Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:26 pm Post subject: The 80/20 Law, Maximum results with minimum time
The 80/20 Law
- Maximum Results With Minimum Time by Tom Hess www.tomhess.net
Have you ever noticed how some players, who practice less, seem to make more progress than others who practice more? That can be really frustrating for people in the second group! If you are like most guitarists, the following two statements are approximately true (whether you are aware of it or not):
80% of your practice time brings you only about 20% of your total progress.
20% of your practice time brings you only about 80% of your total progress.
No, I didn�t just pull these numbers out of the air. These statements are based on Pareto�s Principle - (The 80/20 Rule). It would be too lengthy to go into detail about the origins and facts behind Pareto�s Principle here, but I strongly recommend reading the full story behind this great principle. Go to: http://about.com/ and then type in Pareto�s Principle in the search box. I�ll just tell you Pareto�s Principle has been proven true in many areas of human life, industries, economies, time management and many other areas of the human existence. It effects us all, not just in music, but in much of what we do and are involved in.
The basic idea, as it applies to guitar playing, is how long you practice is not always as important as what you choose to focus your practice time on. This is not about efficiency or time management. This is about obtaining �maximum effectiveness� with whatever amount of time you can invest into practicing.
Lets say there are two guitar players (we�ll call them John and David), the first player (John) practices 30 minutes a day is making good progress and the other guy (David) practices 90 minutes a day and makes less progress than John. What are the two things you might expect David to say about John?
1. John must be practicing more than I am, so of course he is getting better results.�
2. John must have more natural talent than I do.�
In our example the first statement cannot be true. Although it is possible the second statement could be true in rare cases, it is not as likely as it would seem. David failed to see that John�s better results probably were due to what he focused on and how effective his practicing was.
To be effective you must have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish each practice session, then you must analyze your current skill level in each area you will be practicing. Then you are ready for the Powerful practice of implementing the 80/20 rule to practicing which I state as this:
Any weak area that is preventing your strengths from being used to the fullest potential, is a weakness you must overcome as soon as possible. These weaknesses are part of your important 20% that you should focus on, because overcoming these weaknesses will likely bring you 80% of the total progress you want.
Any weakness that does not interfere with the implementation of your strengths to the fullest potential is usually non-essential. These weak areas are part of your non-essential 80% of what you probably currently focus on (whether you are aware of it or not) that will likely bring you only 20% of the total progress you want.
If you are having a goaway time following this, it probably is because you have not sufficiently researched Pareto�s Principle. Again I urge you to check this out at the link above.
If you change this one approach to your practice time on a consistent basis, your results will massively improve. You can accomplish a lot of positive forward momentum in your playing even if your practice time is limited. But please do not misunderstand me, I am not implying, in any way, that short practice sessions are as good as longer ones, nor that short practice sessions are a substitute for longer periods of serious practice time. What I am saying is �effective short practice sessions� can be very valuable when longer sessions are impossible.
If you already know that tomorrow, you will have only 20 minutes of practice time possible, you might be tempted to just say, �forget it, what can I accomplish in 20 minutes? I�ll wait for the next day when I know I will have an hour to practice. Don�t do this to yourself, because daily consistency is the best fuel for forward momentum. Use that 20 minutes and pack it with practicing on what really matters, don�t sit around and play a bunch of stuff you already know how to do well.
