Share your practice routine!

Brad Herman

Hey everyone! As someone fairly new to gypsy jazz I've spent a decent amount of time going through old posts here (and elsewhere) reading about peoples practice routines and focus areas. For someone like me who is basically just getting started with this style, I've found a wealth of information from this community scattered through replies and it's been super helpful. Everyone has different goals, lifestyles, and experience levels, so I'd love to see a comprehensive thread of practice routines that might help guitarists newer to the style (or even to guitar) figure out how to structure their practice.

Here's what I'm thinking:

1) Experience level - beginner, 5 years rock + 2 years gypsy, seasoned musician... whatever you consider relevant
2) Goals - gigging, professional musician, hobbyist, etc?
3) Frequency - daily, 3x/week, multiple times per day, etc?
4) Length - 30min, 2 hours, 8 hours! ?
5) Structure - 5 min chromatic warmup, 30 minute focused on learning rhythm to new song, 30 minute scales, 30 min arpeggios, 15 min etudes, ear training, speed training, etc... however you typically try to structure practice sessions!
6) Tips/tricks/advice?

NylonDave

1. Set metronome to 40
2. Pick a right hand exercise and pick up the guitar.
3. Lift left foot two subdivisions before the(perceived) down beat, lift right foot as left foot falls on the click(one subdivision before the downbeat), drop right foot where the beat is to be felt.
REPEAT UNTIL I AM PROPERLY CONSCIOUS OF WHAT IS HAPPENING (on a good day that's about ten minutes before playing a note)
4. Play each note twelve or sixteen times (depending on time signature)three or four notes (ditto) to the beat.
5. Follow this pattern (in the case of even semiquavers). 16 to 8 to 4 to 2 to 1 to 2x then 4x
6.Put the metronome down a bit.
REPEAT TILL AS CLOSE TO TEN CLICKS A MINUTE AS POSSIBLE THAT DAY. AT ALL TIMES THE SENSE OF FREE MOVEMENT IN MY ENTIRE BODY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

Second bit, repeat all of that with a left hand alone exercise.
Third, take an excerpt I am working on and add notes until it is moto perpetuo. Do all of above and then start rhythmic manipulations.

Next bit, repeat the excerpt in all keys in open position trying to use my ear in tandem with my knowledge of the instrument.
Last bit, lie down and review any keys I was uncomfortable with in my minds eye while assessing the quality of the muscle tone in my back.

Then it's time for a cup of tea then more excerpts, maybe some played in closed positions, assessing alternate fingerings.

If I have time that day then I might play through some rep.

D.

Brad Herman

That's a really interesting approach

Michael S Harrington

Brad, this is a great thread topic.

I'm not sure of where you're at with this style, but I'll share how I first started practicing this kind of music. (WARNING: ultra lengthy post)

1 Hour Total:

15 minutes: warming up with exercises for left and right hand.

"Gypsy Picking" (Horowitz) exercises:
Exercise #3 - pg. 21
Exercise #4 - pg. 22
Exercise #5 - pg. 23

Once I felt comfortable with the above, I threw in some musical examples from Andreas Oberg's book, "Gypsy Fire". When you're working on building this technique, think of yourself like a body builder. For each exercise, have 3 different tempos: comfortable, a little faster (say 3-5 bpm faster), then a "challenge" speed- something that is a little out of comfort range but still physically possible with maybe a flub or two. For each of these tempos, do three clean reps with no mistakes, and then move on.

Ex. 1.1, pg. 2
Ex. 1.2, pg. 3

etc. etc.

If you practice on a daily basis, you'll eventually "outgrow" some of these and decide to add in/swap out some of the more challenging exercises from methods books or licks on recordings you like.

Now, I'd suggest focusing your attention on only ONE song. Let's say you want to really get good at playing Honeysuckle Rose. I'd spend the next 20 minutes trying to work on my La Pompe technique over the A section of this song. I'd suggest using Michael's "Gypsy Rhythm" book, or "Gypsy Guitar: The Secrets- Vol. 1" book for a defined example of how to practice building this technique, correctly. You'll notice everyone does it a little different.. but these books will give you a definitive answer in figuring it out. Once you build this up for a week, try to memorize the progression and play it without paper in front of you.

After practicing rhythm, try to work on your basic arpeggios in (eventually) all 5 shapes via "CAGED system" for the next 25 minutes. Only commit to practicing one shape at first. This will give you the building blocks for playing lead as well as starting to recognize where on the fretboard the players you like are playing their ideas. Make sure you're practicing this with a backing track after you've gotten the hang of it with only a metronome. A great method book for this is "Manifesting Manouche" (Parker). He also wrote some great practice tips in there as well.

