more on practise routine

[Steve Amadeo]

Hi Janek,

Happy New Year to you.

When you mention your long days and nights of practising, did you always have a methodical working routine you'd stick to, some kind of daily plan? Did you divide up your day into a period for scales and arpeggios, playing over chord changes, transcribing, reading, 30 minutes for this, 20 minutes for that... etc etc.

I've been using Hal Crooks's book 'How to Improvise' which is great for getting a practise session's structure together but I'm keen to know if you had an approach which you tried (and still try) to stick to?

All the best,


Steve

[Snarf]

very curious about this.

[janekbass]

I have never had a set routine. I just have certain things that I work on technically for my chops that take a long time within my practicing. there's no set time that I spend on them, normally just as much time as I possibly can. And that changes depending on my tour schedule and studio schedule. Some weeks where I'm not working I'll be able to spend up to 10 hrs a day working on things, and then a week like i'm in now I'm doing nothing but producing in the studio, playing gigs, sitting on planes, and finishing up my new album. It's never consistent unfortunately, and much of that is to do with the fact that I don't have a manager taking care of all the business side of things for me so I have to take a lot of time doing admin each day.

I certainly don't split up what time I have into specific aspects of music. it all just depends on what I'm feeling each day.

Easy,

Janek

[needmoney]

Was this similar to your college days?

[johncg]

Janek, you can actually practice for 10 hours in a single day?

That's incredible. What do you attribute that sort of motivation to?

[Steve Amadeo]

Thanks Janek,

I like the organic 'feeling' it approach, but was it always the same for you, even in your earlier days as a player? Has your approach to practising and how you practise always been the same?

Is it possible to say whether your approach is pretty typical of a lot of players you may have spoken to?

Steve

[Mikey D]

I am just re-examining my practice routine at the moment, so was interested in seeing this thread. I actually answered another thread on here last september...

This is my new routine as I am in serious mode at the moment. I try to do a bit each day, even it is only a little but on average I am dedicating about 8-10 hours to it.

1. Attentive Listening to music
2. Transcription
3. Ear Training
4. Learning new standards/tunes (melody, form, chords, walking through it and soloing on it)
5. Walking!
6. Arpeggigation of all chord types (up to 13th) w/inversions through cycle of 4ths (ascending and descending, also using enclosures and approach tones on all of the steps of the arpeggios) and through a selection of tunes
7. Using 3/4 note melodic shapes (with and without approach notes) from these arpeggio 'stacks' and using them through tunes with embelishments
8. Pentatonics/Hexatonics/Cells
9. All common scales (ascending/descending/in patterns/3rds/4ths/5ths/6ths etc)
10. Having Fun playing whatever I feel like (tends to be learning latin or groove parts)
11. Free playing either on own or over a chord sequence or tune
12. Double Bass (some of the above, mainly walking!): 2hr
13. Piano (general musicianship and chord knowledge. I'm lucky enough to live with a jazz pianist so pick his brain for what I need to work on): 1hr

This list is in a rough order of how important I feel the exercises are with listening and transcription at the top. I used to spend a lot of time on right and left hand technique especially using all 4 fingers on both properly, but now I feel comfortable with the level both hands are at I let them develop on their own as part of all other exercises.

I should note that I do take breaks 10 minutes or so between topics and an hour for lunch. If I want to take a day or few hours off to go out iwth friends or whatever, I do. Practice isn't the be all and end all of life!

I also visualise everything before I play it, so even if I'm not physically practicing, if I'm out walking about I might be working out how I actually can do something. Its something I picked up from a Bergonzi book and it has helped me no ends and has helped me improve a bit quicker than I used to.

I stuck mainly to it (although I only got about 8-10 hours in a few days a week, I can't wait for the year to be over so I can seriously practice again over teh summer!) and feel that I have improved in areas where I have wanted to...although I admit I haven't done as much transcription as I should-I find it is the hardest thing for me!

Now with my exams coming up I have just come up with a new practice routine for everyday, and yes it has time limits on each area, for the moment anyway, as I NEED to make sure I spend a bit of time on everything. Sometimes I can get so into one concept that all the others fall by the side for a week or so, which isn't really an issue...unless you are being marked on them!

I'm trying to make the most of my practice now as I can see in the future, I'm really not going to have to time once I'm out there in the working world, well I hope I'm that busy anyway!