Frustrated, I sent Jim Black an e-mail in 2006, telling him how I was struggling with motivation. It seemed to me, Jim's lengty response could surely be of help to others as well. My question was more or less this:
Hello Jim Black
(...)
At this point in my life, I never feel satisfied with my practicing. The last 3 years I have been practicing really structured, more than anytime in my life. I just finished a 9-day stay at our hut, in a really isolated village (only ones to speak to are cows), having gotten loads of work done, but I still focus on what I couldn`t do, and obviously a lot of new stuff came up as I went through the list of the Last Essential Things To Master. Most say it`s good, "you always have something to learn and blah blah". Sure, but I can`t stand that thought - just want to wrap up the technical part and let it be. If you have the time, could you give your view on practicing. How did you practice more specific, and also your thoughts in a bigger perspective.
(...)
JIM's REPLY:
Hi Øyvind
Thanks for the mail and the kind words. Obviously there are lots of ways to talk about this but I’ll give you my opinion from my experience as best I can.
I know the feeling you’re having. Of course I used to practice at least 4 hours a day for 2-4 years in and around school (technical exercises, beats, soloing, playing free by myself) which helped a lot but I hit a wall as well after a time. In the past ten years, after not actually practicing in my previous ‘I got to get my stuff together’ way, I have improved at an even faster rate by just having to do gigs and playing in practical musical situations – which kind of surprised me at first because it is the opposite way we are taught to learn how to play.
Reading where you are now after 3 three years of practice, I would recommend you play as much as possible with other people and get those bands recording and working, if you haven’t already done so.
After all, you don’t go on stage and play what you practiced – you have to improvise and play music with others (at least this is what I do...). By “improved” I mean my technique has gotten more accurate, my response time better, my head clearer, and all because I was concentrating on only playing the music on stage with the bands and not thinking about how I was doing it.
There is way to much music one ‘could’ do, and also new music demands new techniques, so we are never able wrap up anything, which is great!
Cutting to the chase, having gigs and bands give you something practical to improve on, to practice for. If you need to play 10,000 notes with your bass drum, you will find a way pretty quick because the music demands it (of course it takes some time maybe but at least it is a small and finite goal to be able to play a song...).
Even if you get “everything” together, it doesn’t mean any it of will make any sense at all when playing with others. I find that you can’t wrap up the technical part without a real time music relationship associated with it, besides the fact that technique is limitless anyway. Only because I had to learn how to play a certain speed or new beat, etc. did it actually happen.
So the technique serves the music, not the other way around. I know it sounds simple and obvious, but I have found it to be very true for myself.
Almost like a “need to play” basis, then you will find the best and fastest route for achieving that one small means to an end.
Hello Jim Black
(...)
At this point in my life, I never feel satisfied with my practicing. The last 3 years I have been practicing really structured, more than anytime in my life. I just finished a 9-day stay at our hut, in a really isolated village (only ones to speak to are cows), having gotten loads of work done, but I still focus on what I couldn`t do, and obviously a lot of new stuff came up as I went through the list of the Last Essential Things To Master. Most say it`s good, "you always have something to learn and blah blah". Sure, but I can`t stand that thought - just want to wrap up the technical part and let it be. If you have the time, could you give your view on practicing. How did you practice more specific, and also your thoughts in a bigger perspective.
(...)
JIM's REPLY:
Hi Øyvind
Thanks for the mail and the kind words. Obviously there are lots of ways to talk about this but I’ll give you my opinion from my experience as best I can.
I know the feeling you’re having. Of course I used to practice at least 4 hours a day for 2-4 years in and around school (technical exercises, beats, soloing, playing free by myself) which helped a lot but I hit a wall as well after a time. In the past ten years, after not actually practicing in my previous ‘I got to get my stuff together’ way, I have improved at an even faster rate by just having to do gigs and playing in practical musical situations – which kind of surprised me at first because it is the opposite way we are taught to learn how to play.
Reading where you are now after 3 three years of practice, I would recommend you play as much as possible with other people and get those bands recording and working, if you haven’t already done so.
After all, you don’t go on stage and play what you practiced – you have to improvise and play music with others (at least this is what I do...). By “improved” I mean my technique has gotten more accurate, my response time better, my head clearer, and all because I was concentrating on only playing the music on stage with the bands and not thinking about how I was doing it.
There is way to much music one ‘could’ do, and also new music demands new techniques, so we are never able wrap up anything, which is great!
Cutting to the chase, having gigs and bands give you something practical to improve on, to practice for. If you need to play 10,000 notes with your bass drum, you will find a way pretty quick because the music demands it (of course it takes some time maybe but at least it is a small and finite goal to be able to play a song...).
Even if you get “everything” together, it doesn’t mean any it of will make any sense at all when playing with others. I find that you can’t wrap up the technical part without a real time music relationship associated with it, besides the fact that technique is limitless anyway. Only because I had to learn how to play a certain speed or new beat, etc. did it actually happen.
So the technique serves the music, not the other way around. I know it sounds simple and obvious, but I have found it to be very true for myself.
Almost like a “need to play” basis, then you will find the best and fastest route for achieving that one small means to an end.