To sign up for Tom�s goaway newsletter which is filled with valuable guitar instructional resources, visit Tom Hess�s web site: http://tomhess.net
Copyright 2006 by Tom Hess. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
See Tom Hess on the HolyHell world tour in 2006. Tour dates posted here: http://tomhess.net/tour.php
Tom made a very good point, 20 minutes a day of focused practice is better than 3 hrs. once a week. Another point is you do not half to have a guitar in your hand to practice. If you are advanced enough to have the mechanics down, you can practice in your brain anytime. This is where knowing basic theory and ear training comes in handy. Many times I'll hear something catchy and remember it. When I go to the gig, I already have dissected the intervals in my head and seen it on the fretboard. Of course, it doesn't work for everything, unless you are an incredible genius, but can be used for a variety of things. _________________ Kingfreeze
Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 303 Location: Richmond bc canada
Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:06 pm Post subject:
Tom needs a new keyboard,and a very informative article I enjoyed it very much hopfully it will help explain to our younger member how important it is to do it everyday instead of once in a while,even for us old goats like myself I try for 30 minutes everyday so my fingers dont forget.louis
hey matt, i've read alot of tom hess' articles, but i can't find that 80/20 thing anywhere, not on the link u gave me either. _________________ greetz gert
Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 102 Location: on the road in Texas
Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:32 am Post subject:
i guess im not so unique afterall,
ive been able to practise without my guitar in my hand for years. knowing the neck , the notes locations ,and the sounds of the note at the different positions . is what its all about
but i agree its tough to learn this aproach unless your extremelly familiar with the neck an sounds. when i was younger i could almost see different notes as colors........ i know that sounds like "rainman"
kinda like hearing the opening notes of something and positively knowing the chords or mentally playing along with the recording
come on, tell me im not the only person who does this !!
am i ? _________________ happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!
It's called "visualization" Fuxton. The more you know the fret board, and ear training and theory, the better you can "visualize" musical ideas. Motives and melodys, riffs ect. ect that are memorized can be broken into pieces and seen on the fretboard without an insturment. The question is, can one know what key it's in, and I'm not talking about open string chords, that takes perfect pitch. But in many cases is not applicable. If you hear a riff you like, visualize how it looks on the fretboard and try it. Riffs are movable, hench no key is needed initially. _________________ Kingfreeze
Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 102 Location: on the road in Texas
Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:36 pm Post subject:
and all this time i thought i was special cause i could see the fretboard and "visualize" what i heard .... now it turns out that others can do it also.
kinda like finding out that the rest of the world shares the secret of invisability and im just finding out about it hahahahahahahaha
guess im not rainman afterall , "yeah about a million"
"bout a million" "they say im a good driver"
"wopners on at three" hahahahahaahhaahhahaahhaahhaahhahahha _________________ happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!
While on this subject. I have known one person in my life that had absolute perfect pitch. I thought I was happening in this field because I can always hear the high E string in my head, so if someone played a pitch, I would compare the interval to the high E and identify the pitch. Once a tire schreeched outside my friends house, and created a pitch, I compared to my pitch and bet him $10 the pitch was Ab(G#), he took the bet and lost. It was an Ab(G#), he had a tuned piano right there. I thought I was happening. Years later, I was on a national tour and the MD was an aquaintance from the theme park I'd worked. A very talented man, pianist, educator, conductor. One night bored back stage, there was a piano sitting there. I told the bass player to play anote, he did, I thought about it and identified the pitch. I was all proud. He played another, the MD immediately identified it. The bassist in rapid sucession started playing notes in different registers on the piano, immediately the MD correctly identified all the notes, everytime. Without thinking about it. We were both floored. The bass and I. I would have to stop and think about each one and compare it to the pitch in my head, the MD KNEW each and every note. He was bored with the goaway after a couple minutes of this. You could not slip him up. That is perfect pitch, and the only time I have witnessed it. His name is Jay Bailey and teaches music @ a college in Indiana now. _________________ Kingfreeze
Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 102 Location: on the road in Texas
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 5:39 pm Post subject:
perfect pitch is a gift...... i also have known musicians who to one form or another could identify a note from just hearing it. im not sure how it exactly works but i can hear E major in my head [rainman again, i guess]
ive known guiatrist who could pick up a telephone and listen to the dialtone for a few seconds, and then tune their A string to that particular frequency.
i worked with a touring act backing motown singers and the guitarist from the group was notorious about doing this . but the funny thing was that when he got to the theater and plugged into the strobe tuner , his guitar was usually right on the goaway. if it was flat it was because the new strings hed just put on werent completely stretched in yet.
not perfect pitch i know, but it still impresses me.....
im not sure if perfect pitch is something your born with or develop after years of work. i know i dont have it..... yet... but im working on developing my ear mind connection.
for me its like haveing a musical photographic memory , i can just recall and hear notes .......... guess im a lucky fellow that way hahahahahaahahaha _________________ happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!
A dial tone "is" A=440. I would say, you are born with it, to say it's a gift implies some sort of intervention, which I would'nt agree with. _________________ Kingfreeze
