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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 1851
Location: Newington, CT | ...warm up?
At the NJ get together, Matt Smith said, roughly, that to practice you have to do new stuff. If you don't, you're just playing.
I kind of agree, but to do what I do, I have to warm up considerably...probably 10 minutes of serious effort to get past the plinks, plunks and misses and foozles.
It's can be even longer depending on how long it's been since I last played.
So, to do NEW stuff right from the get-go is impossible. After my minimum 10-minute warm up, I have to do at least a half-hour of regular stuff before I even contemplate doing new things.
So, now I'm forty minutes into it, and still doing what I've always done.
Well, just 'twixt you 'n me, I can't always scrape together 40 minutes, let alone the next hour to try new stuff.
How's about youse guys? What do you do?
Are you...
• trying to improve/solidify what you do now?
• content with where you are?
• trying to learn new things?
• trying to become more rounded?
• trying to learn new techniques?
• trying to learn more of your favorite genre?
• trying to learn new genres?
• trying to make new sounds?
• trying to make your usual sounds better?
My answers:
Are you...
• trying to improve/solidify what you do now? YES - Always!
• content with where you are? NO - Never!
• trying to learn new things? YES -
Always!
• trying to become more rounded? YES - Always!
• trying to learn new techniques? YES - finger-picking
• trying to learn more of your favorite genre? YES
• trying to learn new genres? YES
• trying to make new sounds? YES - other instruments and techniques and ways of making tones
• trying to make your usual sounds better? YES -- and with fewer mistakes |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | I'll "warm-up" with an easy song or two. Just something to get the pipes going and my head in the game.
Past that I don't have much of a plan. If there is a new song to work on, great.
A large part of the time I have is used to "beat down the grass". Brian & I have about thirty songs we have learned and if we don't play them twice a month or so, they'll fade away.
Structure and disipline are great tools as long as it doesn't start feeling like work rather than play. |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | oops... double post. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | Originally posted by AlanM:
...warm up? I don't really have a warm up time or routine. It's just a couple of minutes of getting situated and adjusted. If there are mistakes in the first couple of songs, oh well. When performing I like to run through the songs to be sure I don't forget something. Usually I like to run through the tough transitions or other parts that have given me trouble. I don't think of it as warm up, rather it is a last minute practice
Originally posted by AlanM:
Are you...
• trying to improve/solidify what you do now?
• content with where you are?
• trying to learn new things?
• trying to become more rounded?
• trying to learn new techniques?
• trying to learn more of your favorite genre?
• trying to learn new genres?
• trying to make new sounds?
• trying to make your usual sounds better? For some reason, the past month I have been really unhappy with my playing. It is as if I have suddenly lost half my skill and all of my confidence. So I am trying to be more structured in my practice so as to learn new techniques and improve my overall skills.
I have realized more and more that it is the performance that is important, not the technical skill or knowledge. My stage presence has always been a bit sterile, though I have always been the backup not the guy out front. I think I need to work a lot on my presentation.
And I'm seriously considering voice lessons. :eek: |
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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 3969
| A lot depends on my particular goal for that session. For warm-up I'll just do a few scales/arpeggios just to loosen up the fingers, mabye a song or two that I can play without thinking.
If I have an open mic coming up, I'll practice what I plan to do at the open mic. When I want to learn a new song I'll usually devote an hour or so at a time just to that song until I have it down. Depending on the complexity it could be one hour or several one-hour sessions.
Since I'm taking lessons again I devote at least a half hour every day to practice whatever we've gone over in the previous lesson.
I find I don't have a set routine, except that I usually defer serious practice time until after the fambly is in bed and there are no distractions. I'll usually pick up a guitar several times during a day for a few minutes, just to noodle, or maybe work on a phrase.
I play every day - even when I'm out of town the first thing I do is look up a local guitar store. I spent too many years with a guitar gathering dust, and now I feel like I have a lot of lost time to make up for. I've had many people tell me how much I've improved in the last couple of years, and that's my ultimate goal - always improve. Barring physical inability, I doubt I'll ever again stop trying to improve.
