Organizing Practice Time

GregHB

Hi everyone. I'd like to ask for some suggestions about how to organize my practice time. My time each day is limited so I've encountered some problems. Basically, it's like this: I'm working out of the Gypsy Picking and Gypsy Fire books and The Art of Accompaniment DVD. That means that there are 60 phrases for soloing and tons of rhythm stuff to work on.

I currently try to do 1/2 an hour on soloing, 1/2 an hour on rhythm, and 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes on applying this stuff to my repitoire (playing along on Stephane's website). Problem is, I can easily work on one phrase or element of rhythm for 1/2 an hour before feeling like I've worked it sufficiently. 30 minutes X 60 phrases = 1800 minutes. At that rate, it would take 2 full months before the first phrase would make it's way back into rotation. I imagine I'm going about this all wrong, since practicing a phrase once every two months can't do any good. So any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if this post was particularly long winded and thanks for everyone's help in advance. - Greg

BluesBop Harry

I personally believe you should get Gypsy picking done before you get into Gypsy Fire.
Learning that technique is gonna take about six months, it's frustrating to not be able to really play during that time, i know...
Taking the time to really ingrain the picking patterns is gonna make all the difference later on, I mean, spending two months on open strings patterns might ensure you don't have to practice them ever again, and that you get to play real music sooner.
So if you got two hours I would spend one on lead technique (save the licks and phrases for later) and one on rhythm.

When you do begin working on vocabulary, I'd suggest working on only a few things at once and when you've mastered them move on.

It's just my opinion.