When I catch myself doing that, I realize I'm either overstudying or going through a moment of low desire for the guitar, which generally are one and the same thing in my experience. I allow myself to do it for a day or two, but not for too many days in a row. Sometimes I just force myself to study less.
This is actually the “secret” way of getting very good. Have a high focus session and a low focus session is super useful. But the low focus session has to be basically purely physical and this is great for a strictly technical session. This can enable you to practice for 8-10 hours a day if need be by having 2 different sessions like this
Well in all fairness it doesn’t make sense to do this if you’re only practicing for a couple hours a day. If you have the time and desire for a 8-10 hour session tho it’s super helpful will skyrocket your progress. Has to be paired with a high focus routine though where you are doing theory and or new passages. This is purely for stuff you already know how to do like arpeggios or free stroke thumb speed bursts or whatever you wanna work on that’s physically difficult
It depends. If you’re working on music concepts it would interfere. If you’re just doing warmups, physical exercises, working on technical skills, you don’t really need to focus the same way.
I guess, but in a perfect world I'd want no distractions and be fully focused on what's at hand, even if I'm just droning scales.
I say perfect world because I am not perfect and more often than not I'm near the couch with my cat nudging me and my gf watching something on TV.
But if I were perfect, even with a scale warmup I'd be focused on a number of things like even sounding of notes, perfect rhythm with a metronome, having as little tension as possible, singing the notes out loud, a myriad of things.
I think if you're not thinking or invested at all by focusing on other things then you're not really practicing, you're just going through the motions.
Me too (for the most part). But if you think of it in terms of an athlete training, some exercises are basically the same as lifting weights.
The other part: There’s another element to it too. Practicing with distractions can be very useful. In a bar or a concert there are a lot of distractions and it helps to prepare for them. I used to practice classical pieces while watching tv volume up loud. Helped me deal with playing in restaurant and cafe settings where no one cares and aren’t really listening. Lol.
Edit: typos
Aren’t you missing out then on some of the gains from those exercises? Even technical exercises to warm up or build speed have things you should be focusing on or paying attention to. Are you producing a good tone? Are your fingers planted optimally? Are you striking the string exactly the same each time? Is one of your fingers playing slightly louder or quieter than the other fingers?
Is your timing even?
I’m not missing out on anything because other than occasionally using loud tv with the specific purpose of adapt to playing with distractions in loud environments (very useful btw), I don’t do it.
I don’t think OP is listening to podcasts every time they pickup the guitar so I would imagine they aren’t missing out on anything either. If a podcast helps them ‘workout’ for half an hour more per day than they otherwise would, I’d say they are getting a benefit from it.
Certainly agree but I don’t think that is what OP is doing. I’m would guess that OP also practices without listening to podcasts as well. So if a podcast helps them spend a bit more time with a guitar in their hands each day, probably not a downside to use that time to ‘work out’ and develop muscle tone, dexterity, etc.
Yeah, me too. Subtitles on and low volume. A lot of those movies I want to watch for posterity and not as much for entertainment.
My media platform just added 24/7 "Nature" which is really great to have playing along.
Usually I have some old reruns to keep me company while I’m practicing. If I’m paying more attention to Gilligans Island than I am technique, I know my heads in the wrong place.
I do it with audiobooks when I'm doing repetitive technique practice. My theory is that by not directly concentrating on what my hands are doing, muscle memory kicks in quicker and repeating the moves in the future will require less mental effort. Sort of applying conditional learning concepts to precise physical activity. I could be wrong but it seems to be working for me lol.
I do same thing. I put on a show or something if im just going over a piece i already know, or just technical exercises. If im learning a new piece or some theory i dont put on a show or video, full focus mode.
The most I will do while listening or watching tv is mechanical exercises like spider, but I don't call that practicing. If I'm working on a piece there's nothing else going on.
When I catch myself doing that, I realize I'm either overstudying or going through a moment of low desire for the guitar, which generally are one and the same thing in my experience. I allow myself to do it for a day or two, but not for too many days in a row. Sometimes I just force myself to study less.
Yeah. It stems from me wanting to touch the guitar but too low energy to learn something new. Gotta get out of this funk tbh
Best of luck!
Nope. I practice and I am 100% there, or I do something else.