As far as new instruments, I just picked up a blues harp, and am fiddling around with that. At some point in the near future I'll probably get a piano - not only for my son to learn, but so I can resume my (long) interrupted study. |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 1017
Location: Budd Lake, NJ | I spend a lot of time trying not to lose what I've so painfully already gained, and then teaching the little I have acquired to 2-3 friends/family who really want to learn (ages 29, 15 and 10.) My oldest student is now playing with the college/career fellowship band, and only needs me for some "finer point" stuff--but I practice to make sure I stay ahead of him; the other two are just starting, so it'll be quite awhile before they start to push me. (And the one who's ten wants to be a "shredder," and I can't help him with that unless he wants to learn to make coleslaw...)
The one thing I've noticed with bluegrass is that you get a whole lot of "cowboy chord" playing, so I usually play anywhere on the neck but there, just to make it more interesting. That does carry over into the other music I play, and keeps stretching me (and it helps avoid fretboard divots on my own guitar, too.)
I learn new stuff all the time, because the face of contemporary worship music isn't stagnant; right now, though, I'm concentrating more on trying to figure out DADGAD, because I just love that tuning, and when you play in a group sometimes the different tuning totally changes how something sounds. (And when everyone else is playing really well and you're really missing up in the alternate tuning, it really does change how it sounds......! :o :eek: ) So, I practice in order to try to insure that I don't publicly humiliate myself. :rolleyes: :p
--Karen |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Go to the Fricking Mermaid. You have 1 warm up song then the new one. |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | I've sort of taken to a philosophy I stole from John Lennon: "Now that you've found another key, what are you going to play?". If it sounds like something I've heard before, I try to make that work. If it doesn't, I try to write something, which is really the end game for me anyway. I always warm up with the new stuff I'm trying out. When I hit a sticking point, I pull out the old standbys, "perform" them, and then come back to working on the new. |
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Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 489
| • trying to improve/solidify what you do now?
Probably not. Sometimes changes occur to me and I make them.
• content with where you are?
Until I have reason to move on.
• trying to learn new things?
Only when something new comes along that interests me.
• trying to become more rounded?
Not particularly, no. That sometimes occurs as a byproduct of a new song that interests me.
• trying to learn new techniques?
Same answer as above.
• trying to learn more of your favorite genre?
Don't have a favorite genre. If I like it, I play it.
• trying to learn new genres?
Same answer as above.
• trying to make new sounds?
Not intentionally, no.
• trying to make your usual sounds better?
Same answer as above. |
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Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 381
Location: Miami | My answers are the same as yours, Alan. Even after playing for years I'm STILL finding new ways to play the same chord or sing the same line, and I love it. To warm up I don't do anything fancy, but I definitely avoid the songs that are up there vocally. My voice needs to warm up for a good half hour on lighter songs before belting out the heavier tunes. No other tricks than that, really. No vocal or finger exercises. (to each his own)
However, I can't finish this post without mentioning that I will like I'm half the singer/player I can be without getting the sound the way I like it FIRST. Nothing drains my mojo like bad sound. And nothing gets the mojo pumping like the perfect sound, vocally and instrumentally. All that's left is the crowd synergy to throw me straight away into seventh heaven. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 1851
Location: Newington, CT | Thank you all for the very thoughtful responses.
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Slipkid: "Structure and discipline are great tools as long as it doesn't start feeling like work rather than play."
Me: You said it!
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FlySig: "I have realized more and more that it is the performance that is important, not the technical skill or knowledge. My stage presence has always been a bit sterile, though I have always been the backup not the guy out front. I think I need to work a lot on my presentation."
Me: I know the feeling well! Thank goodness it goes away after a while. I admire your ambition and attack! You'll be back where you want to be in no time!
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Karen: "(And the one who's ten wants to be a "shredder," and I can't help him with that unless he wants to learn to make coleslaw...)"
Me: LOL! And the rest of what you said was neat! How great to have that circle of loved ones around you to amke you try for greater heights!
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bobbo and Losov: two guys who know exactly what they want and where they want to go with the guitar! Inspires me to make a plan!
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Joe Tuñón: "My answers are the same as yours, Alan. Even after playing for years I'm STILL finding new ways to play the same chord or sing the same line, and I love it. To warm up I don't do anything fancy, but I definitely avoid the songs that are up there vocally. My voice needs to warm up for a good half hour on lighter songs before belting out the heavier tunes. No other tricks than that, really. No vocal or finger exercises. (to each his own)
However, I can't finish this post without mentioning that I will like I'm half the singer/player I can be without getting the sound the way I like it FIRST. Nothing drains my mojo like bad sound. And nothing gets the mojo pumping like the perfect sound, vocally and instrumentally. All that's left is the crowd synergy to throw me straight away into seventh heaven."
