Practise - how much do you put in?

[Jimmy Gibson]

I used to have at least 4 hours a day.

[Johan Forsman]

For me, the last half year has been awful in terms of finding time, moved to a house, family members being ill, having my first child (just turned one year now) + many travels abroad for work with no option of bringing a guitar.

Anyways, the relatively little time I have been putting in lately (perhaps 7 hours a week in average) I have spent mainly on technique exercises and its encouraging to find that despite life getting in the way and not having much time I am making progress. I'm only about 18 months into this adventure and would have liked to get further but it is ok. I'm thinking that when I get more time I want to at least have the basic technique down.

[hickenjr]

When I was younger and first started out on my old Carter Starter (was in high school), I practised around 4-5 hours a day and fortunately due to my YouTube channel and an early barrage of constructive criticism, I broke many bad habits as early as I could. I was fortunate...just not fortunate enough to pass 6th form chemistry with that schedule. My family band gave me some great experience playing traditional country standards, playing fills and etc. When I started to please you guys on the forum I knew I was getting somewhere. Thank you for that.

I then dropped off a bit when I was 18-20 due to confidence issues. Constantly getting dropped by Young British country bands on their EPs, even when playing for free, and then getting replaced with multi instrumentalists who'd played steel for a few months . Not only that, my newly found office job ended up giving my left hand a serious RSI issue, I started getting problems with bar pressure. It wasn't painful, it was just like I couldn't put the power down. Like running into an invisible but painless wall. I had thumb spasms too but this didn't effect me as much. Fortunately these fixed themselves with some detox from PC keyboards and pedal steel but my left hand intonation hasn't been right up until the last year or so.

However, along came a good gig last year with Holly Rose Webber on the supporting stages at C2C and it gave my confidence a boost and my practice schedule a kick up the...
The band loved me, many of whom I looked up to as they are much more experienced than me and are pros...and other people including US acts back stage really showered me with praise. At times when I was there it was a bit surreal and I felt like a bedroom player like me didn't belong there...but after the praise and respect, it told me I was half decent and made me belong. Really inspired me. A close family member did warn me over a pint about going there so early in my career but I jumped into the deep end and I didn't drown.

I'm now on the Paul Franklin method brushing up on the theory side of things. I'm satisfied with my technique, of course there are a few tweaks to be made, but a good footballer needs the advanced tactics too.
I probably spend a couple of hours a day on and off thinking about theory via the methods teaching. In that couple hours I'm not actually behind my steel. I'm thinking of intervals in my head and solidifying that knowledge. Paul doesn't teach scales to a massive degree because he doesn't believe they are laid out very well on the pedal steel (at least on E9). He teaches intervallic improvisation which has already improved my knowledge of chord construction and has myself made me work out some beautiful passing tones and extended chords to transition into the next chord with. Now I understand where that lowering sound for "the 6 string lower" comes from...and I can now do it without having that kneelever on my guitar due to my newly found knowledge of intervals. (Although as I found out the other day, your 4th string won't last more than a few months the way I do it )

After these sporadic moments of number crunching, I noodle and improvise for a bit, I'll practice set lists for bands I'm playing with and I'll work on technique exercises for blocking and intonation.
As well as that, I'm now jumping into learning harmony, modes and etc as per Paul's method. It's all basic stuff I should have learnt as a beginner but its helping to solidify my foundations.
This stuff isn't really necessary for playing Buck Owens standards like with my family band but once young bands start wanting to pay you a good fee to play Mongolian Jazz standards and Lo-Fi...you need to know it.

[Danny Mitchell]

10 out of 10 for reviving this thread, Steven
It's a great read.

