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Old 11-22-2018, 10:42 AM
Rocky Dijohn Rocky Dijohn is offline
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Default How Much Time to Invest in Learnng a New Piece?

As I work on learning Pete Huttlinger's arrangement of "I've Got Rhythm" I am beginning to wonder about the time invested.

Of course, he is a master fingerpicker and in a way I have no business doing this. But I figure the challenge will up my chops overall anyway. And, I might be able to eventually play it at half his speed.

But I have sunk now about 10 hours into learning a 2-minute piece. This is making me question my decision to tackle it.

I guess we all weigh this decision in different ways. Maybe some players have a general rule like "I will only work on pieces that I can master after 5 hours" (or something like that). Others might have no rule at all, willing to invest whatever time it takes on a piece they simply love.

Please weigh in with your perspective on this. I am curious how other players think about it, and I may benefit from the perspectives of others.
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Old 11-22-2018, 10:54 AM
ALBD ALBD is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocky Dijohn View Post
As I work on learning Pete Huttlinger's arrangement of "I've Got Rhythm" I am beginning to wonder about the time invested.

Of course, he is a master fingerpicker and in a way I have no business doing this. But I figure the challenge will up my chops overall anyway. And, I might be able to eventually play it at half his speed.

But I have sunk now about 10 hours into learning a 2-minute piece. This is making me question my decision to tackle it.

I guess we all weigh this decision in different ways. Maybe some players have a general rule like "I will only work on pieces that I can master after 5 hours" (or something like that). Others might have no rule at all, willing to invest whatever time it takes on a piece they simply love.

Please weigh in with your perspective on this. I am curious how other players think about it, and I may benefit from the perspectives of others.
My pattern seems to be to spend months and even years really learning a difficult tune instead of trying to tackle it at once. When I spend too much time working on something I tend to get tired of it. So I’ll put it down and come back to it later. Sometimes much later. Good question.
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Old 11-22-2018, 11:03 AM
musicman1951 musicman1951 is offline
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I've got about 100 hours into the finale from Bach's First Violin Concerto, probably over 6 months. I work on it for a couple of days and then put it away for a week. After about 30 hours (guessing here) I could play it at a slower tempo, but it goes like the wind.

I'm not under any time restraints for this one, so I don't really care how long or how many hours - as long as I don't get tired of playing it. I suppose I might if I played it every day - but who knows. I'd sure learn it faster.

I can't imagine a workable formula for how many hours to invest in a piece, but as long as you still like it my suggestion would be to enjoy the journey.
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Old 11-22-2018, 11:06 AM
Riverwolf Riverwolf is offline
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I have had the Stones Wild Horses on my practice schedule for over a year.
In perspective that is 10-20 min per day. And I had to learn to play a modified Bm chord.
And the challenges of having one acoustic guitar sound close to a whole band.
I have never understood folks who say to work on one song or challenge at a time.
Too boring.
I normally have around 10.
Sometimes I will learn a "easy" version first and then slowly add to it.
I recently added I Walk the Line.
I want this to sound like the recording and it will take some time.
It is ok as time in perspective is all we really have.
Until it is gone.

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Old 11-22-2018, 11:35 AM
Paddy1951 Paddy1951 is offline
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How much time you are willing to put in on any given piece depends on 1.) How much time you have. 2.) How much you like the piece.

If it gives you a great sense of satisfaction when you reach the proficiency on the piece that you desire, then it was worth the time spent.
If you are only luke-warm on the piece, find someting else.
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Old 11-22-2018, 11:50 AM
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I have spent a couple of hours learning a fingerstyle piece and I've spent almost a year on others like Maple Leaf Rag (which I wound up abandoning because it was impossible for me to make the arrangement sound good). It's all about the piece and your tolerance level. No hard and fast rule.
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Old 11-22-2018, 12:28 PM
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I've been learning Paul Asbell's Chunky Monkey Gumbo on and off over about 3 months. Somethings just take longer than others. My entertainment is learning the songs. Once I learn something I'll either record it, and then forget it, or just forget it. Sometimes I have to play them slower than the original, sometimes I don't. 10 hours doesn't seem too much to me, but ymmv.
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Old 11-22-2018, 01:38 PM
WordMan WordMan is offline
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I decide I’m interested in a song. I check YouTube. If there’s a few How to Play videos, I survey a few to check the differences.

Beyond that, I just start jamming on it, taking key parts of the song, turning that into a repetitive groove and getting it burned in enough so I can wander off the main groove.

