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What Do You Practice?


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When I was a gigging musician (paid studio work, stage) I didn't need to practice. I didn't need practice because I was focused on what I was doing. You get very good at what you do and pretty much all the things you like but are not a part of your regiment fall away.

Now that I'm not a gigging musician I've gone back to practicing scales and patterns in different ways mostly due to a different instrument and approach. Sometimes I think there is simply too much to practice. Not that I'm in the heavy metal scene but I know of many of those guys practice scales for two to three hours straight. One thing I've gone back to is cycle of 5ths. A different key everyday

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I've got so many methods it drives me bonkers and every time I turn around I stumble on a new one. I've got about six different diatonic scale pattern ideas that I'll run thru. And I'll apply them left and right in various combinations across all modes. I used to have a lot of pentatonic sequences but I haven't touched them in ages.

I'll say this. My new ideas are no more complex then my old ideas but they certainly are harder to execute even at a slow pace. As well I tried expaning my range by using something similar to 6 string bass tuning - beadgc rather then guitar. Works great if I'm playing just bass but if I tune up an octave and get all 6 strings and both hands involved in chording I go nuts.

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I never practice. What never? Hardly ever! When I'm lucky, I play guitar about 4-5 hours a month and about 3-4 hours of that includes actual recording time. I will pick it up and play for about 5 or so minutes here and there to try to figure out how to play what I have going on in my head. It's a rarity if I actually know how to play everything once I start recording. I usually get the main parts down via the 5 minutes, and fill in the rest on the fly while recording. It sucks, but I just don't have the time for it. One day though, when the kids are a little older, I plan to play more... and maybe even learn some scales. I know some, but mainly by trial and error.

Edited by just1l
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Scales and arpeggios. I use you tube back tracks a lot for modes and application. I tend to get stuck in a rut so I'm looking for new ways to apply. If anyone has any ideas to make the major scale seem a little fresher, let me know.

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I fall off of this train of thought and fall back into it. Because I exclusively tap on my ztar and I draw a lot of inspiration from the keyboard I've been tuning down to BEADGC Without open notes that puts me at a low C for the lowest not played and a four octave range.

So I do

Left hand scales, scale patterns and arpeggios, Right hand scales, patterns and arpeggios.

Octave (both left and right hand as ztars allow for more then one note per string)

And I have an assortment of both hand techniques:

  • One plus One - Which means one finger from the left hand and one for the right. Works well for pentatonic scales, 6th, 7th and 9th arpeggios

  • One plus Two - Which is one finger on the left and two on the right. Works well with diatonic scales and primary arpeggios

  • Two plus Two - I'm still working out ideas for this. Works well for three octave scales.

When I'm soloing without trying to accompany the solo I'll use combinations of all the above plus some others. It all works well when I use standard tuning but goes haywire when I use the perfect fourths tuning mentioned above. The scales are coming along but the chords are not. Between perfect fourths and tuning down I struggle to lock chord shapes/positions to names.

Yesterday, I opened up Guitar Pro and began manually scoring out scale patterns for my new found tuning so I can get a better grip on it.

If I were smart I'd avoid youtube. I'll see a great keyboard performance and try to emulate it on the ztar. Although I will say I've learned a lot from watching them.

.

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I haven't sat and practiced as such in years, if ever. When I'm laying down studio tracks I do so by comping and if I later want to play them live, I learn the arrangement from what I've comped.

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I didn't either till the last few years. When you are comfortable but not bored with what you do and active it may not matter. Picking up a new instrument and treating it as such lead me down the path I'm on right now. I don't want to do the same things I've always done. I want to dramatically reshape my playing and develop new muscle memories as opposed to relying on old ones to steer me thru.

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