[WineRider]

This has been the most interesting post for ages. I have gone right back to my old music scores from the age of 13/14/15 years old, they are all Jazz and Blues...penned by my teacher Ted Palmer. Ex Squadronaire I was told. He played any instrument put in his hand. His main input in my memory was and is relevant today...start slow without errors, then start to increase the tempo to the point where at any tempo it's good. Then take the chord sequences he had penned...mostly easy 7ths and make changes to them minor, majors diminished and augmented. I was just getting good at it when I left school and within a very short time I was a professional motorcycle road racer and music went out of the window. Move forward and retirement from Racing, several jobs, when the accidents I had racing came back to haunt me. Unable to play my Spanish guitar or the Ibanez or the Uke I had from the age of 9. I made my first lap steel out of Elm and the pics of it were shown on this site. I have since built 1six string and 3 8 string lap steels. Practice comes hard for me...but I have been doing far more busking with country music, then without the music trying to recreate as much as I can remember. I use Guitar Pro7 for writing the scores and the tabs and also Band-in-a-Box for changing the backing tracks. But my main problem is I can't always control the bar, because of arm, wrist and thumb damage. OK I just read on either FaceAche or somewhere that relaxing the left hand will take away a lot of the pain and suffering from trying too hard with the bar. It is working and I'm am revisiting a lot of my old theory notes to help me even more. I can still make a mean LSG but my picking will drive most people to screaming point. But they do know when I'm going to start playing because all the mice for a 50 meter radius of the house start running away. Do I regret leaving my music no, would I change no. But I do know my bandleader grandfather was not happy (flute, piccolo, concertina), my father wasn't happy (banjo and guitar and harmonica) my mother was also not a happy bunny (mandolin). I served my apprenticeship at high speed and made a good living. I also learned what you have all found to improve you have to try harder each time you play, you get nowhere without hard work and dedication. I am enjoying making some sort of pleasant noise from my instrument, I will never set the world of music alight...might if I concentrated on making PSG's I'm happy trying to play something, then get up from the LSG for a relax, then go back and try a play the same tune again. It works for me.

[hickenjr]

This has been the most interesting post for ages. I have gone right back to my old music scores from the age of 13/14/15 years old, they are all Jazz and Blues...penned by my teacher Ted Palmer. Ex Squadronaire I was told. He played any instrument put in his hand. His main input in my memory was and is relevant today...start slow without errors, then start to increase the tempo to the point where at any tempo it's good. Then take the chord sequences he had penned...mostly easy 7ths and make changes to them minor, majors diminished and augmented. I was just getting good at it when I left school and within a very short time I was a professional motorcycle road racer and music went out of the window. Move forward and retirement from Racing, several jobs, when the accidents I had racing came back to haunt me. Unable to play my Spanish guitar or the Ibanez or the Uke I had from the age of 9. I made my first lap steel out of Elm and the pics of it were shown on this site. I have since built 1six string and 3 8 string lap steels. Practice comes hard for me...but I have been doing far more busking with country music, then without the music trying to recreate as much as I can remember. I use Guitar Pro7 for writing the scores and the tabs and also Band-in-a-Box for changing the backing tracks. But my main problem is I can't always control the bar, because of arm, wrist and thumb damage. OK I just read on either FaceAche or somewhere that relaxing the left hand will take away a lot of the pain and suffering from trying too hard with the bar. It is working and I'm am revisiting a lot of my old theory notes to help me even more. I can still make a mean LSG but my picking will drive most people to screaming point. But they do know when I'm going to start playing because all the mice for a 50 meter radius of the house start running away. Do I regret leaving my music no, would I change no. But I do know my bandleader grandfather was not happy (flute, piccolo, concertina), my father wasn't happy (banjo and guitar and harmonica) my mother was also not a happy bunny (mandolin). I served my apprenticeship at high speed and made a good living. I also learned what you have all found to improve you have to try harder each time you play, you get nowhere without hard work and dedication. I am enjoying making some sort of pleasant noise from my instrument, I will never set the world of music alight...might if I concentrated on making PSG's I'm happy trying to play something, then get up from the LSG for a relax, then go back and try a play the same tune again. It works for me.

If I could have been a professional racing driver, football player and etc, I probably wouldn't have regretted leaving music behind until my later years when life is calmer.
I did think I was Schumacher at the age of 5...

