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?

Quote:

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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.

When I'm playing something for the first time, I try to play it at a slow enough tempo to play everything correctly, including dynamics and accents. Then, I take it by sections and increase the speed as I go. Just remember, you don't have to get everything up to lightning speed on the first day. That's why daily practice will get you further than trying to cram it all in for a couple of days. Also, Gregg Bissonette told me that if you play something 21-22 times, muscle memory will kick in and you'll start to retain it. Good advice!

Mike

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Originally posted by drumgod1:
if you play something 21-22 times, muscle memory will kick in and you'll start to retain it. Good advice!

Mike

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I like that piece of advice. Although, it seems a very specific number. You sure he didn't mean twenty one and a half times? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Practice something until you get bored or distracted, then move on to something else. Attention spans vary from day to day. Sometimes it's good to detach the mind altogether (auto-pilot) and work some repetition for muscle memory.

I just want to say how much I appreciate everyone's advice. Thank you all so much!

This has given me new insight into how I can better use my practice time. Now, hopefully, my practice time will be more efficient and less frustrating.

Keep your practice sessions interesting and motivating. If you don't you won't practice as long.

Strive for accuracy but I think it's better to get through a bunch of exercises passably than to take one and run it into the ground for 3 hours.

Go back and keep going over that group of exercises until they are mastered, ingrained into muscle memory etc.

Divide that 3 hour practice session into working on a greater variety of material you need to do and that interests you. It takes time to create the neural pathways to enable you to play anything smoothly - this involves REM sleep periods. So trying to master an exercise that is difficult for you in one day is just dumb. Take a few days (or weeks), work on several things at once, and I think you'll be amazed at how much material you can get through after a couple of months of this.

Practice shouldn't be torture.

Don't forget, no matter what tempo you start or end at be sure the physical technique stays consistent. It's great when you're at a nice comfortable tempo and everything is relaxed but there usually comes THAT speed where things tend to start getting tight. You need to make a conscious effort to not lose that feel. This will help keep the faster stuff flowing the same way it did at the comfortable tempos. When this occurs I like to bring it down one or two clicks to get that relaxed thing back and spend just a bit more time there to really feel it before bumping it back up.

Also, no matter what kind of exercises you are doing keep something musical happening. Shading of dynamics, accents etc. When working on rhythmic things work them in "melodies" around the kit. When I was a little kid I would hum tunes along with static exercises. It kept things interesting and added another dimension of independence.

Good subject matter, as usual.

In my opinion, you should always
strive for accuracy, as it has al-
ready been said.

In addition, I believe that (to
expand on what Brad mentioned) you
should be working on things that
you really want to work on. You
will focus more on it.

Make it something that you will
put to immediate use, in the play-
ing situation.

Work on a paradiddle-diddle to fit
into your application of Elvin or
Steve or flams for your application
of Tony or Lenny etc.

You know. Make it real.

[img]cool.gif[/img]

I find that rather than just playing rudiments over and over at one tempo, changing them up from one extreme to another really is challenging. Or just doing the rudiment then popping in quarters for one bar, it's like trying to stop a freightrain.

It forces the muscles to do very different things and I think it helps with smoothness.

But no one ever accused me of being smooth.

Again, more good advice. Thanks guys!

I'll just add that, now that I'm not working so much on just one exercise, I am enjoying my practice time more. I also feel that I will be able to progress much more quickly than before.

Some say that it's better to practice a method for 15 minutes every day rather than to work on it for a few hours once a week. The latter has been more effective for me. I practice different methods on different days and try to really concentrate on that task. When I come back to it, and it has had a chance to resonate (ferment, pick your metaphore) in my mind, the progress is noticable.

Not everyone learns the same way. Try different routines.