Playin slower the longer I practice?

Hi All,

Was not sure where to post this question...but here goes.

Background first:

Been a GT member for 1 year. Worked thru Fundementals, Rock Level 1 and now working thru Blues Level 1. I practice 1-2 hours a day and overall happy with GT and my progress.

Recently I decided to spend more time learning songs and riffs, as opposed to exercises etc.

One thing I am noticing lately is that my best playing when learning and practicing riff is within the first 5-10 min of my practice session...in terms of speed and accuracy. For example i have been working on the verse riff and chorus to Back in Black and trying to play them clean at 92bpm. I have it when I first pick up the guitar, tjen after 10 min or i start making more mistakes...and the more I slow it down and concentrate after 10-15min tje worse i play.

Almost feels like if i just pickup the guitar and dont think much about it i can play clean...but once i think about it my playing degrades.

Any thoughts or advice?

Hi there,

That's an interesting observation. It's possible that you are just more excited to play during the first few minutes and your mind is fresh. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Learning and practicing is a physical thing and it's totally possible that your fingers/muscles/concentration is being worn down the more you practice something.

I have had this happen before and what usually works is to take a quick break and then jump back in. After the small break, which can be 5 or 10 minutes, bathroom break, etc, when you start practice again you will be sharp once more.

That's what I suggest, take a break!

-Billy

Originally Posted by: Socrates6

Hi All,

Was not sure where to post this question...but here goes.

Background first:

Been a GT member for 1 year. Worked thru Fundementals, Rock Level 1 and now working thru Blues Level 1. I practice 1-2 hours a day and overall happy with GT and my progress.

Recently I decided to spend more time learning songs and riffs, as opposed to exercises etc.

One thing I am noticing lately is that my best playing when learning and practicing riff is within the first 5-10 min of my practice session...in terms of speed and accuracy. For example i have been working on the verse riff and chorus to Back in Black and trying to play them clean at 92bpm. I have it when I first pick up the guitar, tjen after 10 min or i start making more mistakes...and the more I slow it down and concentrate after 10-15min tje worse i play.

Almost feels like if i just pickup the guitar and dont think much about it i can play clean...but once i think about it my playing degrades.

Any thoughts or advice?

I agree with everything Billy said. That's certainly a part of it.

I've noticed when I learn songs just for fun, I'm not overly focused on jamming along with the song. That is to say that I tend to learn parts of songs that interest me as something new for me to learn. It's like I only care about the part that interests me and I learn that.

I would not copy that method! I've been playing for a long time, played in a band at one time and I'm a little apt to want to walk down the riff smargasbord and grab only the tasty thing I want. This is not recommended!

The point is that you want to know what's important to you in learning a song. You've been playing for a year and have many things you want to learn and need to learn. But you have a good amount of skill in order to play a song like Back in Black (nice choice!). It seems to me that some of what you're losing is mojo after a bit like Billy said.

Are you playing along with the songs as a whole after learning a part?

If you're drilling a riff over and over just to get it down, at some point you want to apply that. That's having fun playing guitar. It's why you're playing.

I remever early on in my playing wherein I was standing in front of my Peavey Backstage amp (10" speaker) that was on top of a table and I just started smashing away at some chords a la Pete Townsend (no windmills...I treied that....too man finge scrapes...). The amp was louder and the sound was hitting my diaphram and I could feel it. It was the first time my playing gave me a buzz. I mean, it was terrible playing as far as I recall but I was having fun and feeling it.

I didn't realize it but every time I practice, I just do something to wail away at the guitar. Just let go and not care if it is perfect. Just play and get after it.

We put a very high price on perfection and seems less concern on the value of how we feel. Enjoy first, perfection later (or at least not be so worried).

Thanks Billy/Jeff...this is some solid advice! I will try taking some breaks during practice...when I feel like I am losing it so to speak, and see if it helps me get centered.

I have not tackled the Back in Black solo yet...thats gonne be a real challenge for me at this stage...but i hope to start on it once I get tje 1st guitar parts down at 92bpm.

Generally I try to learn parts of songs first then play the whole backing track and practice the parts as they come up.

Jeff some interesting insight into playing with Mojo....thanks again!

Forgot to add...when I decided to pickup a guitar a year ago I did it because I just knew it would make me feel great...and it does! Its the only reason I play every day. It is quite a rush to hear myself even playing bits n pieces of classic rock tunes and just stumbling across chords that sound great.

Sometimes when I play some chord changes that sound great I can smash them out over and over and i never get bored!

Anyway your point about knowing why you are playing is really good advice and will just remember this if i get frustrated with a difficult part....just rock on to have fun and feel good :)