what's the longest you've gone?

[Compact Diss]

 

While learning a new piece? I have read to practice the piece for ten minutes, then move on to something different.

 

I have read to practice for 20 minutes w/ ten minutes off. Repeat.

 

I was wondering how long you spend on parts you are learning? I feel like continuing to work on one part ends up defeating the purpose and I have to move on-atleast for me-I start losing it-making the same mistake and so I need to put the guitar down and do something else.

 

Your thoughts?

[mwestenberg]

3 days - Rush's La Villa Strangiato drum machine program, probably a day and a half for the guitar part of same.

[A String]

Originally posted by mwestenberg:

3 days - Rush's La Villa Strangiato drum machine program, probably a day and a half for the guitar part of same.

That one was a bitch! I hope you made out better with the drum part then I did...I finally gave up.

 

Originally posted by Compact Diss:

Your thoughts?

I agree with the technique you read about. I will set my guitar somewhere close. Then I will play a part a few times over and set the guitar down again. I continue doing this over and over again, picking up the guitar every time I think of it. Soon, I have the part down pat.

[revolead]

Probably about 18 hours consecutive work and another 18 on and off for learning the beginning to Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover." But it was worth it. It made me a much better guitplayer.

[Lee Flier]

I dunno, I can get pretty obsessive about learning stuff. Like, I won't put down the guitar until I've nailed it, or at least a complete part of it. Even if it takes some ridiculous number of hours. I remember getting obsessed over "Classical Gas" when I was about 14 and I wouldn't play anything else for days on end until I learned it... I'm sure my parents wanted to kill me.

 

Of course as you get older there are other things that demand your time and you can't necessarily obsess over some guitar part nonstop... but sometimes I do anyway.

 

On the other hand, if it's an original song and I'm having to come up with a part for the first time, that's different. I take frequent breaks so I can recharge the creative batteries... cuz 99% of coming up with a cool part for a song isn't in your fingers, it's coming up with the part in your head. I MIGHT stumble over something cool just by noodling around, but more often I won't even have a guitar in my hands when I think of the part, I just get it nailed in my head and then go pick up the guitar and figure it out.

[Philip OKeefe]

The better part of two weeks - every spare moment... working out all the guitar parts for Steely Dan's Kid Charlemagne. I also spent about 12 hours once working out the guitar on James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight", which BTW has some really nice chord changes, but I was a teenager back then and could spend all my time on such things.

[Billster]

I don't watch the clock, but I know sometimes I have to put a problem aside and think about it without physically handling the guitar. I hum through the part, and get it through my cement head what it sounds like, and then when I return to the guitar, I know what I expect to hear from my fingers.

[Tedster]

No right or wrong answer here...depends on the mood, how obsessed you are...how easily the part is coming, what are your motivations for learning it. Those things vary for me...so I might get frustrated after 10 minutes...or I might sit all night at it.

[Funk Jazz]

for new pieces i do the same thing A String. have to break away for a minute and get a fresh look. i can go for an hour though, pretty easily before i take a break.

 

i've been working on "last steam engine train" by leo kottke and "hesitation blues" by hot tuna for like ten years. i can play them, but i'm continually trying to get the groove as solid as the originals.

[Lee Flier]

Oh man, "Last Steam Engine Train!" I spent ages working that one up as a kid too. Another obsession. What a killer tune! Glad to see another fan of it.

[Big Red 67]

When I was in school I spent 3 or 4 months studying a Bach piece for my finial. I read slow, I learned to play by reading, then programed the piece so I could use the midi program to slow it down and speed it up and use different insturments. That allowed me to hear it in many voices and chose how to treat it on the bass. Finished by recording it and listening to the performance, over and, over.

[skipclone 1]

One thing that makes me happy about my originals is that I often have to WORK on them-I can write stuff that`s really difficult for me. I find that the result is usually worth the effort to learn, same with covers. But what`s the longest-don`t know, I don`t keep track in that way.