Practice Advice Needed

For my practice time I like to work out of method books. I like to have my practice time very structured, spending a certain amount of time on each thing I do. However, I have been struggling with how long I need to work on each particular exercise. I don't want to just gloss over it, yet I want to be as efficient as I can.

Right now, I start off each exercise at the slowest bpm setting on my metronome (40) and work my way up to the fastest bpm setting (208). I spend 5 minutes on each setting. There are 39 bpm settings giving me a total time of 195 minutes (3 hours and 15 minutes). Confused yet?

As you can see this is very time consuming. I feel that, perhaps, I am spending too much time on each exercise. It makes working through a book a very long and frustrating process.

What I would like to know is how long do you think is reasonable to spend on an exercise, in general, before moving on? I'm thinking 30 minutes is plenty.

Next, if I only spend 30 minutes on an exerxise then I won't be able to work through all the bpm settings on my metronome. So, what 6 points should I use as reference points? In other words, what are the most important playing tempos to practice things at? (ex. 72, 100, 120, etc.)

Daniel,

You should pick a starting tempo that will allow you to warm up while executing the exercise with good precision. Next pick a tempo that pushes you a bit, but allows you the "room" to nail the precision. If the tempo is too fast, slow it down. But if the tempo is too easy for you, don't spend time there but go to the next tempo that is pushing you but still allowing you to get to a nice level of precision. These tempo markings may change from day to day so don't lock into to them. It should be based on your performance for that day. This should streamline things a bit.

Good luck!

I suggest playing along to very price, metronomic music. This will hold your interest. The most disciplined person will get bored stiff just practicing to a metronome.

Depending on what books you are using, some exercises will have recommended metronome settings which you can use as a guideline. Rather than going through every possible metronome setting, select a slow, medium and fast tempo. I would say three different speeds should be sufficient.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm hoping some more people will chime in so I can get some more perspectives on this too.

Also, what is everyone's view on how much time is necessary to spend on an exercise? 15 minutes? 30 minutes? More? Less? I know it depends on the players skill and difficulty of the exercise, but I'm just speaking generally.

Could you be a bit more precise as to what you consider one exercise?
I mean "Stick Control" will give you zillions just for single stroke accenting. Would you like advice on how much time to spend on individual patterns or the concept itself?

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Originally posted by Suspiria:
Could you be a bit more precise as to what you consider one exercise?
I mean "Stick Control" will give you zillions just for single stroke accenting. Would you like advice on how much time to spend on individual patterns or the concept itself?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I guess I'm asking about each individual pattern itself. As one could, technically, devote a lifetime to a single concept.

For instance, I was working out of Russ Miller's "Drumset Crash Course" book. It covers various styles giving a few different grooves and fills for each style. How much time is appropriate to spend on each individual exercise (there could be anywhere from 10-20 or more exercises in each section)?

Well I would say once you have spent time learning the pattern and are confident with it, I wouldn't spend more than 5-10 minutes on an exercise, at every speed that it.

As long as it takes to get to where you want to be, within your physical limits. But do it incrementally. You don't eat a 6 course meal in one bit. Likewise, most of us won't master all of Pete Lockett's site in one sitting.

Work on what you can't do, be consistent, and be patient. If you log what you do in terms of tempo/exercise, you should see some improvment over time.

Quitters never win, and winners aren't smart enough to quit.

When i am practicing for certain target tempos... i.e. trying to nail a certain sticking and orchestration for a part, i do this:

-I start at about 30-40 bpm, slow enough so that i can think about EVERY note, be totally aware of it... slow enough to where i just barely stop hearing it as a musical part and therefore will only be able to play it by THINKING of EVERY NOTE. Relying on my brain and not my ears, at those tempos (so i KNOW the part, know what is going on inside it).

-Then i work it up to the target tempo, usually by 5-10 bpms each time i move it up.

-Once i get to the target tempo, i do this: I will increase the 'nome to the highest tempo that i can possibly play it at, then i will play that tempo. The next tempo i play is the slowest tempo i started with. Next tempo i play a little slower than the fastest one i just played, then after that, play the one up from the slowest tempo i played... confused? I will write it out, keep in mind this is AFTER i work up to target tempo.

Here:

Slowest= 40bpm Target= 110bpm Fastest= 180bpm

So therefore:

180bpm, 40bpm, 160bpm, 60bpm, 140bpm, 80bpm, 120bpm, 100bpm, 110bpm.

I do this so that not only can i work UP to my tempo, i can work DOWN to it to. I want to own all the tempos around the target tempo. 180bpm is a little fast for something musical, but i used it to prove a point.

I think 30-45 minutes would be sufficient on that one thing... if it isn't worked out by then, come back to it tomorrow. Not everyhing has to be pollished the first day you try to work it out.

That is a little of how i work on stuff.