TOPIC: Group practice

This weekend, our group got together to practice for this Wednesday nite. We worked mostly on the one song we were assigned….Old Joe Clark….for 3 hours, with each of us critiquing our performance. I have never done that before. While I am not sure the practice will help me Wednesday, I did learn something. I thought I knew that song pretty well, but when we started practicing, I kept being out of step with the group. It turned out that I had learned the song with some extra notes in it, which ultimately had me off by a measure or so. I had been practicing the lead only… with the tef file… but had never practiced the lead while listening to the melody. Someone in our group suggested finding the song on YouTube.so that I can listen to the melody, while practicing the lead.
Having the luxury of practicing with a group like that can really help you focus on your weaknesses and tweak your performance.

Good presence of mind there dcone. It feels good to "get it" doe-nit?

I really thought the group practice was good for me. After we had our little session, I really felt inspired to get better at playing the song. And the suggestions of the group were very helpful too. Plus, it was fun to see you guys in a different setting.

Thank you George..I know I don't "git-it" 100%...but it is an improvement....their are so many layers of understanding music...it gets deeper and deeper..in a really neat way.

...and I agree with lspencerini...the more venues we are exposed too, the better!

The first thing I had to get in my head with music ( I was 12 yrs old and the last of 4 kids to pick up an instrument) was the count never stops so... the melody has to fit in the 1-2-3-4/ 1-2-3-4. I'd mentioned in another post: try practicing the song w/ rythmn only and learning to hear the melody in your head. It really works. Dedicate the whole 1/2 hour to that. Then do it again the next day. The work is hearing the melody in your head keep the rythmn going... then do it again:) and again:lol: and again:silly: and again:( and again:angry: and again:woohoo: you got it!!

Go to a school gym. Usually certain parks have stages find one that does and practice there. clean out someones garage. Ask if you can practice at someones studio im sure they'd let you if you paid.