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Thread: Sharing a tool I use for practice

  1. #1

    Default Sharing a tool I use for practice

    Hi all,

    I expect there are lots of new folks here like me who started playing during the pandemic. I'm a long time guitarist who plateaued a long time ago, and it's been really great to have something fun and new to learn. When I'm doing it right, the sense of progress is immensely gratifying in these trying times.

    However, it's very easy to feel directionless when I sit down to practice. It gets frustrating, and at times, can even make me anxious if I don't feel like I'm progressing as much as I should. What should I set my metronome to for each exercise? Where did I leave off last time? Am I actually getting better?

    To be able to efficiently put the wealth of information I've found online into practice, I built a practice tool using an app called Coda. It's basically a fancy spreadsheet that's more flexible and has extra bells and whistles to let you build your own apps, sort of.

    This tool helps me know exactly what to do, and how to do it, and it fills me in on what I was thinking last time I did each exercise in my routine. It charts my progress automatically, and makes it easy to access any tabs, audio files, or any other resources I may need for a given exercise.

    For the analog players around here, I apologize for how massively overkill and techie this is. But I find it very helpful and wanted to share it in case anyone else would like to give it a try. You can find the link here: https://coda.io/d/Mandolin-Progress_dt-YjRth7iL.

    It should be easy to make a copy and start your own (Coda is free). Yes, this is my actual practice log so you could technically check up on me and yell at me if you see me not practicing!

    I'm happy to answer any questions in this discussion, and I'd love to hear your suggestions on how to improve it.

    Cheers,
    Nick

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  3. #2
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sharing a tool I use for practice

    Thanks for sharing, I’m excited about looking at this when I’m able. I’m on my phone now, and no time to fire up the laptop right now. But I’ve been dreaming this past year about writing some program for myself to do what it sounds like this may already do.
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    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sharing a tool I use for practice

    Nick, I REALLY need this kind of structure in my practice. Lack thereof, I believe, at least partially accounts for my recent frustration, evidenced by my Forum posts that are all over the place.

    It looks easy to get started, but would you mind giving a step by step? Download Coda first or just copy your spreadsheet and it automatically loads?

    I love spreadsheets, so using this tool is going to be fun.

  5. #4
    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sharing a tool I use for practice

    Thanks Nick, this seems interesting, I’ll have a look.
    It reminds me that there are techniques that I still need to learn but haven’t because of my scattered learning process.

    I am an occasional recorder of tunes that I learn on a regular basis, approximately 2 tunes a week. I then post some of them here on our Song A Week Social group, link below.
    I simply learn these tunes and do very slow repetitions of any parts that are a bit technically challenging.
    My record is basically a folder of tunes that I have printed out.

    Good luck with your app and thanks for posting.

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  7. #5

    Default Re: Sharing a tool I use for practice

    Thanks, this looks really helpful! I've been playing for about a year, and could use more structure in my practicing.

    (And I'm new here, hi everyone!)

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  9. #6
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sharing a tool I use for practice

    Looks like a fantastic tool, actually. And it appeals to a nerd like me.

    In my mind it is important, when using such a tool, to be really sure the tasks are right and support the mission. You want to be sure that getting better at what you are measuring so accurately is really getting you closer to your actual musical goals.

    A stupid phrase, but telling - I would much rather be actually getting better, than conscientiously measuring my lack of progress. And this is a trap I have fallen into many times. I shouldn't have to choose between the two, and being careful about the tasks you work on and what you measure and track is the way out of that trap.

    I have done wayyyy to much thinking about this, as evidenced by this and this.
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  11. #7
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sharing a tool I use for practice

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    Looks like a fantastic tool, actually. And it appeals to a nerd like me.

    In my mind it is important, when using such a tool, to be really sure the tasks are right and support the mission. You want to be sure that getting better at what you are measuring so accurately is really getting you closer to your actual musical goals.

    A stupid phrase, but telling - I would much rather be actually getting better, than conscientiously measuring my lack of progress. And this is a trap I have fallen into many times. I shouldn't have to choose between the two, and being careful about the tasks you work on and what you measure and track is the way out of that trap.

    I have done wayyyy to much thinking about this, as evidenced by this and this.
    I'll have to read "this" and "this" in my "free" time.

    What you've said here, Jeff, reminds me of my husband's recent statement, something about if I played as much as I organized, I would play a lot better. There's truth in that.

    Now back to work.

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  13. #8

    Default Re: Sharing a tool I use for practice

    Quote Originally Posted by Sherry Cadenhead View Post
    Nick, I REALLY need this kind of structure in my practice. Lack thereof, I believe, at least partially accounts for my recent frustration, evidenced by my Forum posts that are all over the place.

    It looks easy to get started, but would you mind giving a step by step? Download Coda first or just copy your spreadsheet and it automatically loads?

    I love spreadsheets, so using this tool is going to be fun.
    I'm so glad you're interested in it! I am going to add a tab with step by step instructions for signing up and cloning the doc for personal use. Hopefully that will help you get started!

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    Looks like a fantastic tool, actually. And it appeals to a nerd like me.

    In my mind it is important, when using such a tool, to be really sure the tasks are right and support the mission. You want to be sure that getting better at what you are measuring so accurately is really getting you closer to your actual musical goals.

    A stupid phrase, but telling - I would much rather be actually getting better, than conscientiously measuring my lack of progress. And this is a trap I have fallen into many times. I shouldn't have to choose between the two, and being careful about the tasks you work on and what you measure and track is the way out of that trap.

    I have done wayyyy to much thinking about this, as evidenced by this and this.
    This is an important observation, and I think it might be beneficial to add a section for intention setting here to structure your longer term strategic goals when setting the tool up for yourself, rather than just focusing on the tactical minutiae of individual practice sessions.

    I think there are some obvious shortcomings with my approach. Its only metric is BPM, which isn't exactly a useful unit of measurement when you haven't even memorized a tune yet.

    For example, I've learned the introduction to the Jacob Do Bandolim tune, Assanhado, and can play it at full speed with the recording. However, logging that as having practiced the tune at my target BPM would make the chart less meaningful since I only know ~5% of the song (not to mention it feels disingenuous ). It's certainly progress, but feels like it needs to be logged and tracked in a different way.

    But I also don't want to over-engineer this thing. The point is to practice mandolin! I would love to hear any ideas folks might have.

    Thanks for sharing your posts too, Jeff. As a bedroom player who's never been in a band or really been capable of a really fun collaborative jam, contemplating the "why" has often made me uncomfortable. The ambition to become more fun to play with resonated with me. Going to check out The Inner Game of Music.
    Last edited by PluckMeRunning; Apr-30-2021 at 12:11pm.

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  15. #9
    Every day is a gift. Sheila Lagrand's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sharing a tool I use for practice

    This tool is fascinating. I need to return and look at it when my brain is fresher. Thank you!
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