If your time is limited, what would you work on?

Johnny N.

Johnny N.

Kick Henry Jackassowski
I didnt want to hijack the other scale thread so I figured I would start the discussion this way.

I was actually reading a book unrelated to music and the author was talking about how he decided to learn guitar at age 40 which is ironically when I started. He said he asked a friend who was a great player if he knew he only had 15-20 minutes a day to spend with the guitar, what should he concentrate on. I'll assume the friend asked what kind of music he wanted to play or some other relevent questions but basically told him if his time was limited, work on the blues scale.

So my brief history with the guitar has been on and off. Life tends to get in the way and I have stretches where I would play a lot and other stretches, some more than a year, where I dont pick it up at all. Part of the reason is, because my time is so limited, and because I apparently havent figured out where to focus my energy, it gets overwhelming. I think personally, I need to understand I will likely never get as proficient as I want to and pick one or two things and focus there.

If I really think about it, I want to be able to play and sing at the same time. I envision being able to pull out the acoustic and playing around the pool or fire or whatever with friends and famil.

I would also love to be able to sit down and improvise over a track, probably blues. Mainly for my own enjoyment but I could also see doing some of that with folks over too. I would love to do more but I think I have to stop trying to do everything and try to get good, or even decent at those two things first and see what happens from there.

I think personally, I need to concentrate on playing rhythm well and in time and eventually be able to sing along. Then learn standard blues rhythm playing so I can lay that down and solo over it, which of course means learning to solo. I suspect that will involve becoming very intimate with the blues scale. I think my problem with scales is that I every time I have attempted to learn them, I try to learn all of it instead of just getting good at one. I realize the more you know about scales the more diverse your playing can be but I think I have to understand that being a decent one dimensional player is ok for now.

So that was long but I pose the question, if you or your student had limited time, what would you or they work on?
 
I'd say to work on the things that make you happy. Set smaller, more achievable goals. Conquer enough small goals and the bigger stuff will happen too. The trick is to not take on so much that you never win any battles and get discouraged.
 
For me I'd work on songwriting. For a student, more time with the metronome. Putting in even ten minutes a day with the metronome and keeping a practice journal will improve your playing so much that you wouldn't believe it. Unfortunately, it's not very cool sounding, so most kids won't do it.
 
Mark Wein said:
I'd say to work on the things that make you happy. Set smaller, more achievable goals. Conquer enough small goals and the bigger stuff will happen too. The trick is to not take on so much that you never win any battles and get discouraged.
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This is big for me. I don't always succeed to carve things down in to manageable goals, but when I do, things really start to move along.
 
I'd figure out what your end goal is and break that down into manageable chunks.

I knew that my ultimate goal was to be able to sing and play solo in front of people so that's all I've really worked on the past 16-20 months or so. I've not really worked on any soloing, finger exercises, scales or any of that kind of thing in nearly 2 years. It's all been "learn some chords... learn some lyrics... figure out where in the time signature the chords and words meet... practice slowly.... memorize... repeat until singing and playing feel natural."

I'm recently getting to the point that it can feel natural enough to allow the singing or playing to "swing" a bit, which will lead to fills and riffs instead of straight chording all the time while singing.

I pick up my guitar almost every day... some days for as little as 20 minutes... other days for an hour or two. About every other week we have a 3 to 3 1/2 hour band practice.
 
I'm no teacher, but kind of in the same boat time wise. Just off the top of my head, I would spend a little time understanding how to harmonize the major scale and learning the chords in each key. This will help understanding what key a song you like is in, and why those chords work together. Alternate that with learning the minor pentatonic scale. Work on one every other day, and throw in a couple of songs you want to work on and play those daily.
 
I'd just learn songs. Any obvious gaps in your technique then get shown up and you can then work on those gaps as required.

Sent from my blissfully peaceful garden.
 
15 minutes a day, and you want him to work with a metronome??? Waste of time.

If you want to play the blues, learn the pentatonic scale and play along with your favorite tunes. Hopefully/eventually, you can figure out many of the licks -- they're usually not that hard, and you may have more fun actually PLAYING than PRACTICING. There's a huge difference between the 2, and if you're not interested in being a disciplined musician, then DON'T BE ONE. Just have fun playing the stuff you wan to play.

Oh, and don't forget to learn how to play the rhythm guitar parts -- super important, and often lots of fun. Find Paul Gilbert's lesson on it -- YES, PAUL GILBERT -- he breaks it down to its bare essence in a way that's easy to understand and apply.

Now, go carve out your 15 minutes and enjoy it, fer crissakes.
 
