Anyone have good tips for practicing a string instrument?

Question

Any ideas on making practice time more efficient would be welcome too.

Answer 1

I am a violinist (and I teach as well), there are a few approaches to take. First you can do your practicing all at once or break it up into smaller amounts of time. One thing I've noticed with my students is they do a lot of PLAYING but not practicing. In other words they play their song at home 10 times in a row mistakes and all. Try to catch mistakes fast before they become habits. One thing I do in my music is I can predict what I'm going to have trouble on and I will put brackets in those areas and really zero in on those with super slow practice and then gradually spped up. Try doing those areas 5 times slow and 3 times fast. Also incorporate those areas back into the rest of the music, because sometimes people can play these areas by themselves but not with the music that comes before or after that practiced area.

Answer 2

Think about what you're going to practice before you start.
Tune up.
Go through some warm ups to get your fingers loose.
Play the section slowly and then a bit quicker until you have it at the tempo for which it was written.
Now set it down and think about if for another 5 minutes in peace and quiet.
Try it again and use a cassette recorder to record what you practice and listen to it back.
Give yourself a good half hour to play around with it and then find something else to do until later on in the day. By the time you get back to it you may have a fresh approach.
Above all, keep on jamming!

Answer 3

1. Get an electronic tuner to make tuning fast and accurate.
2. If you're a beginner, don't practice for more than a half hour a day -- unless you're really enjoying it. But make sure to practice every day. If you need more practice in a day, two short sessions will advance you quicker than one long one.
3. Don't get discouraged if a lesson seems difficult. You'll be surprised to see how much easier it has become after a week of half-hour sessions.
I'm an adult second-year violin/fiddle student, and those are the things that have worked best for me.

Answer 4

Brake down the music into sections and practice it section by section. Once you get a section down, move onto the next. Then put it all together. It's also a good idea to start with some warm ups such as a scale or etude.

Answer 5

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Practice, Practice, Practice.

Limit yourself to a certain time period each day.
Say from 10 to 11. Don't let anything interfere with that time.

Play a couple of songs, over and over until they become second nature to you. The expand your repetoire. Scales are sooooo boring.

Answer 6

1) Make sure your instrument is in tune.
2) Practice regularly.
3) Enjoy it!

Answer 7

stick to the guitar. the beginning up is often toughest. The fingerings, fretting, it variety of feels so problematic. save with it, all of it turns into 2d nature in case you artwork at it frequently. the beginning up months would be brutal at getting elementary strumming, picking, and fingerpicking down fingering the elementary open chords and uncomplicated chord progressions. stick to guitar. you could play chords on that device and that they sound solid. sure, all of it works on electric powered/acoustic/classical, each thing you study one one applys to the others extraordinarily the fundamentals.

Answer 8

bring earplugs