Practice Journal

dean111music · September 2023

Hi Guys,

1. Do you use a practice journal?

2. What are the "must have" sections eg... day by day note taking, weekly goals etc

3. What do you "wish" they could have?

4. Is there any you would recommend buying?

DefaultM · September 2023

'Monday - Sat guitar on lap and browsed Andertons website for 5 hours'

ScreamingDave · September 2023

Mon, sat with guitar on lap watching stuff on Prime. Played same bit of same song 27 times.

Reckoned that was enough for today. Bloody good practice

Yorkie · September 2023

What purpose does a practice journal serve?

hollywoodrox · September 2023

Yorkie said:

What purpose does a practice journal serve?

Progress in ability to play something ,say when you first learn it you can manage it at 60% speed & you practice each day and can see the progress you made to get it up to 100% etc

best solid speed ,best sloppy speed any notes on where you had a sudden epiphany and angled your finger/hand/pick differently etc which made all the difference etc

a record of your progress

hollywoodrox · September 2023

I’ve often used them it’s a useful aid to chart your progress on what you are practicing,how long you spent on it etc what speed to start at next day any hints on revelations you had from making small changes .

I used cheap diaries but in the end used a large a4 pad & filled day /date out each session
Also nice to keep a tally of consecutive days practice to spur you on and not be tempted to miss a day.

it can be done on an iPad too or a phone I guess . There’s an app called andante and the free version has enough features implemented to make it useable without upgrading .

Offset · September 2023

Today: Sat in my man cave doing my day job. Cast my eye along the line of racked guitars every now and then. Smiled appreciatively. Took the dust-cover off my pedal board and looked at my pedals. Smiled appreciatively. Got bored in a conference call and unzipped my (unused) gig bag and took out all my guitar straps and cables to admire. Smiled appreciatively.

This evening: Shut the laptop lid. Poured a glass of wine. Picked up my Strat and played Red House for the gazillionth time. Smiled smugly. Replaced Strat in rack. Had another glass of wine. Picked up my Tele and played some country-tinged bollocks. Frowned as the realisation I wasn't very good sunk in. Had another glass of wine. Felt a bit pissed. Decided to call it a day until tomorrow.

Total practice: 10 minutes. Stuff learned and technique gained: Zero. Satisfaction gleaned from day's efforts: 100%.

Roll on tomorrow.

Bennyboy-UK · September 2023

I actually have been doing this for the last 18 months since working with a fab teacher.

I use a page per day diary in A4.

What I do is when I practice I write out exactly the exercise I do and for how long (I work in 5 mins of work per exercise) and at what tempo from the click.

Whats the purpose, well for one I know and document my exercises, and also can look back and see how I have progressed with developing and improving per specific exercise.

That’s very important because otherwise you can feel like you aren’t achieving anything. But it’s there in black and white.

Also it help with motivation because the idea is not to have a day in the diary with no entry on there.

I’ll attach a couple of shots to show what I mean and show some examples.

I'm serious about improving my playing and this is way for me to document what I’m doing and show myself my improvement visually, and keep me working on proper practice.

BTW - I also do my share of noodling, but for technical practice I’m quite serious about it
and measure the results and improvement.

Roland · September 2023

1. Do you use a practice journal? Sort of

2. What are the "must have" sections. List of things (songs and techniques) I want to learn

3. What do you "wish" they could have?

4. Is there any you would recommend buying? A spring bound notebook to put on your music stand, and a copy of musescore for your PC so you can transcribe songs/riffs/solos etc.

duotone · September 2023

I bought a Lined Clairefontaine A5 size notebook (https://cultpens.com/products/clairefontaine-age-bag-threadbound-notebook-a5?variant=43642853392627) & have a list on the back pages of stuff I want to learn & I tick them off as I learn them.

In the Contents pages at the front I write what I have added to which page No. So years down the line I will hopefully be able to find what I’m looking for.

Music I have printed or hand written out on manuscript paper gets prittsticked into the notebook, so that it is flat to write on other pages. I never use staples in the notebook.

Sassafras · September 2023

I used to use a portastudio.
More useful than a journal. You can compare your progress by the magic of ears.

CoffeeAndTV · September 2023

Not written down, I have usually one or two long term goals that I’m working on and some other short term areas that need improving.

There’s not enough to write down and I don’t feel the need to either. One goal is usually musical, as in some chord extensions I’m working on and others are purely technical, this past year I worked on the 80s/90s Paul Gilbert articles in guitar player with a view to getting them up to the speed written down and where possible to exceed that tempo.

Yorkie · September 2023

I think the closest to a journal I have ever used was the TC Wiretap pedal. The idea was great but without a cab sim I found myself not wanting to listen to the recordings.

57Deluxe · September 2023

I have moved away from just 'playing' to forming song structures

roberty · September 2023

I sort of did for a bit. No idea if it helped. Sorry

Supportact · September 2023

I've never bought a specific product, but I do have a notepad where i note down things I'm working on. I keep a list and brief notes about the piece or exercise I'm doing. It's not very regimented but it helps me to remember what I'm doing.

26.2 · September 2023

No journal. I just need to know the parts I need to play for the next gig. I do work on additional stuff to try and add new ideas, but it’s just ‘as and when’. No structured plan, because I don’t find that rewarding.

stufisher · September 2023

I've forgotten how to write and I rarely use my laptop any more do typing is anathema too.

That leaves my touchscreen phone for all comms and notes but as I'm using it to play backing music via a pre-amp into my amp, I've no hands left.

Besides, now I'm retired I can't remember anything anyway so I may actually use a journal but I've forgotten

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