| Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.
Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post
Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive
Subject: How much time do you invest?
by Ally | 02/24/01 at 07:30:07
How much time do you invest in your music?
I used to spend 2 hours practicing every day...but now find little time...maybe a half hour a day with my new work schedule. I've noticed that this lack of time spent has made a big difference not only in my ability to come up with new ideas...but also with my amount of confidence.
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by Steve_S. | 02/24/01 at 07:39:13
[size=3]Ally,
This is exactly the reason I consider myself more a hobbyist than a musician. I only practice once a week with the band and usually don't get my own practice the rest of the week. I think I have my life spread too thinly, so I just try to do what I can with each event in it...... [/size];D
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by Ice Pick Slim | 02/24/01 at 10:41:11
I played guitar for a while and never really got anywhere with it. I spent around 5 years trying to play it, but there would be full months where I wouldn't touch it, and playtime was generally less than 3 hours a week total. Now I've been playing bass for about 4 months and I've been practicing for around 25 hours a weeks (3-4 hours day). I've noticed some increadable improvements over some earlier recordings, still I think my biggest gains are usually when I start playing around with a new musical style, I then find that it seems to strenthen and improve what I normally play.
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by Silent_Bob | 02/24/01 at 21:54:39
OH it really depends on my mood & how much time I have. I used to spend maybe 2 hours a day. Now it's probably that much in a week.
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by JR#97 | 02/25/01 at 09:35:09
When I'm in gigging mode, I practice at every spare moment. I have a chronic phobia of screwing up on stage. When gigging is low, I average maybe 15-30 minutes a day. usually just dooodling to keep my callousus and finger-picking coordination. (suffice it to say all my guitars have broken strings and it's been 2 months since i've touched a guitar...)
However, even when I'm not practicing consistently, I'm always listening critically and analytically to music to keep the ear alive.
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by Jon_B | 02/25/01 at 12:45:51
I've been gradually increasing the amount of time I play every day. I'm up to about 2 - 2 1/4 hrs now(singing, electric & acoustic guitar). The more I play, the better I feel, psychologically, at the end of the day. I'd like to go for 3 hours, but pesky little things like work and chores get in the way. My partner and I have a 2 man business, mostly buying,selling,rebuilding,installing and servicing powered belt conveyors in the greater metro area of N.Y., which is not my idea of fun, but I usually work less than a 40 hour week doing it. And I'm not raising a family. And it's still hard to spend as much time as I'd like to on my music!
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by jb | 02/25/01 at 14:31:17
Hi Ally. Glad you are still coming around.
The only time I practice is when I'm working
on a part for a new song. Sometimes I don't
touch anything for months...
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by Jon_B | 02/26/01 at 08:21:48
Ally, you've probably already thought of this, but one thing I do is practice singing while I'm driving alone. I use vocal exercises I got from vocalpowerinc.com, but you might just want to run thru your material, or sing covers. This counts as practice! And I log my practice time to make sure there is no slacking off.
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by Broken_Recor | 02/26/01 at 13:22:32
When I first started playing guitar, I took lessons from a bluegrass national flatpicking champion. He had a theory that when learning something new, 30 minute sessions were the best way to go.
He said after 30 minutes, the learning curve goes way down. Of course, I think this only applies to learning intricate picking techniques. Bluegrass doesn't call for a lot of creativity, more mathematic diligence.
Creatively, I don't usually hit my stride until about 30 minutes into a practice session. It takes me that long just to get my mind cleared and focused on what I'm doing.
So enough rambling, to answer your question my practice schedule varies greatly, but I like to spend an hour to an hour and a half (depending on how things are going) about three times a week and I try to never miss more than two days in a row.
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by ds | 02/27/01 at 18:31:32
I used to spend lots of hours practicing guitar and bass. Now I don't have that kind of time anymore, so I usually just do band practice and an ocassional practice on my own. When I start feeling out of shape I spend more time playing and get back to where I was. But I'm in a basic rock/pop band. I guess if I were playing jazz or something I would definitely need to keep my chops up better.
Subject: Re: How much time do you invest?
by Crippled_Rich | 04/15/01 at 21:24:59
Practice? What's that? After years of percussion and piano lessons followed by years of playing in a band with rehearsals lasting hours 4-5 times a week I have given up practice. Screw that. I just jam ideas and go right to tape with it. Guess you could say I'm practicing as I record then eh? Soon as I get it right once I'm done.
I try not to let practice get in the way of creativity, fun, and recording. Rather, I try to combine them all into one with the time that I have.