If it takes more than that, I move on.

But then again, I also tune my guitar to DADGAD once every couple of years, re-teach myself Kashmir, then promptly forget it because I have no interest in retuning my guitar on a regular basis.

So it goes. Whatever works.
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Old 11-22-2018, 02:08 PM
Gordon Currie Gordon Currie is offline
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I've been playing guitar for 50 years. I don't recall ever setting a time limit on learning a piece or a technique. If I did, I'm sure I was unpleasantly surprised when something I thought could be done in X time instead took 50X!

Some things come easily, and others present unbelievable difficulty, and which is which is generally different for everyone.

OP: It sounds as if the JOY of learning that piece has decreased. If so, it's OK to put it down in order to concentrate on things that are more fun, more clearly in reach, more immediately applicable. There's no shame in that, and to continue the investment metaphor (which I find extremely limiting most of the time), your sunk costs are not a write off, as I believe every second of time playing music adds positively to one's experience, which flows out in unpredictable ways.
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Old 11-22-2018, 02:25 PM
dkstott dkstott is offline
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Only 10 hours??

I spent 6 months working on being able to Pete Huttlingers arrangement of "My Cherie Amore.
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Old 11-22-2018, 03:23 PM
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I mostly work on my own compositions.......I don't rush.......could be months, weeks at a minimum.......with the idea of reaching a "performance" level which in my case means recording and getting a track that's as good as I feel I can manage. That could mean playing a piece a hundred times or much more. My "recording season" is usually in the late fall and winter/early spring so it helps to pace myself and work things out over time....and I'm fortunate to have that time right now!! YMMV, of course!
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Old 11-22-2018, 04:53 PM
Zandit75 Zandit75 is offline
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I'm primarily a singer, so the words are more important to me to learn as a starting point.
Depending on the song, I've performed it live within a couple of days of starting on it, while also working my main job full time. Other times I'll spend several months on it before having the courage to perform it to an audience. It certainly helps if you're already familiar with the lyrics.
Some songs are obviously easier to learn than others. I primarily sing Country, and as the old adage goes, if you know three chords, you know how to play Country Music!!
But, having said that, the latest song I learnt from Keith Urban had around 12 chords in it, so the old adage is not so accurate these days!
Occasionally I'll put a heap of time into a song, thinking it's all coming together, and then for some reason I hate the way it's come out, and just trash it. Then, when I think I've put it aside forever, I hear someone's cover of it, and it works again.
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Old 11-22-2018, 05:27 PM
Rocky Dijohn Rocky Dijohn is offline
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Thanks for everyone's feedback. At the rate I am going, mastering (whatever that means to me) Pete Huttlinger's arrangement of "I've Got Rhythm" will take considerable time. But I remain encouraged by mastering little bits at a time. I plan to stick with it because, as others have observed, any time spent playing is good for you and this challenging piece will up my game regardless of whether I ever "master" it.

One final thought: for time management purposes, and to increase my playable repertoire, I could focus on a variety of less challenging pieces and master more of them. It just is a matter of defining one's goals, but it is important to have "stretch" goals too.

Over and out!
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Old 11-22-2018, 05:57 PM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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I hear a song, I find the lyrics, normally online now, pt them into a word document, and then work out the chord progression and insert them on top of the lyrics.

Then I take it to my "boys" Ian the bass and Mando Bob, and we agree a key and work up an arrangement.

Then we rehearse it to see where we fall over and put it right, then we perform it and find out what we really need to do to get it right, chop, change, and improve until it becomes yet another of our very large repertoire.

It improves and evolves over time.
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Old 11-22-2018, 06:34 PM
GerryTB GerryTB is offline
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I get infatuated with a new song and play it to death (my poor wife hasn’t shot me yet), along with other recent infatuations. Some songs I can learn quickly and others I’ve been working on for years. Some songs are simple and I learn them because I want to hear them. Others I learn not only because I like them, but because I know they’ll teach me something I don’t already know. I don’t perform in public as a guitar player / singer (most of my gigs are on electric bass) but I have 40-50 songs that I COULD play out right now should the occasion arise. I’ve got about 200+ more that I could whip into shape in an hour or so ( I was infatuated with those previously so it’s just a matter of knocking the rust off).

I practice something for minutes or hours ... as long as it’s fun, and then move along to something else that I’m in the mood for. Since I’m not learning these for a
band I have no reason to learn songs I don’t love.
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