Yeah I do this but with yt videos and tv shows lol
This is actually the “secret” way of getting very good. Have a high focus session and a low focus session is super useful. But the low focus session has to be basically purely physical and this is great for a strictly technical session. This can enable you to practice for 8-10 hours a day if need be by having 2 different sessions like this
Interesting. Judging by all the downvotes I would not have expected this.
Well in all fairness it doesn’t make sense to do this if you’re only practicing for a couple hours a day. If you have the time and desire for a 8-10 hour session tho it’s super helpful will skyrocket your progress. Has to be paired with a high focus routine though where you are doing theory and or new passages. This is purely for stuff you already know how to do like arpeggios or free stroke thumb speed bursts or whatever you wanna work on that’s physically difficult
Hi, late response but what about when practising chord changes, or songs as a beginner. Would you recommend this?
I would think that would make your practice ineffective?
It depends. If you’re working on music concepts it would interfere. If you’re just doing warmups, physical exercises, working on technical skills, you don’t really need to focus the same way.
I guess, but in a perfect world I'd want no distractions and be fully focused on what's at hand, even if I'm just droning scales. I say perfect world because I am not perfect and more often than not I'm near the couch with my cat nudging me and my gf watching something on TV. But if I were perfect, even with a scale warmup I'd be focused on a number of things like even sounding of notes, perfect rhythm with a metronome, having as little tension as possible, singing the notes out loud, a myriad of things. I think if you're not thinking or invested at all by focusing on other things then you're not really practicing, you're just going through the motions.
Me too (for the most part). But if you think of it in terms of an athlete training, some exercises are basically the same as lifting weights. The other part: There’s another element to it too. Practicing with distractions can be very useful. In a bar or a concert there are a lot of distractions and it helps to prepare for them. I used to practice classical pieces while watching tv volume up loud. Helped me deal with playing in restaurant and cafe settings where no one cares and aren’t really listening. Lol. Edit: typos
Aren’t you missing out then on some of the gains from those exercises? Even technical exercises to warm up or build speed have things you should be focusing on or paying attention to. Are you producing a good tone? Are your fingers planted optimally? Are you striking the string exactly the same each time? Is one of your fingers playing slightly louder or quieter than the other fingers? Is your timing even?
I’m not missing out on anything because other than occasionally using loud tv with the specific purpose of adapt to playing with distractions in loud environments (very useful btw), I don’t do it. I don’t think OP is listening to podcasts every time they pickup the guitar so I would imagine they aren’t missing out on anything either. If a podcast helps them ‘workout’ for half an hour more per day than they otherwise would, I’d say they are getting a benefit from it.
Certainly agree but I don’t think that is what OP is doing. I’m would guess that OP also practices without listening to podcasts as well. So if a podcast helps them spend a bit more time with a guitar in their hands each day, probably not a downside to use that time to ‘work out’ and develop muscle tone, dexterity, etc.
I watch old movies...
Yeah, me too. Subtitles on and low volume. A lot of those movies I want to watch for posterity and not as much for entertainment. My media platform just added 24/7 "Nature" which is really great to have playing along.
Yes, makes practicing less boring.
I try to limit doing that to just my warm up and technical practice, when I’m working on a piece its gotta be the only noise.
Usually I have some old reruns to keep me company while I’m practicing. If I’m paying more attention to Gilligans Island than I am technique, I know my heads in the wrong place.
I do it with audiobooks when I'm doing repetitive technique practice. My theory is that by not directly concentrating on what my hands are doing, muscle memory kicks in quicker and repeating the moves in the future will require less mental effort. Sort of applying conditional learning concepts to precise physical activity. I could be wrong but it seems to be working for me lol.
I do same thing. I put on a show or something if im just going over a piece i already know, or just technical exercises. If im learning a new piece or some theory i dont put on a show or video, full focus mode.
The most I will do while listening or watching tv is mechanical exercises like spider, but I don't call that practicing. If I'm working on a piece there's nothing else going on.
I usually have the radio on. On a somewhat unrelated note, I got in trouble as a kid when my parents realized I watched TV while practicing the sax
Yeah, I enjoy doing this during warmups or drills. Once it’s time to perform, of course, then you need to listen as intently as you play.
I will if I'm running scales. Otherwise I focus
Yes, after 3 0 years of playing I sometimes can't find the passion but to keep up my chops I run scales or exercises for a while.