Self taught practice

[billkilpatrick]

Nothing like incuring wifely tut-tuts and unbridled weed growth by staying indoors for hours and hours, sitting in front of a computer playing a song over and over and over again, beavering away till you get it. Guilt's the spur to mandolin proficiency.

The unexpected up-side of this is I changed the way I hold the pick slightly ... much looser, making for a much better tone.

Result ...

[Tobin]

Nothing like incuring wifely tut-tuts and unbridled weed growth by staying indoors for hours and hours, sitting in front of a computer playing a song over and over and over again, beavering away till you get it.

Wow, guilty as charged! To avoid the wifely tut-tuts, I usually do this when my wife is going to be somewhere else for the day. Assuming I can take care of the "honey-do list" (it's never finished, but I can at least whittle on it a little bit at a time), I will sit down and spend a whole day working on new tunes. This is why I really like using TablEdit as a practice aid: I can build an entire backing track and then put it on repeat, starting slowly and working the tempo up over the course of the day as I work on all the techniques the tune requires. The repetition factor, over the course of many hours, really locks it in. And I never get tired or bored of repeating it over and over, because it's just so much fun to be playing music rather than just "practicing". But it is indeed practice.

[catmandu2]

I'm always more able to palliate my spouse when I'm 'working': when I was playing in clubs and bringing home $100/night, she was more tolerant of my practicing/learning repertoire. Since I no longer stay up til 2 am to enable that work, I assuage her by performing in nursing homes during the day while my kids are in school.

After so many years, I rarely now 'practice' technical exercises - it's primarily a matter of rehearsing - retaining and retrieving repertoire. However, formerly I spent decades practicing technical exercises; in order to attain the level of technical proficiency of my aspirations, it was necessary. Now, I'm satisfied with my level of technical proficiency and simply rehearse material. Occasionally, new pieces/idioms will introduce novel technical approaches -

[billkilpatrick]

... But it is indeed practice.

Said with conviction, I trust. Watching one of the biggies rip through a number and slowly-slowly trying to piece together just how they did it is an education. I'm getting faster with my fingers - accuracy's a bit erratic but I earned a better way to hold the pick - what's not to like?

[catmandu2]

Right, there are many elements and approaches of practice.

I should include that - while I'm comfortable with my level/plateau with strings, I'm always practicing technical material with horns, and free reeds. Come to think, I guess I do plenty of technical exercise practice. I guess this is in addition to all the rehearsing. Ignore my previous post!

[billkilpatrick]

... Ignore my previous post!

Rats! And here I was thinking " Someday, Bill ... someday."

[catmandu2]

Ha ha

Ya my brain must not compartmentalize well in the morning or something. I was only thinking of all the rehearsal-time I spend - which is the majority I guess. But upon thinking again, when I'm not rehearsing or playing or learning tunes, I'm working on technical stuff. I guess after some 30-40 years and a way of life, and without careful reflection, I forget what I'm doing...maybe the less-intriguing stuff gets pushed out of the forebrain..

You know that's why I really like the M-Cafe - it gives us the opportunity to discuss such things, reflect, and bloviate on about things we like - but our spouses tend to 'underappreciate'..?; the only people who seem to give a whit about all this are my band-mates, and my therapist...(all of whom make money off me )

[JeffD]

I think some join a jam, and eventually plateau because getting better would make the jam a little tedious.

One thing I have noticed is that a town rarely has only one jam in it. If there is a jam there are likely several. And other musical activities. My point is that if your regular jam is no longer challenging you, or you feel like you can phone it in from the living room couch, see if there isn't another jam more to your liking, or a group you could start once a month working your way through the Portland books or whatever. Duet with someone and perform. Lots of options. A jam in a community is evidence of musical life, it's not the entirety of that life.

[Tobin]

One thing I have noticed is that a town rarely has only one jam in it. If there is a jam there are likely several.

Yup. And the same folks show up to all of them. Even when I go to a jam in the next town over, I see the same core group.

[billkilpatrick]

Aeons ago, when we used to play in Washington Square, there was an interesting natural selection process involved in who was - and who was not - allowed to play with us. Some were welcomed, some tolerated and some shunned outright. This selection process was repeated with various groups all around the fountain. Could rudimentary 3-chord, teenage snobbery be any different than the geezer, cyberspace-enhanced variety?

[rodarbal]

This touches on a situation where I think people can often set themselves up for disappointment. Without a picture of what they want to become it can be hard to keep going long term. Even if what we want to be is quite general, such as "the best all-round mandolin player I can be", or a "solid partner for my guitarist friend" there is a starting point to work from. You can work off that to begin to define where you're headed and avoid getting distracted by things which won't help you become the player you want to be. If you can visualise yourself in your ideal playing context, then you're beginning to set out a future towards which all the practice can be directed.

Often people (myself included) don't come to the mandolin with a genre decided upon, we may just want to learn play the instrument when we start out. No particular goals apart from being able to play the funky little instrument that we thought could be interesting. After the initial curiosity and dabbling there can be a vacuum which can leave it feeling a bit aimless. That is the phase where building a clearer image of the ideal future player you want to be can be vital.
People who come to it from an interest in a given genre have an advantage at that point, because there are often defined role models to emulate, and so there are clear attributes that a new player needs to work on to step closer to the ideal. Without a genre to guide progress or a local scene to fit into, it can be difficult for a relatively new player to know what they could be aiming at. Even choosing a mentor can be difficult there as you can't even define who could be the right teacher to guide you.

I find myself in agreement with the above. There are so many paths and choices now I like them all so to focus one one end is impossible. So trying not to overthink it and thereby over complicate it just keep going forward. Somedays I move a hair forward, some I just listen. Many cords my old fingers just don't bend like that so I see a word of improv there. But in the beginning it was for the fun of it, and you have to keep that in sight.

[Relio]

learn basic music theory (e.g. how scales are built, chords, etc), work on technique with scales, use slow down software to learn by ear, play with others as often as you can (which is the most fun part for me), listen to the type of music you want to play often.