When I was a young lad and toying with learning guitar, I went to a pretty good teacher, and one thing he told me about practise stuck with me.
He said when you're actually practising (you've set aside some actual time for that), don't fall into the habit of just jamming and endlessly playing stuff you already know, but use the time to learn new things and extend your skills on the instrument.
I've found that with practising harp (I'm pretty much back to student stage after so long away), I do have to mix old and new, because I tend to play with a non existent progression in my head, using stuff I know to keep time and the form of the progression, and then throwing in new stuff as it fits, having a go at it each time it comes up in the progression.
I have to learn harp contextually, and if I just stuck to the new in practise, I'd lose momentum and lose my way a bit.
For those who have a set time to practise, how does the breakdown between old and new playing work for you?
---------- My YouTube Channel - Any Likes or Comments appreciated. :)
That's a good question Danny. I found it a lot easier learning the piano with a conventional weekly teacher who set the mix of old and new. And provided a conveyor belt of material at the appropriate level. I have regular harp lessons, but it's not the same dynamic. Broadly when I'm feeling inspired, I look at new things, when I'm feeling lack-lustre I go over old things. Sometimes it's driven by events like when we are adding some new songs. That's easier because there's a motive to just get on with working out and practising something new.
Im well and truly in the early stages of my harp life so I'm trying to practice at any given opportunity. I have a harp in the car, which I will practice short licks on. Then when I'm at home I mix the old... Primarily scales and some riffs with the new... Mostly sections of tabbed songs etc. At the moment I find I'm struggling a little as I don't have a teacher nearby so I have to rely on Internet resources and books which I think requires a bit more motivation to push through. Saying that I just got the little Walter tab book so I'm stoked to go through that tomorrow.
I'm one of David Barrett's students, so I follow his practice suggestion. For an hour of practice:
10 minutes- technique/scales. Depends on what I need to work on. Right now, it's 5 hole octaves and pentatonic scale. In the past, this time has been working on bends, blues scale, major scale, slaps, pulls, etc.
30 minutes- Study song. A student should be working on a song that either challenges their technique, studies an artist, or increases their lick vocabulary. Right now, I alternate between "Born in Chicago" and one of Dave's originals, a rhumba.
20 minutes- Improvising practice. Put on a jam track and improvise. Ideally, I would base my improvisation on either what I'm working on in my Study Song or Technique (for example, the pentatonic scale) ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
Last Edited by Mirco on Jul 10, 2015 12:01 AM
a good read about practicing effectively. written by a banjo player but it applies to any instrument, really
Last Edited by chopsy on Jul 10, 2015 7:41 AM
Chopsy thank for posting that article. I think the point about children learning fearlessly is a good one, but not very helpful. There are strong pressures on adults not to make mistakes, especially in public, and most people feel that pretty keenly in my experience. I know I do. And it's not all internally generated either. It's something to fight against, but it's there.
The comparison with learning to skate is a good one. Adults falling over are more likely to hurt themselves much more than children, and adults 'failing' in public can get pretty affected by it. (EDIT or indeed not failing, but simply getting negative feedback. Or even the slightest hint that they were not perfect).
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jul 10, 2015 9:12 AM
very funny :) I am currently starting a new instrument (fiddle) and I'm WAY out of my comfort zone. I have yet to get any negative feedback or even constructive criticism, but I still manage to be my own worst critic, internally. I was talking to a friend after a gig and expressing how I felt I played pretty badly, and he had a good anecdote for me. he told me "hey, what you think was some pretty bad playing might have been the best fiddle someone in the crowd has heard all year!!" Not just a nice sentiment, but possibly true.
I'm a good guitarist (I taught for 20 years)and my theory is really good. However, at 17 my first instrument was harp. Pre-internet, all I had was Tony Glover's Blues Harp book and that made no sense to me as I didn't speak "Hippy". So, it's taken till now to understand how the harp works. I don't play Blues, but I write my own songs so practice with a tuner doing scales etc and am focused on technique rather than learning songs. However, if I could go back 30 years with the knowledge I've got now...
