7 hours a day.

A place where discuss about secrets, tips and suggestions for practicing on congas and to improve your skill and technique ...

Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby Anonimo » Wed May 19, 2010 3:20 pm

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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby RitmoBoricua » Wed May 19, 2010 4:14 pm

I do not think practicing hours on end daily is feasible for most, no way Jose. Young cats, school age, yes they probably have the time to practice for hours every day. But one time you become an adult get married, have kids, a job, responsibilities etc it will be real hard to practice for hours every day. Even some professional drummers have to have a day job to make ends meet around here where I live; and I am quite sure they do not have the time to practice for hours every day. Now if you are one of the few fortunate ones that do not have to have a day job , stay home and have the time to do it more power to you.
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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby joaozinho » Wed May 19, 2010 8:38 pm

niallgregory wrote:
joaozinho wrote:
leedy2 wrote:45 min a day is good practice on any instrument excessive practice just going to hurt hands.


45m is good to warm your hands and skin.My opinion is that for a professional level you need 5 to 8 hours everyday,of cours if you're not a professional and have to hearn your live in another way its more complicated,but to see some improve less then 2hours day is not enough.


Bit of a catch 22 thing here .I make a living from drumming , sometimes a good living sometimes a pretty crap one .But i would find it almost impossible to put anywhere near 5 hours a day into the drum . Even if you are on tour its next to impossible to play that length of time .The newer practice congas have made life easier as you can have one with you almost all the time . I admire and envy anyone who puts in thoses kind of hours all the time !


I think that motivation and discipline are the key!sometimes you have to strugle to find time to play,but if you love what you do you going to find it!!
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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby tigre77 » Wed May 19, 2010 10:58 pm

bongosnotbombs wrote:I was talking with a pianist I play with the other day and he mentioned something one of his old teachers said regarding practice time.
It went something like this
"If you only practice three hours a day, your going to get worse, if you do 5 hours a day you wil get a little better, to really get good and improve you need to 7 hours a day."


Sounds pretty extreme to me, it reminds me of something I read about tabla playing, a ritual called the chilla katna, where the musician isolates themselves and practice for 10-12 hours a day for 40 days.

In regards to congas, no way could I practice 7 hours straight, the most I've pulled of was 3 hours consecutively. But I think I've played/practiced 5 hours spread out throughout the day. Never 7 though.


Good points all around but bongos...that is some stoic $hit. Are you sure that wasn't the dude communicating his practice rituals as an FYI and not laying it down as if it was law? Take it for what its worth but your instincts will tell you how long you practice for. Without instincts you cannot harness your potential whether you are a pro musician, an accountant, an engineer, a doctor, a plumber...you ain't on top of your game if you cannot listen to your instincts. Nevertheless, I bet the dude that told you that is a very good piano player no?
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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby Mike » Thu May 20, 2010 3:58 am

RitmoBoricua wrote:I do not think practicing hours on end daily is feasible for most, no way Jose. Young cats, school age, yes they probably have the time to practice for hours every day. But one time you become an adult get married, have kids, a job, responsibilities etc it will be real hard to practice for hours every day. Even some professional drummers have to have a day job to make ends meet around here where I live; and I am quite sure they do not have the time to practice for hours every day. Now if you are one of the few fortunate ones that do not have to have a day job , stay home and have the time to do it more power to you.


As a non-professional player I would like to emphasize RitmoBoricua´s point of view,
It hits the nail right on the head, there are really other things to worry about than practising
for hours, like the ones that are mentioned.
Peace & drum
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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby OLSONGO » Thu May 20, 2010 5:24 am

In total agreement with Ritmoboricua, when tending to your other responsibilities as he mentioned it is very difficult to put those kind of hours, now days it seems i spend most of the mornings on practicing, if not recovering from the gig the night before. And the afternoon the usual stuff, go with the wife here and there, go to the bank, socialize with some friends etc. Some evening if not gigging... the occasional practice to learn new material or in the studio recording or listening over and over to what was recorded, so realistically 4 to 5 hours tops... practicing and not every day either. But if you are free of the above mentioned side responsibilities more power to you . Also, sometimes you spend more time traveling getting from gig to gig , then you do on the stage or practicing.

