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Joe V Offline OP
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Hi all,

I'd like to pose an open question to all of you in the interest of possibly garnering some good practice tips. Here it is:

What music skills do you (or have you) continually struggled with to get the most satisfaction from your music career/hobby - and did you (or are you) trying to overcome that musical skill obstacle through your practice routines ?

I'll open...for me, it's definitely memorizing a song to the point where I can play it with little mental effort (mostly motor control) for the purpose of performance, and then MAINTAINING that song. I can't tell you how many songs I've mastered to the point of playing fluently for a week or 2 - and then lost them completely several months later...

Last edited by Joe V; 07/25/15 12:39 PM.
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With me, the challenge is always teaching my fingers how to play new things on my newest instruments. I now play saxophones, flute, wind synthesizer, keyboard synthesizer, bass, drums and guitar.

Guitar is my newest, and there is still a lot to learn.

What works best for me when learning a new and difficult passage is:

  1. Break it down into manageable parts
  2. Practice a part for 2 minutes as fast as I can accurately - I don't want to practice making mistakes so accuracy is more important than speed
  3. Do something completely different for two minutes, type on the Internet, fill the bird feeder, whatever
  4. Repeat steps 2 & 3


I find I learn the part much faster that way than if I don't take the breaks. I guess it takes time for my fingers to let it sink in.

Insights and incites by Notes


Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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I am a self taught musician (guitar) that early on had a self interest in harmonic structure. I bought many self help books, and even took a correspondence course on it(way back when) from Berklee when they were first getting started. My playing career went very quickly from legion gigs to joining a cabaret band with horns and charts. I knew my chords but was very weak on my counting as I had "invented" my own way of counting tripletts, two beat tripletts etc. Since I ended up playing in light operas, other shows and a 17 piece swing band I had to work very hard to cope, and at times with some of the more difficult swing band arrangements --didn't. The Band leader noticed me having problems on some pieces and very graciously asked if I could spare the time he would give me lessons on counting the more complex rhythms. Every Monday for a year and half he gave me a free lesson for over an hour. We started at the very beginning. I am not a monster rhythm reader but I can now figure out how to properly count any measures put in front of me and rehearse them. This was a gift of immeasurable proportions that he gave me and it continues to give me. I carry the lessons on my cell phone and go over them ad hoc. Ever time I do this or figure a rhythm count I remember his generosity. DennisD


There are only 3 kinds of musicians: those that can count, and those that can't!
PC AMD A4-5300 APU 3.4 GHz, 8gb RAM, 1T HDD, Windows 10,
Reaper 4.77, BIAB2018, PTPA12, RB2018, Roland VS-880 DAW
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