Groundhog practice

A few years ago I decided to try my hand at playing classical guitar. I'd been to see John Williams play a concert in Bradford-upon-Avon and I was spellbound for 90 minutes, sitting 10 metres away. When he played Asturias by Albeniz and Koyunbaba by Domeniconi, I don't remember breathing or blinking.

So, completely inspired, I set about teaching myself some technique and soon got stuck into some well know tunes.  My favourite was the Gavotte from Bach's 4th Lute Suite.  There were some tricky things to overcome but it went well until the 3rd section - there was a 3-bar sequence that I just couldn't get. My little finger just wouldn't play.

So I went back to the start, playing slowly and trying to add the new section, again and again. Slowly the speed and fluidity built up but every time I hit that section things fell apart.  Everyday was the same, the first two sections sounded great but when I hit the 3rd section it sounded like a cartoon bicycle crash! So I decided to put it to one side for a while and come back to it.

When I did come back to it, I had to brush up the first two sections again, and then I was ready to crack the 3rd section.  So it started again, there was a little improvement but it still sounded weak. This was getting like Groundhog Day.  Eventually, I compromised (also known as quitting) and ended up repeating the first two sections and half of section 4 to at least have a piece to play out of all the work I had put in. 

Does this ring any bells? Ever had a tune where you get to a tricky part of the solo and you end up playing something similar but simpler, because you just cannot get it under your fingers?  You go back to the start and try again and again. Yet, you can play the rest of it brilliantly.  If so, you may have doing Groundhog Practice.

Years later, it struck me that in all the time I had worked on the Gavotte, I had spent more than twice as much time on sections 1 and 2 than on tricky section 3.  Going back to start each time I screwed up meant this was inevitable. So it was no surprise that they sounded better.   This is a recipe for having a repertoire of incomplete tunes.

So here's the lessons I learned about practice and learning new tunes:

1. Don't start at the beginning and try to learn new tunes in order.

Play roughly through a new piece and find the bits you CANNOT do.  It is fun to play the parts you can, but that is NOT practice - it is fun. Play those parts anytime but not in your practice time.  The tune will only be as good as the weakest passages so find the parts you cannot play NOT the parts you can.

2. Practice the most difficult parts over and over, in smaller and smaller chunks.

Even if it is one bar.  Doing this in 2 or 3 minute bursts alongside other practice (scales etc) will help stop you from getting bored.  Put it at the end of your warm up.  Don't spend hours and hours on it.  Believe it or not, that can actually cement the mistakes in your playing.  Short-bursts are best. Once you have the tricky section mastered, you can look at the transitions in and out of it, and go back to practicing the whole tune.

It's not groundhog day, so don't do groundhog practice.