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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby joaozinho » Thu May 20, 2010 9:59 pm

I agree wih you 200% these new commers will learn experance with time . Let them bust there hands they will learn the hard way[/quote]

Like so many others I have a daily job,wife and others responsabilities;and I never said that I play 8 hours a day,the best I cant do i'ts 3hours a day and whit lot of efort and organization.Like you said leady I'm a new coomer,worst,I'm a late begginer,so time is not on my side,i have to practice the must I cant to improve,and there are so many thinks to learn,so many rhitmns,so many styles,the Afro-cuban folclore is so rich and diverse,not to mentioned others instruments like bongos,timbales,cajones,bells,and of course the lirics,the dance,the language.We not talking about 45m,we talking about 45 YEARS!!!!
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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby Anonimo » Fri May 21, 2010 10:23 am

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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby jorge » Fri May 21, 2010 1:54 pm

Leedy2 is right, keeping your focus and sticking to one instrument will allow you to progress much faster with less practice time per day. By the way 45 minutes a day for a year would be 274 hours in a year, not 14,175 hours. While you can learn a lot in 274 hours of concentrated playing, if you know what to listen to, what to practice, and you do it methodically, it is unrealistic to expect that starting later in life you will get to the same point as someone who started when they were 5 or 10 or even 15. Many of us are handicapped by having started in our late teens, 20s or later, and we should be humble enough to recognize that when we set our goals of how good we want to become.
All that said, if you want to be a true master of your instrument and create new styles that change the way people play (eg, Tata, Anga, Giovanni), you need to start with serious talent, and then you really do need to start as a child and practice / play many hours a day for many many years. Unfortunately, that usually does not leave enough time for family, a reasonable lifestyle, other interests, relaxation, etc, and you will need to dedicate your life to the drum. So it all depends on your goals.
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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby RitmoBoricua » Fri May 21, 2010 3:04 pm

... and not everybody that begins to play as a child and practice hours on end will become the next Tito Puente or Giovanni Hidalgo that's for sure but that does not mean that one cannot become a solid and proficient player. No doubt that there is an advantage when you learn to play as a child your brain is like a dry sponge soaking-up water. No doubt also that when you are trying to be "numero 1" or the best at something sacrifices got to be made which most of the time leads to a very unbalanced overall life. For somebody like me a regular Joe Hobbyist with a day job, family, responsibilities and many other interest in life beside percussion 45 minutes of practice is about right.
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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby Anonimo » Fri May 21, 2010 4:26 pm

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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby Anonimo » Fri May 21, 2010 4:28 pm

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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby jorge » Fri May 21, 2010 4:54 pm

Sorry about that, yeah, you did write minutes not hours and I misread it. Still not a lot of time to become a master of an instrument, but it will help you keep what you have already and maybe pick up a couple new things every week or so. Playing regularly with drummers you know well who have good timing and play in clave is very important too, and it is not hard to put in 3 or 4 quality hours in a day at a good rumba.
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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby Anonimo » Fri May 21, 2010 5:05 pm

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Re: 7 hours a day.

Postby Tone » Sat May 22, 2010 1:03 pm

Lets not kid ourselves to be a really good player you need to put an incredible amount of hours in.
I know amazing players who have never practised one hour in their life, because they were born in the tradition and played and heard the music all their life. The technique somehow came along and the knowledge was absorbed.
Now the drawback of this is , generally, those people have the greatest difficulty learning even the simplest things outside their tradition.
But any how the hours were put in.
Even though I started playing music form age 11 and have been professionally involved with music only all my life ( I have been a composer, producer, jazz guitarist, drum and bass DJ, A&R, label boss, studio owner, keyboardist, sound engineer, ..), I only came seriously to the percussion at the venerable age of 40!(that was seven years ago) Neddless to say I won't be the next Giovanni.
I have been putting in my 4 hours a day and lately more like seven mostly on the conga/atabaque and pandeiro and then the whole Brazilian samba paraphernalia.( with a wife and two very small children!)
Playing 10 hours with proper technique is not difficult ( tonight I will playing in the Candomble from about 11 pm to 7 in the morning with pauses) but it is not necessarely the most productive. I end up playing for hours beacause I enjoy it.
To really learn something I think it is best to do ten minutes move on or take a break and then come back to it many many times. I find that after the break tremendous progress has been made, if I go straight at it the brain kind of freezes and won't go further.
My pandeiro teacher's advice is to always have your instrument handy (easier in the case of the pandeiro) and play it in bouts of 5 minutes all day long. Best to be single for that one!
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