The Steel Guitar Forum

Need some input from everyone but ESPECIALLY you teachers PSG out there. What kind of disiplines do ya'll recommend for practice times. I will be retiring soon with a lot more time to practice. It seems like I know a LITTLE about a lot of things and practice bits and pieces of scales, fills,intros, songs etc,,,kinda of a shotgun approach. Need suggestions on taking aim with practice sessions to accomplish the most (with what time I have left,ha.)

Sonny,

If you can take a road trip; come to Keller and spend a couple of days with Reece. Video tape the lessons and then take your time using the information. It won't be long where you will understand the logic of licks, scales, etc. after you have spend some time with Mr. Anderson. He knows how to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Having had the pleasure of taking some lessons from Reece, my playing has improved quite a bit and more important, I can hear what the pros are doing and at least have an idea of how the licks are put together. I am not always able to play the licks however

Regards,

Mark T.

I'm sure some time Reese would be of great benefit, however I have quite a bit of knowledge of the fretboard and theory and like I said, sometimes when I sit down at the guitar I run scales for a while, do intros/turnarounds, instrumentals, fills etc. I am just looking for a more definite direction instead of whatever comes to mind. I've spent some time w/Jeff Newman and will probably try to spend some more time with him or Reese or ???. To me a big part of being a good teacher is having the ability to help a student in specific directions (aim to hit something as opposed to firing the shotgun into the tree and hoping). Com'on teachers,,,jump in here and shine.

Sonny, your dilema is common with many of us but I beleive there is a way out. I view practice as similar to homework , I hated homework and at times I hate practice.

here's what I have been doing and I feel I have made some pretty good progress with this formula, which by the way is similar to many here on the forum.

I actually have a checklist of the items I need to practice and want to practice. This includes scales, licks ,phrases and finally songs if I ever get that far. I play all the stuff that I can't play very slow..'cause if you can't play it slow I'm fairly certain you can't play it fast either.

The checkist is monthly by day and I checkoff the items I work on during the practice session. The checklist prevents me from wandering and moveing onto something else when I should really just stay where I'm at. That doesn't mean I don't wander off 'cause I do..but for the most part the stuff I need and want to practice does get ample time.

by the way it's very hard to play slow, the discipline is severe.

When I fially get to songs with tracks I play them over and over and over and over until I pretty much hate them..well for the day anyway...

just my thought
tp

Hey Tony thanks for the response. Seems like this topic would generate more discussion, especially from the "teachers". A lot of people can show you how to play a song or a lick or a scale but I think a student needs a progressive direction mapped out for them to "travel" to get the most bang for the buck. Seems to me there should be some definite direction to accomplish the most in the least amount of time (which I,like a lot of other people here on the forum am starting to run pretty short on).

My comments to follow will likely find some real critique however, it worked for me.
No matter HOW LONG one practices each day/week; no matter what time of day and whether it's once, twice or more times, going over and over the same number of limited riffs, single note runs, intro's or endings.......is likely to show minimal overall improvement in your playing.
How many times/ways can you practice the Emmons intro to "Night Life"? or whatever.
How's your tone? Practice that for one session. Forget what you're playing but figure out WHERE to place your picking hand; HOW to hold the bar precisely; HOW MUCH pressure your fingers should place on the strings behind the bar, etc. Don't stop UNTIL you've noticed some improvement.
Log that in your mind then quit for that session.
Pick out a nice slow instrumental by one of the top pickers......then sit down and dig it out. FORGET tabletures! LISTEN to it then dig it out of your g'tar!
You'll be teaching yourself EAR technique while at the same time, WHERE TO FIND certain string combinations on the guitar and when/how to apply pedals for enhancement of the chord or melody line.
That's HOW I did it and it worked for me.
If you don't have the basics....and don't understand why they apply, all the theory in the world is going to do you little good.

Ray,

I agree totally with what you are saying. My point with going to Reece or any teacher is that this is the way you learn the basics and it sure does make figuring out licks that much easier. Rather than taking a stab at what I think are the appropriate notes, I am at least taking an educated guess first!!!

One other thing that I believe helps very much. If you can't play with a band or some friends, play along with tracks. That has helped me a bunch. In some cases I take a track and just improvise through the entire song just to see what I can do.

Regards,

Mark T.

UT Oh Ray..You said it and it is true...
Tablature..its' great to start off with and a great general resource, but if one doesn't learn why things are going on and put the pieces together without the TAB ..well then...the future may turn out bleak..

It reminds me of the earlist days when we had all these after High School R+R bands , there were two different circles, those of us that emulated Ricky Nelson, Chuck Berry ,Buddy Holly , The Stones , the Beatles and such but couldn't hardly read a lick and those that could not emulate Ricky Nelson , Chuck Berry ,Buddy Holly,The Stones , The Beatles and such ...But could play anything on demand out of the 4 inch thick fake book. It was close to impossible to join forces..two totally different camps.

When I did gig with those cats they always told me I was playing Johnny B. Goode wrong..they were following the written fake book chart..I was trying to play the licks and do the little duck walk..It's hard to read the chart and do the duck walk at the same time ! Hell it's hard enough to play the licks AND do the duck walk at the same time!!
tp
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 15 October 2002 at 02:07 PM.]</p></FONT>