Practice by the Pros

Community Hub 🗨 Just Chatting
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How many times and or hours do you think a performing artist practices a song before they are confident to play it on stage or for the public ???

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Not as much as you might think. Indeed there is scientific evidence that breaks between practice sessions are every bit as important as the practice itself. If you’re interested there is a book on this topic, Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing by Molly Gebrian

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Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong once said “If I don’t practice for one day, I can tell. If I don’t practice for two days, my wife can tell. If I don’t practice for three days, the audience can tell.”

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There’s an old saying.
“Amateurs practice until the can play it right
Professional practice until they can’t play it wrong.”

To most Professionals music is their job so just like every job they work at it every day. So they practice alot more than you think.
As for songs most artists don’t practice songs they can pick up most song in minutes. They practice technique and their signature sound.

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A friend of mine met a famous acoustic performer at the departure lounge at a local airport and asked him how much he practices. The performer said easily 7 hours every day.

I typically spend about an hour or a bit more on the guitar every day. Some times I put in 2 or 3 hours but that’s my limit, then I find the next day I can’t put in another 3 hour day, can’t explain it better than that. It’s just not in me.

Have a good friend of mine who practices a good 3 to 4 hours every day. He’s a LOT better than I am.

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Yeah I routinely hear that the amazing players practiced 8-10 hours a day when they were kids. For a short time when I first started, I tried some online lessons from a guy who called himself The Riff Ninja. In one lesson he said “I play over 8 hours every day. If you’re only going to practice for an hour and a half, two hours a day, you’re wasting your time. You’ll never get anywhere.” That was the last lesson of his I ever looked at. I knew he wasn’t the teacher for me.

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Indeed. I’d give him the flick real quick too

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This is Dominic Miller, a seasoned professional guitarist and composer who has been working with Sting for the last 30 years, explaining how and what he practices. (There’s also a minute of “Shape of My Heart” done right)

The internet is full of “life hacks” and “the best thing since popcorn” types of clever advices. The reality is you’re going to get as good as the amount of time you put into it. You can be intelligent about how you use that time, but if you practice 1hr a day (like I do), you’re not going to be as good as another guy who practices 2hrs a day.
It all depends on how good you want to get.

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Yep, this says it all.

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Very true - however if you practice 1 hour a day you will likely be better than another guy who noodles for 2 hours a day.

Also true - I sometimes have to remind myself that I do this for fun. It’s not a competitive sport, and if it were then the real winner should be the one with the biggest smile.

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Thanks so much for sharing! So many valid points, not only with regard to practicing but also about music in general. Dominic Miller is a guitarist I have always admired and respected, one of those often referred to as ‘most underrated guitar players’, and obviously there’s a lot of wisdom in what he says.
I remember watching an interview with Mark Knopfler who, when asked whether he practiced regularly, replied, ‘Oh, absolutely, as practicing often becomes song writing, and the song writing also means practicing’ (not an exact quote, but something to that effect).
I think performing guitarists naturally practice more, as no-one wants to make a fool of themself by making an obvious mistake while playing live. An amateur (a ‘bedroom rocker’ :wink: ) typically practices as much as their free time allows, and depending on how good they want to get (you’re quite right saying so, IMHO, Erion).

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How would separate the thousands of hours they’ve put in previously from the hours spent learning a new song so it’s ready to play on stage?

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Im reading Clapton’s autobiography

When he was young , the guy put all nighters just to get a chord right and used to play from dawn to dusk just for the sheer fun of playing

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Yes!

I win!
:grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

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smiley
Mine is bigger :joy:

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Thank you @mathsjunky and @brianlarsen :hugs: I was just really starting to question all of myl life choices :sob: but I’m good now, I’m back :grinning_face: :sunflower:

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I much like this, I think as learnes we need to focus on developing our skills first of all and songs should be the vheicole for learning. Along the way you find yourself able to pick up songs faster @Muffknuckle

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wow…that guy.

he wants a very specific type of audience and f* off to everybody else. Seems like he’s trying too hard to be Satch.

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Here’s an example of really ramping up the hours

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As per Joe Robinson (and I agree), even after months of practice you need to perform this song at least 8 times in front of an audience until you can play it with confidence.

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