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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Practice Technique

Posted by: Opetholic Jun 20 2012, 03:56 PM

Hello GMCers,

I want to share with you a practice technique that I learned from Ben during one of his video chat lessons. It sounds very trivial and very natural but I had never done it before. Once I started using this technique new avenues opened for me and I started breaking my speed barriers. So I want to share it with you because now I am very enthusiastic about this technique and also want to thank Ben for teaching this to us:

Suppose you are working on an exercise and you are at a speed you are not comfortable with. Instead of trying the whole passage at that tempo or going back in speed (assuming at lower speeds you have no problems), work on little bursts. Take say the first couple of notes and play them at that tempo. And then the next few notes after a break. Eventually once you get the muscle memory it all fits together and you can combine it all..

It sounds extremely trivial I know smile.gif but it helped me so much improving my speed.. Have it a go with your routines smile.gif

Cheers,
O.

Posted by: maharzan Jun 20 2012, 04:12 PM

Great tip! smile.gif

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 20 2012, 04:18 PM

yeah! GREAT addition Ben and Opetholic! That's exactly how I work on difficult stuff. smile.gif

Posted by: Pourliver Jun 20 2012, 05:32 PM

Wow, I've been trying this for 10 minutes with a part of a lesson that was a bit too fast for me, and now I can almost do it right. Thanks for that tip, I've never believed that this worked before. wink.gif

Posted by: Opetholic Jun 20 2012, 05:40 PM

QUOTE (Pourliver @ Jun 20 2012, 04:32 PM) *
Wow, I've been trying this for 10 minutes with a part of a lesson that was a bit too fast for me, and now I can almost do it right. Thanks for that tip, I've never believed that this worked before. wink.gif

Excellent smile.gif I am glad it helped. It helped me with a lot of exercises believe it or not.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Jun 20 2012, 08:39 PM

Hey I'm so pleased this has worked for you ! biggrin.gif

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Jun 21 2012, 08:11 AM

Thanks for bringing this up mates biggrin.gif I will try it too smile.gif

Posted by: Yash Jun 21 2012, 08:43 AM

QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Jun 21 2012, 01:09 AM) *
Hey I'm so pleased this has worked for you ! biggrin.gif


Me too. I think we devised it for me right, but thanks for sharing Dr. O biggrin.gif

Posted by: am3s22i Jun 21 2012, 09:40 AM

if i understand it correctly what you are saying is playing the exercise by part at that not so comfortable speed?

Posted by: Opetholic Jun 21 2012, 09:52 AM

QUOTE (am3s22i @ Jun 21 2012, 08:40 AM) *
if i understand it correctly what you are saying is playing the exercise by part at that not so comfortable speed?

Yea, set up a not so comfortable speed, play in bursts: play the first couple of notes take a break for a beat and repeat the same notes and break and repeat ... and then go to the next couple of notes, play in bursts .. then go back to the beginning and rinse and repeat biggrin.gif in the end you get the muscle memory and you get accustomed to the tempo..

Posted by: Ben Higgins Jun 21 2012, 10:06 AM

QUOTE (Yash @ Jun 21 2012, 08:43 AM) *
Me too. I think we devised it for me right, but thanks for sharing Dr. O biggrin.gif


Well, I mentioned it relation to you but the approach has been around for a long time.. a guy called Troy Stetina also talks about it in his books smile.gif

QUOTE (Opetholic @ Jun 21 2012, 09:52 AM) *
Yea, set up a not so comfortable speed, play in bursts: play the first couple of notes take a break for a beat and repeat the same notes and break and repeat ... and then go to the next couple of notes, play in bursts .. then go back to the beginning and rinse and repeat biggrin.gif in the end you get the muscle memory and you get accustomed to the tempo..


Yes that's it.. the way I sum it up is 'You can take the hardest lick in the world and make it easy' - all because of the way you practise it.

Having breaks in between bursts instead of constant repetition gives you breathing and thinking space. The more time you have to breathe and gather your efforts, the less chance there is of making a mistake. So you increase your chances of perfect practise !

Applying this approach to fast speeds means you are actually playing faster.. just in small doses. It's a good way of training small, fast motor movements.

This is not the only way to practise.. we still have to develop stamina but it can help to get you over a bump because not all fast licks are long licks. They might just be a small little fragment. Practising them in smaller fragments at a tempo that is closer to the tempo that you will be performing them at is gaining confidence in speed but gaining accuracy at the same time smile.gif

Posted by: am3s22i Jun 21 2012, 10:16 AM

ok, i will try this approach and see what happens. but I'm sure this will gonna take long.

Posted by: jstcrsn Jun 22 2012, 12:48 AM

also along with sectioning the riff , you can also add 1 note at A time
start with the first 2, the 3 , then 4 and so on

however if you do this wrong for to long you might train your brain wrong , so watch for this

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