You did something a lot of young lads and lasses can only dream of. Never sell yourself short. It's nice to know you've found some old passion and happiness later in life with music though. non, je ne regrette rien
Unfortunately with sports, age catches up with people at a staggering rate. Musicians can play for a lot longer at a high level of output. Some well into their 80s. Some start to lose it in their 60s but that's much better than mid 30s or God forbid a career ending knee injury when you're 25.

[Ken Byng]

If I could have been a professional racing driver.......................................................

This is what happens when you try to combine learning pedal steel and driving a racing car Stevie boy. Ivor Greenwood was darned lucky to get out of that shunt in one piece. Far safer to stick to steel guitar.



Just wonder how many of us have taken full advantage of the lockdown period and maximised the time for learning new stuff. I have made a conscious effort to stay away from the haunted fish tank as much as possible, but have combined practice time with servicing my pedal steels and recording. Having said that, my rack mounted Pro Tools PC suffered a mains spike 2 weeks ago and it buggered up the BIOS and my iLock dongle, about which I know next to zilch about. I've had real withdrawal symptoms until I found a local guy who fixed it all in 5 minutes. It appeared that I wasted my money on having a super duper RCD box installed in my studio with integrated surge protection that didn't work when we had a fairly large surge. Never mind, I'm cooking on gas now so all is well. I have got a lot of files that I need to back up tomorrow. Stay well everybody, and good practicing.

[hickenjr]

If I could have been a professional racing driver.......................................................

This is what happens when you try to combine learning pedal steel and driving a racing car Stevie boy. Mr Greenwood was darned lucky to get out of that shunt in one piece. Far safer to stick to steel guitar.

Bloody hell that's a big one. Those legends cars are very solid I must admit. You can still get hurt but with all the precautions these days, roll cages, 4 point harnesses, HANS neck devices...well it's a lot safer than it used to be that's for sure. That would be a trip to ICU in a normal car but I bet Ivor walked away and had a pint after that.

I very nearly got into Autograss in my late teens but I came to my senses. There's a reason I stick to online simulators...safety is part of it but the high cost of entry, cars and parts keeps me well away.
And people actually think pedal steel is an expensive hobby

[simon_f3]

This is a great thread! My old guitar teacher always said to me, "Practice makes permanent; but perfect practice makes perfect!" I think he was right, and I agree with Maurice about starting slow and gradually increasing tempo as your muscle memory gets used to the moves.
I struggle to find ANY time to properly practice at the moment, with a full time job and 3 very small kids at home (we don't own a TV... ) but I leave my Sho-Bud set up so if I have 10 mins while I wait for the pasta to cook I can get a couple of tunes in! Same with 6 string guitar whilst working from home, if it is next to me then I can do a bit of practice for a few minutes here and there whilst sat in front of the computer. But this doesn't get me all that far - as Ken Byng pointed out much earlier in this thread, it's not really worth practising stuff you can already play, and 5 minutes isn't really enough time to get my head in the right place for learning anything new!
I really liked the Joe Wright / Sierra Steel lessons on scales, and I find I still do the right hand exercises quite regularly to improve my pick blocking.
But distractions aside, I am trying to put together a workable practice regime that can be done in the evenings for 30 minutes or so (once our 8 week old starts sleeping a bit better!). I would agree with a lot of the posts on this thread that if you can do the basics (scales, arpeggios, intervals...) without really thinking then when it comes to 'proper' playing it is very easy. A bit like the Karate Kid and 'Paint the fence.'
I've found it really helpful to try to get a specific song down with the moves just right, but for this it helps to have a teacher, and I am always extremely grateful to John Davis for his willingness to show me how to do certain moves, and to give up his time to show me again, and again...!
Take care everyone and I hope to post a bit more regularly over the next few months.

PS

And people actually think pedal steel is an expensive hobby

Question: How can you end up with a small fortune in motor racing?
Answer: Start with a very large fortune! Probably holds true for PSG playing too

[TonyT]

Always wanted to know how much practice the great players put in! My WBS is in my front room, with headphones I am 2 to 3 hrs a day,1 block.