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Call for Public Opinion - Mistakes
Filed Under (Practice Session) by Frank on 18-12-2007
In practicing guitar, I find that I will usually start over immediately upon screwing up what I’m playing. For example, if I’m playing a scale and I completely miss a string with my pick hand, I will start the scale from the top again and keep going from there (looping as many times as possible until I get tired or screw it up again. 99.99% of the time, I screw it up again.The public opinion that I need is whether this is a good practice to have (pun intended).
Should I stop the scale, or song or what ever and start it from the top again or should I push through and try to “correct on the fly?”
What do you think? Leave a comment with your opinion! I really want to know what different guitarist do. Oh, and it will probably help if you include your skill level.
Nice blog.
Nice bike, I have a small 500cc Vulcan.
Josh
Thank you.
About the bike. I just got that one this season. I started with a 250CC Rebel. Which is also a good bike for a beginner, but after you get some experience i find that I wish I had bought something like the Vulcan.
If you keep making the same mistake, then starting from the top each time just makes it take longer to get to the part you need to work on. Instead, start a measure or two before the mistake and play to a measure or two after, then loop that section until you get it down. Now go back to the top and you should make it past that mistake and on to a new one!
The point is, when you are practicing or learning a new tune don’t spend most your time playing what you can play, spend the time playing what you can’t yet play instead. Focus on the specific trouble spots as you find them, then move on.
For anything that you learn and you keep making mistakes on, try playing it very S-L-O-W, slow enough so that you don’t make any mistakes. Once you figure out how slow you need to play it without making a mistake (and it may be ridiculously slow, but that’s the point), practice it that way for a while, then after you have mastered it at that slow tempo, move up to a faster tempo. Repeat until you get it right at the desired tempo.
What you are doing now, as you describe it in your post, is teaching your finger how to make the mistake, which is not what you want. Just play slow to play it perfectly, and your finger memory will start getting it right work with ya when you start playing it faster.
Always works for me. Been playing guitar for 20 plus years.
And there are still things I just can’t get right…
IG
Jay and IG, thank you for the the tips.
I’ve applied the tips and they do help. I think that playing slower is definitely important. In thinking about it, I’d consider that a fundamental aspect of learning how to play guitar.
Also, Jay, the point you make about spending most of your practice time learning new content is wonderful. Though it is obviously easier and arguably more fun to play what we know, it won’t improve your playing – and that is what practice is suppose to be accomplishing!
Again, thank you!
-Frank
Frank
I agree with IG about the slow practice. You will find a tempo that you can play at but it may be so slow that the song isn’t recognizable any more. A metronome helps to chronicle the progress so that improvements can be noted and you’ll know that you are better than last week.
I go over just the problem areas over and over again at slow tempo until the fingers/muscles figure out what the heck they are supposed to do. Of course I do this when nobody else is home so as not to drive them nuts.
One good reason to keep playing through the piece, even at a slow tempo, is that if you ever want to perform live you do not want the habit of stopping when you mess up. I played at home for years and never thought of it but 2 years ago when I started playing live that was an obstacle that surprised me. That along with saying “oops” when I messed up. It was so bad that the other singer/songwriters started saying “oops” just to chide me.
Dave