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Posted by: neil on:10 Mar 2011 Tuition » A Week In The Life Of Josh |
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A week in the life of Josh
Instrument practice
As a drum student/ guitar student who is still in full time
education I can sometimes find it hard to practice both instruments through the
week (sometimes struggling to get any practice at all!) and the way I get
around my hectic schedule is making a practice table.
So on Mondays I will go to school do my work then come home,
once I come home I do all my homework that I have been set on that day, this
makes it easier to meet deadlines for work, after doing this I will do my
chores I.E clean my room, Hoover downstairs etc.. After doing all this if I have
time I will either practice my drums or guitar.
Ways I get around practicing drums is not necessarily
actually playing the drums but practicing something that is linked with drums
like Rudiments on a practice pad. Although I am not directly playing the drums
I am still progressing in important rudiments like single stroke roll, also due
to not playing on I kit I have learnt some nice cool rudiments like flam
triplets that I wouldn't have necessarily come across if I wasn't doing just rudiment practice. If I get a day
where I have no chores and homework then it's time to set up the kit! The
advantage of not having my kit up all the time I find is that I can set up my
drum kit at a very quick speed (under 15 Minutes!) And by doing this it comes in handy whenever
I need to set up a kit at a gig. When I get a chance to practice on my kit I
will normally steer away from rudiment practice and practice exercises that I
find better to do on a kit, this involves things like learning to new covers or
learning a new style of music like one drop reggae. Also when I get a chance to
use my kit I will watch one of the video lessons on The Musiclab website and
try and learn what is being taught.
When it comes to guitar practice I find this easier to
practice as I can control the volume level on my amp so it's not as hard to
practice throughout the week, the difference with guitar is I find there are a
lot of different areas to work on so I split up throughout the week what I am
working on so, once or twice a week I will practice on scales and not only
practicing them but using them in song i.e solo's etc. Once a week I will work
on my theory knowledge behind guitar, this includes techniques, key signatures,
time signatures etc., and finally once a week I will practice chord changes as
at first this can be a very daunting task.
When it comes to practicing with my band Two:10 (formally Vest Of The Parrott) we try and practice between once or twice a week when
possible, we find as a band it's important to practice as much as possible not
only to sound good but to keep a good connection with each other, keep our
songs sounding tight and also to develop or learn new songs. It's important if
you are in a gigging band to practice as much as possible as you want people to
hear you sounding at your best calibre possible! As a band we try and gig once a week (this
sometimes becomes two) which means I have to give up some of my instrument
practice, but the good thing is you are still playing your instrument so no
matter what every time you play a note or hit the snare drum you are slowly
improving mentally and physically.
I cannot stress enough the importance of practice, if you
want to succeed at your instrument regular practice is an important piece of
your schedule, not only will it make you a better player but it will allow you
to go further musically, doing your grades or even the dream of being in a
signed band!
I hope this blog has been a help to some of you and will also help you establish yourself as a musician
Keep it funky and keep it Rocking!
Josh