After doing this, you've taken about an hour out of your day and have done so with positive practice habits. Keep a log of your metronome times on a spreadsheet so that you can see your progress throughout the week. It'll be motivating to find that you've gone from 35 bpm to 55 bpm in a week or two's time. The more focus you spend on trying to create an effective workout, the better your results will be- and the quicker you'll get to the jam or gig.

Just my 2 Cents! Having fun is the ultimate goal...

-Mike

Bones

Maybe like a half hour right/left hand warm up similar to (but modified to my own preference) the drills that Christiaan Van Hemert showed in his video.

Maybe like another half hour running arps (major, minor, dominant).

At this point I probably SHOULD drill licks or something but I usually feel like I deserve some fun so I'll pick one of the heads that I want to learn and work on the melody and rhythm.

Then if I have time I'll work on soloing over the changes.

Not super focused or disciplined I know but what the heck, I enjoy it.

Elí Saúl

I'm studing jazz in general so i'm trying to become a professional at this.
Transcribe one Django lick every day or any artist i like, and write it down.
or technique wise there's always something to do, stick to metronome at low tempos to be very aware of whats going on.

After studying some phrases and all i go on manouche backing tracks and try to input them on a musical way, just making more vocabulary. I improvise around 2 hours a day to keep ideas fresh, and for the sake of that i enjoy improvising a lot.

I often learn heads of some songs an try to embelish by myself and then compare it to famous artists versions and see what i like.

Also: I try to transcribe trumpet licks when i can in order to be vary my melodic and rhythmic repertoire, it's very easy to just go crazy with eights or 16ths caring almost nothing about your rhytmic ideas. I was just listening to the solo of Django on G. on my mind and i love it! it's simple and effective, i like fireworks but not all the time.

Buco

Well after writing what turned into an essay, I'm going to shorten it and say that I've been experimenting with 2 minutes practice, trying to find out if there's some tangible benefits in this short amount of time.
And it would seem that there is. I selected a few shorter musical sections that I want to play cleaner and would simply set the timer and repeat for 2 minutes. Mostly once a day, sometimes twice. You'd be surprised how many repetitions you can squeeze in that amount of time.
I have specific reasons why I wanted to try this but that turned lengthy to write and explain so suffice it to say if you lack time in your life you can at least do that and still gain benefits.

dennis

Practice routines will ultimately depend on how observant you are, but I can share the practice routines of some of the best players:

1) spend lots of time learning songs by heart and by ear. Chords and melodies
2) spend lots of time actively listening to music (listening to the chords, the rhythms, the phrases, the articulations , etc...)
3) transferring point 2 to the guitar
4) hang out with lots of good musicians and play together and learn from each other.

Jim Kaznosky

I've been playing the style for a little while and gig with musicians who are way more experienced than me. Goal is to play the gig and have fun.
I warm up with either some variations on the technical exercises listed above. I'll focus the rest of my limited time on one of the following:

Work on learning a lick I've recently transcribed in all keys, multiple positions. Play it over a set of tunes in the appropriate place. Goal is to get a good sound.

Learn a song by ear. If I can sing the melody, I try to learn it that way. If I have time, I either try to learn it in multiple positions or multiple keys. I try to learn the harmony by ear and figure out multiple ways to play it. Sometimes I'll expand (add chords) or contract (simplify the harmony).

Work on material that I've had trouble with from gigs before. One player will often give me little tips in the middle of a tune (if its not sounding right) on what might be a way more experienced musicians might play it.

I limit my source material to either audio or video these days and try to transcribe everything myself. It is not easy and I try (very very very hard) to not compare my playing to anyone on the gig. I've found that this can lead me into bad places.

Jazzaferri

Practice routines are such a personal thing. If you want to get really good or even master an instrument and genre it requires thousands of hours of focussed effort, and Dennis's comments are insightful. Some learn best one way others another.

IMO for lower level players 15 minutes a day every day will keep you where you are. Much less than that, and you will go backwards. For experienced players at least an hour a day. Casals at 92 still practiced a few hours a day. Segovia has a lengthy practice routine every day even as an old guy,

I usually spend a hour or two in the evening noodling along to the tv on top of whatever I am practicing during the day, which right now is cleaning up my rhythm technique, and learning new material. maybe a half hour to an hour a day.

Buco

Jim Kaznosky wrote: »

It is not easy and I try (very very very hard) to not compare my playing to anyone on the gig. I've found that this can lead me into bad places.

So true
Whenever I do that, and I almost always do it at Django in June, I fall apart. Instead of sticking to my own game, good or bad, I hear all these people playing super awesome and get myself sucked in where I'm just not comfortable and... implode.
It's very important to stick with your own practice results.