Practice Aids/Rigs

[PhoBucket]

I've been heads down with the Harpejji for about a month now, and I'm finding that having a convenient set up ready to go with all the things I need to practice makes a big difference. I hate spending 30 minutes getting things set up when I only have an hour or so to practice (approx 5-6AM). Unfortunately, I don't have a room dedicated to solely to music yet, and with a young family and 2 boisterous dogs I can't usually leave everything set up.

Anywho, I picked up a Pod X3 Live and suddenly my set up time is much less.

Harpejji & iPod --> Pod X3 Live --> Headphones.

I've loaded Aebersolds and drum loops into my iPod, and I have a music stand that holds whatever books I'm working through. Also, the Pod can plug straight into my laptop via USB, so I don't even have to plug in an audio interface if I want to record.

What is your practice set up like? Is there anything that you think makes your time more productive, or even any favorite book you are working through?

[lord_avon]

My planned setup will be two fold.

1. A simple 2 channel battery preamp (Being Built) -> Boss Micro BR (which has built in drum machine) -> headphones. For when I travel or need to practice without disturbing people.

2. Main Rig, Custom switcher box (Being Built) -> custom preamp & EQ (Being Built) -> Alesis dual compressor -> Some kind of multi effects (Quadraverb looking favourite so far) -> Starsfield stereo valve power amp -> Pair of Ashdown 210T Deep cabs

The main rig lives in an 10U gator flight case, sits on top of one of the cabs. It also has a 5 way Mains distribution block bolted int the rear. So I just have to plug in, one mains cable, two speaker cabs and my megatar. It's NOT very portable though, the Starsfield valve amp weighes a tonne!!!

[Tom Drinkwater]

Leaving gear set up is extremely important for me. I have a little recording setup in a guest bedroom and I leave all of my guitars that I am using in that room as well and the rest is stored in my wifes attic photo studio. I have a pretty good sized house, two kids and 5 cats but I can still leave my drum pad and casio keyboard set up down in the dining room with a practice amp and guitar for convenience. I definitely wouldn't be able to have a harpejji or kelstone set up where my kids or cats could get to it. I don't care if the kids play the drums or keyboard or tweak the knobs on the practice amp. I would have a heart attack if they messed up the tappers.

As far as practice aids go I think the best and most convenient thing in the world are my acoustic guitars. If it wasn't for those I wouldn't play half as much as I do now. I can practice pretty much any technique and hear it just fine. For tap practicing I don't really need amplification because I am just keeping the fingers loose. If I were practicing as a performing musician I would definitely be practicing on the Megatar through a pod or something similar. That is the big difference here, I don't perform and rarely record so I just try not to loose the chops I have.

I find that I am the most motivated to play music around my family, particularly my kids. They love the guitar and keyboard and I don't mind them messing with me while I play. My kids and my 1.5 year old neice are great people to play for because if you can keep a beat going they dance. If you loose the beat they stop and look at you like you're an idiot. It's the best becuase you can only be so honest with yourself while practicing. Kids are very honest!! They are like, "Oh dad, you lost the beat again!!! And you're fat. And what is with that annoying thing you do with the slide?"

Another great practice aid is the radio or television. I don't actually do the cable TV thing and haven't for years. We have a TV and dvd player and watch movies and kids shows like JoJo's circus, 321 Penguins and others. Playing along to the TV and radio is awesome. When I first learned how to play and only one of my friends was getting lessons the rest of us would try to play songs by ear. One of my friends, now my brother in law, learned every single song from the first 6 Metallica albums before he was 16 years just from listening to them and jamming along. That is better than any book. I was never that motivated. Speaking of practice aids, having a jamming partner is great. When I used to play with my brother in law we would shoot ideas back and forth and really push each other. I taught him how to sweep pick and he taught me how to play rhythm guitar, well he tried to teach me.

[PhoBucket]

Leaving gear set up is extremely important for me. I have a little recording setup in a guest bedroom and I leave all of my guitars that I am using in that room as well and the rest is stored in my wifes attic photo studio. I have a pretty good sized house, two kids and 5 cats but I can still leave my drum pad and casio keyboard set up down in the dining room with a practice amp and guitar for convenience. I definitely wouldn't be able to have a harpejji or kelstone set up where my kids or cats could get to it. I don't care if the kids play the drums or keyboard or tweak the knobs on the practice amp. I would have a heart attack if they messed up the tappers.