Me: Joe, I think we were separated at birth! (though you're probably younger than I!)
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And, last but not least, Beal: "Go to the Fricking Mermaid. You have 1 warm up song then the new one."
Me: Uhhhh...whuh? Kind of like a haiku whose meaing is perfectly opaque, at least to me.
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Thanks again, one and all!
Alan |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | That's all I do is warm up. Some day I'll be ready. |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I practice by myself and rehearse with the band. Rehearsal warm-up goes like this . . .
1. Dig the pedal board and amp out of the rehearsal storage room, set up, plug in.
2. Repeat No. 1 for guitar (I keep a guitar in the storage room for rehearsals, a 1984 Legend SSB), check tuning and perform sound check.
3. Pull the music out of my traveling gig bag, organize the order, run through the opening 8 or 16 bars on every song planned (typically 9 or 10), experiment with pedal settings, then mark music accoridngly. This is usually a little chorus on the slow stuff, reverb on the fast stuff, little or none of either on the latin rhythms, and some overdrive on the up-tempo bluesy and rock stuff. Occasionally some wah-wah.
4. Wait for the others to arrive and complete their own warm-ups.
Since we all practice the music at home on our own, it is typically a matter of putting it together, balancing volumes and tempo, making sure we understand the structure since we often change it, and covering solo assignments. Of course, repeated or familiar numbers go much quicker, often just a quick run-through. |
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Joined:
May 2009
Posts: 1433
Location: Right now? | That's all I do is warm up. Some day I'll be ready.
Me too, Mark! ;)
;)
Willa |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I guess I'm not clear on the circumstances so I'll just share what I have done and do.
1. For practice (which happens at home).. After a bit of noodle to insure I'm in tune etc.. I practice either things I know but aren't there yet, or I work on something new. I don't waste time "warming up" if I'm trying to learn something... it's new.. it's gonna sound like crap until I get it... why worry? AFTER I get tired getting beat up by new material, I revert to going over stuff I already know.. It's relaxing and ends the practice on a high-note. And... I'm warmed up from working on the new stuff, so it sounds even better.
2. Rehearsals are just gigs that you aren't paid for.. or at least that's how we would treat the first run-through. Just setup, sound-check, and do the set. THEN after the run-through, if there are any "gee lets try this" arrangement adjustments or new tunes... that's when we try those. Really the opposite of practice. In this case we already somewhat know the tune from practice, but haven't worked it out as a group. So best to do that while everyone is warmed up from playing the set as we already know it.
The main reason for not warming up at rehearsal, more than a sound check, is that's the real world. That's the gig, and that's what rehearsals are for... to prep for the gig. Now I have been known to do some exercises both physical and with the instrument while the gear is being set up, or between sound check and the gig... but I don't recall having those luxury's that often.
3. At a gig... it's the gig. As stated above, do what you need to get up to speed as best you can... but a live gig is NOT a recording session. I use the time to purposely try to forget all the things I worry about at rehearsal like will the effect work, will the gear work, is my version of that lead really good enough? I try to focus on how to be entertaining, that's what we're getting paid for.
I honestly find gigs to be very relaxing and I think it's because of the way I prepare and my general mindset about it. Much like not cramming for tests... you either know the material, or you don't. Cramming the night before may enable one to pass a test, but it doesn't help the actual learning process. If I can't play the tune by time we get to the gig... warming up, going over it... etc etc.. an hour before the gig, just makes me worry about it more.
As far as "warming up" to be able to execute better technique... well for the most part that's lost on a live audience, but... I do tend to arrange the songs to work up to the ones that require more skill.
If I time it right... the tunes that require the most skill would be played by the band that comes on after us. :) As mentioned above... the gigs (I guess based on the genre) should be entertaining, and they call it "playing" music cause it's supposed to be fun.
We all say it.. "I'm gonna be playing at such-n-such" this weekend." "We're playing at such-n-such".... As opposed to "I have rehearsal tonight".... I'm going over to Joes house for rehearsal... I'm practicing.. leave me alone.... The word "play" at least for me, is all about the gig. It's the reward for the practice and rehearsal... |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Well said, Miles. |
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How do you...