Psychotronic said:
....you may have more fun actually PLAYING than PRACTICING. There's a huge difference between the 2, and if you're not interested in being a disciplined musician, then DON'T BE ONE. Just have fun playing the stuff you wan to play.
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These are the two realizations I have come to. It just took me too long to figure it out. :embarrassed:

When I was reading the book and saw what the author was saying I just thought about how much simpler that would have been if I would have started out thinking that way. I probably would be much farther along than I am. The subject of the book was really about learning to focus on "one thing" instead of trying to do everything. As much as we want to do everything, we have to do one at a time. Success is sequential not simultaneous. Simple concept that I never applied to guitar.
 
Psychotronic said:
15 minutes a day, and you want him to work with a metronome??? Waste of time.
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Uh, not at all. Time spent actually PRACTICING with a metronome (rather than just playing with one on) is going to have a huge effect on note only how fluidly you'll be able to connect changes and phrases, but will also teach you the discipline necessary to tear down a riff and reassemble it.
 
With limited time (and I relate) songs are probably what will be the most enjoyable and keep you at it. Scales etc can be "work" and if you are only in it for fun you'll get to the point on not enjoying it. With time that might change (it did for me) but I think if I had spend more time learning theory I would be a much worse guitarist than I am currently because I probably would have quit

And apparently Tommy Emmanuel only works on songs never theory or technique (probably because he is a freak of nature but take it FWIW)
 
Johnny N. said:
really about learning to focus on "one thing" instead of trying to do everything. As much as we want to do everything, we have to do one at a time. Success is sequential not simultaneous. Simple concept that I never applied to guitar.
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Agree 100%

Look, it is really this simple: Make good sounds. When you are playing listen to what is working and stay with it.... Work to enhance it! Nuture that tiny seed you just planted. You will be a far better player if you focus on trying to make someone cry and less time trying to impress the guy with his arms crossed standing in the back of the room. Make a nice sound.. then another, then another. THIS grips people. Not substituting a min7b5 chord for a dominant then playing locrian mode over it. I mean who gives a shit? It's nice to know and all but good God keep your eyes on the prize.
 
I'm not bashing the merits of using a metronome, in general. The guy's only got 15 minutes a day to play, I think he'd be better served -- and have more fun -- actually playing music as opposed to tapping out notes along with a metronome like a typewriter..
 
I definitely see the value in both schools of thought actually. Well, sort of. I agree that I should play more songs than practice drills and that is actually the way I was headed. But I also have learned that whether I am playing songs or drills, I improve faster if I have a beat playing. I have a difficult time playing with a click but my DigiTech whatever thing I have has drum beats so I like that better.

As far as a beat while dong scales, I agree that something about the structure tends to focus your attention. What I have yet to figure out though, is how to make scales musical or to apply it to playing. At one point I did scales a lot and it never really stuck. It just seemed like I did them over and over and nothing came out of it. I dont think I'm stupid but I guess there is a chance. :embarrassed:

So let's ammend the question. If someone wanted to learn to do decent sounding solos or improvisation over a track, what is the one thing they should focus on? Scales, scales, scales? Copy licks from the internet and play them over and over? Maybe learn one really well and just play it to a beat until it is natural, then add another? Do you approach it different with an adult beginner than you do with a kid?
 
Scales will only get you so far. It's all about the sequence of the notes of the scale, and leaving appropriate spaces. You don't often hear, say, a blues guy just running a scale up and down and up and down and....well, you get the picture.

Let me ask you this, throw out a name or two of a guitarist you'd kind of like to emulate somewhat, and then find something of his that's reasonable to learn/play and work on that.
 
If you want to learn to solo you need to being learning other people's solos... By not "from the Internet" you need to use your ears. There is no short cut in this regard. Your ears are THE critical component in performing music and solos specifically.

Scales and all that BS are simply your hammer and nails... A carpenter will build you a house... a duffer will make a mess - same tools, very different result. What you build with it relies on you and your skill and experience. Taking what you hear inside and translating it outside. No website or tab is going to help you with that at all... In fact it is keeping you from doing what NEEDS to be done.

Ears, ears, ears. Pretty much anyone can do this no excuse, not that you are making any! if you can't lift something then seek out something simpler to begin. Sucess is all about starting with picking simple tunes. most people fail and feel they cant because they started with something too hard. Start with a clear, slow solo or melody. It's fun once you get good at it too....
 
I'm going to split the difference on the metronome vs. practice schools of thought.

Plain metronomes and click tracks drive me crazy... not the time element, but the IRRITATING FUCKING TONE. :annoyed:

I use an online drum machine and will set very basic beats using a kick drum, shaker, snare, cymbal ride or some combination because I don't always do straight time, I like grooves... so it gives me something to follow, but it's enjoyable to listen to and play along with, not just exercises/drills.
 
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