Beginning to enjoy slow practice

[Nyrrth]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd share some of my recent experiences with slow practice - going back to basics. I've been playing guitar for a while, and while I suppose I was an alright intermediate player, I never pushed myself to the next level. "Practice" sessions used to basically end up as aimless noodling sessions.

Anyways, long story short, about a week ago I told myself that I will learn Petrucci's outro solo in "Innocence Faded" - quite a task for someone at my level. But this time was different. I promised myself I would practice *slowly*, for about 30-40 mins a day. It's been a week, and so far I've mostly stuck with it, with an occasional urge to speed up, but I've mostly been on the "nice" list. I'm pretty amazed at the results in just a week. There has been a noticeable improvement in fluidity and muscle memory, and I also find that I'm quite enjoying the deliberate process, keeping in mind what could be the end result if I stick with it. I actually look forward to slow practice every day!

I still have a long way to go in getting to my goal, but I'm very encouraged by what I've seen so far. Better late than never, I suppose.

 

[tyler_faith_08]

I love reading posts like these. My slow practice sessions generally turn into rhythmic exploration. I'll start with something like a 3 note idea and try to play a number of accompanying pieces simultaneously. Eventually, I end up writing. Wish I had the focus to quit writing for an hour or 2 lol.

 

[80H]

Try it with really really long phrases. It's awesome. For example, try a phrase in 43/4 timing. That might sound hard, but there's lots of ways to make it easy. 10 groups of 4 followed by a 3 will work, or you can do 4 groups of 10 + 3, or 8 groups of 5 plus 3, or 5 of 8, hybrid approaches...etc. Lot's of ways to work on that. Think of it like getting in a car and going for a ride; it's supposed to take a while. It also makes you johnny-on-the-spot with your divisions of timing at faster tempos oddly enough. It's so much easier to play anything when you know the absolute characteristics of every note