing is harder to get to exact pickin. Of course I always knew that hours of practice is "talent", (at least a form of talent). Some have that gift of a natural melodic sense, and do not need as much practice. I was not one of those gifted ones, I was just tenacious in my practice habits.

 

I think the idea of "gifted" artists is a misconception.

It all really comes down to one's exposure to possibilities X their efforts at development.

I think, from yer mention of the "hours of practice" rule that you already know that principle.

The only real impediment to that is if someone has a true problem w/perception of sound or a physical impairment.

 

Those of us who've heard you play, DBM, know yer a very skilled, expressive player.

Seems like you're gearing up for something (& as happens sometimes that may even be before you realize it consciously).

Keep us informed !

-----------------------

Please excuse the diversion, DBM, as I offer up solace from a lesser talent

-----------------------

& Skip, Keep on, uh, keepin' on.

What else ya gon' do ?

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYjrObzZvio

 

[desertbluesman]

Thanks for your compliments d. I am getting better at feel and less good at technique as I get older, the "expressive" comes out, and the 32 note runs per measure (Which I used to do back in the day) is getting cut down to a few notes per measure....

 

Truth be told, once I pay attention and do insert pauses, and play less, & with more feel, the more I like the sound of my playing......

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sometimes, less really is more!

 

So to can limitations drive us to new levels of expression. There was a group of artists in- as I recall- NYC who got mostof their materials scrounging from the dumpsters of more established artists. Once the big fish figured out what the little ones were doing, they started manipulating the situation. For instance, they might only throw out oil paints of different shades of yellow for a week.

 

This forced the scrounges to get inventive.

[d halfnote]

Thanks for your compliments d. I am getting better at feel and less good at technique as I get older, the "expressive" comes out, and the 32 note runs per measure (Which I used to do back in the day) is getting cut down to a few notes per measure....

 

Truth be told, once I pay attention and do insert pauses, and play less, & with more feel, the more I like the sound of my playing......

What I've heard on SCloud isn't up to date [actually I don't recall when those trax are dated] but exemplifies a skill at phrasing & particularly pitch tweaking (not just bends but v. slight pitch manipulations such as Derek trucks does but even of a less overt nature) that deliver a very human voice to yer work.

 

I've told you that before, if in less detailed language.

You may honestly be deeply modest but I can't imagine that you don't know what you can do.

[desertbluesman]

What I've heard on SCloud isn't up to date [actually I don't recall when those trax are dated] but exemplifies a skill at phrasing & particularly pitch tweaking (not just bends but v. slight pitch manipulations such as Derek trucks does but even of a less overt nature) that deliver a very human voice to yer work.

 

I've told you that before, if in less detailed language.

You may honestly be deeply modest but I can't imagine that you don't know what you can do.

 

When I recorded those tunes it was near the very first time I played against the backing track. so I was interested, I was feeling my way through and not caring at all about those real fast runs. So I played them that day like that, now after years and years of playing against those backing tracks. I am much more familiar with the tracks so I play them very differently, most of the tunes have never been recreated just like I played them in. Only on a few do I play them like I did on recording day.

 

As for those slight bends and drops, I slide my fingers over the frets, it gives a kinda human voicing to the notes.

 

@ one time I could play all those big fast runs, but I decided the bends and the slides were like having vowels in a scrabble game. If you have all consonants it is definitely not easy to spell words in scrabble. The slides and bends add that correct spelling effect into the musical conversion.

[skipclone 1]

 

& Skip, Keep on, uh, keepin' on.

What else ya gon' do ?

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYjrObzZvio

 

Thanks d

Right now, I don`t really have an answer for that. My guess is, more guitar is involved.

[Kenji13]

Sometimes, less really is more!

 

 

I totally agree. I used to practice at least 5 hours a day. I powered through each practice session. When I think about it, I feel like I actually worse my playing level. By practicing without good focus, I started to develop a bad habit of playing..

 

Now, I always ask myself "Am I practicing with good focus?"

[d halfnote]

Yes. While time spent on an activity is vital there are differences between just doing something thoughtlessly & w/focus.

 

One might run scales or attempt gradually playing exercises faster w/out actually concentrating on that or perhaps practicing while not looking at your hands but anything that involves the quality of yer efforts requires consciousness.

 

I was once advised that the worst thing one can do when practicing is to continue with a passage that's giving you difficulty once you begin making mistakes.

As repetition is how we master our skills, you can actually begin learning the mistake rather than correcting it.

 

That's when you stop or perhaps shift to either a slower tempo or completely diff effort.