In this video I discuss what I think is the best bang-for-buck practice drill...and why I struggle with it. My instructor: Mike Leatherman www.morganhill...
Before I figured out that I had to "zoom in" and practice those parts I couldn't do very well, I played some songs a hundred times. Each time repeating the same bad part just as bad as the time before. I find just one or two measures are sufficient at a time. Any bigger than that and you fall back into that same play it badly habit and gloss over the errors..
This is exactly what I was doing before I learned to loop. I also had the habit of starting the song over the moment I made a mistake, which meant it was practicing the beginning of the song a lot more than it’s ending.
Hi, Mark! Thanks for yet another video. What do you reckon is an appropriate sized loop (if there are any)? 2 measures? 4? I'm making your same mistakes, too fast too long.
I’m still learning how to build effective targeted loops. Let me see if I can get my instructor, Mike, to chime in. He’s the one that introduced the concept to me.
In my experience a loop can easily be smaller than a measure. It could just be a few notes or a single chord change. The trickier it is the smaller the loop and the slower you play it. Or at least that’s the rule of thumb I try to follow.
Mark said it well. In addition, it is important to include a note or two past the target loop phrase so when you move on to the next section you will already have the transition programmed mentally as well as physically. A simple example: Loop bar 1 plus two notes of bar 2. Then loop bar 2 plus two notes of bar 3. Repeat process for the whole song. When you go to play the whole song, all the bars should tie together and flow through to the end of the song. Of course there may be a few challenging areas that need polishing. Hope this helps 👍
great practice advice! thank you for this!
I’m 70 hours and so far so good. I’ve found if I play really really slow I remember where to pick and put my hands. Then just speed it up bit by bit
That’s the best approach, in my opinion. Keep it up.
Before I figured out that I had to "zoom in" and practice those parts I couldn't do very well, I played some songs a hundred times. Each time repeating the same bad part just as bad as the time before. I find just one or two measures are sufficient at a time. Any bigger than that and you fall back into that same play it badly habit and gloss over the errors..
This is exactly what I was doing before I learned to loop. I also had the habit of starting the song over the moment I made a mistake, which meant it was practicing the beginning of the song a lot more than it’s ending.
Hi, Mark! Thanks for yet another video. What do you reckon is an appropriate sized loop (if there are any)? 2 measures? 4? I'm making your same mistakes, too fast too long.
I’m still learning how to build effective targeted loops. Let me see if I can get my instructor, Mike, to chime in. He’s the one that introduced the concept to me.
In my experience a loop can easily be smaller than a measure. It could just be a few notes or a single chord change. The trickier it is the smaller the loop and the slower you play it. Or at least that’s the rule of thumb I try to follow.
Mark said it well. In addition, it is important to include a note or two past the target loop phrase so when you move on to the next section you will already have the transition programmed mentally as well as physically.
A simple example:
Loop bar 1 plus two notes of bar 2. Then loop bar 2 plus two notes of bar 3.
Repeat process for the whole song. When you go to play the whole song, all the bars should tie together and flow through to the end of the song. Of course there may be a few challenging areas that need polishing. Hope this helps 👍