I actually have my gear set up in the guest bedroom too. This has changed since my original post when the harpejji was in the living room. Now I do leave my harpejji set up, albeit parallel to the wall. I slide it out a few inches when I want to play it. I have also spent some time with my son teaching him to only tap on the fretted part, which he remembers most of the time. However, I am going to make a dust cover for it. Fortunately, my dogs have no interest, so I haven't had to teach them where to tap the harpejji. I might change my tune when I have a 1yo scampering around the house again, but by then I should have a dedicated music room in the basement. My upright is a greater concern than the tappers just because it is much more fragile. That stays in its case.

[Tom Drinkwater]

I do the same with my Cello. It is actually my mother in laws cello but I am responsible for it and would hate to damage it. Beautiful instrument and lot's of $$$$. That may be the only instrument in the house that the kids don't touch at all. They can even play my wifes harps and Triton but the cello is off limits.

[jamsire]

Leaving gear set up is extremely important for me. I have a little recording setup in a guest bedroom and I leave all of my guitars that I am using in that room as well and the rest is stored in my wifes attic photo studio. I have a pretty good sized house, two kids and 5 cats but I can still leave my drum pad and casio keyboard set up down in the dining room with a practice amp and guitar for convenience. I definitely wouldn't be able to have a harpejji or kelstone set up where my kids or cats could get to it. I don't care if the kids play the drums or keyboard or tweak the knobs on the practice amp. I would have a heart attack if they messed up the tappers.

As far as practice aids go I think the best and most convenient thing in the world are my acoustic guitars. If it wasn't for those I wouldn't play half as much as I do now. I can practice pretty much any technique and hear it just fine. For tap practicing I don't really need amplification because I am just keeping the fingers loose. If I were practicing as a performing musician I would definitely be practicing on the Megatar through a pod or something similar. That is the big difference here, I don't perform and rarely record so I just try not to loose the chops I have.

I find that I am the most motivated to play music around my family, particularly my kids. They love the guitar and keyboard and I don't mind them messing with me while I play. My kids and my 1.5 year old neice are great people to play for because if you can keep a beat going they dance. If you loose the beat they stop and look at you like you're an idiot. It's the best becuase you can only be so honest with yourself while practicing. Kids are very honest!! They are like, "Oh dad, you lost the beat again!!! And you're fat. And what is with that annoying thing you do with the slide?"

Another great practice aid is the radio or television. I don't actually do the cable TV thing and haven't for years. We have a TV and dvd player and watch movies and kids shows like JoJo's circus, 321 Penguins and others. Playing along to the TV and radio is awesome. When I first learned how to play and only one of my friends was getting lessons the rest of us would try to play songs by ear. One of my friends, now my brother in law, learned every single song from the first 6 Metallica albums before he was 16 years just from listening to them and jamming along. That is better than any book. I was never that motivated. Speaking of practice aids, having a jamming partner is great. When I used to play with my brother in law we would shoot ideas back and forth and really push each other. I taught him how to sweep pick and he taught me how to play rhythm guitar, well he tried to teach me.

Everything Tom says is LAW! And True.

[GaryOpenhill]

Had some similar problems not having enough space and kids liked to pull on the strings until they snapped, spill stuff on the fret board and cats liked to sharpen theyr claws on the amp. I bought a deep closet at IKEA and put it in the bedroom and it got room for the amp, two tappers ready on their stands, the pocketpod and the headphones, all cables connected to one power switch and shelves for tools and stuff. I also used to have a mixer and some effect boxes in there, but i sold them. All i have to do is to open the doors wide upon and turn on the switch and play. I probably could have a ready to play harpejji in there too. Im so smrt. I mean smart.

[Tom Drinkwater]

My Behringer keyboard amp was the scratching post for too long until I relocated it to my shop. Little buggers.

[GaryOpenhill]

My Behringer keyboard amp was the scratching post for too long until I relocated it to my shop. Little buggers.

WHy they dont make amps with cat repellant is beyond me!

[Jim_D]

I plug my megatar into a Behringer BDI21 for the bass side and GDI21 for the melody side. These are cheap amp modellers that sound very nice. These go into a small mixer that goes into my PC.

I have various drum and accompaniament stuff on the PC, and I record it all using my soundcard's stereo mix option which just grabs everything to a live WAV file.

I find listening back to recordings very helpful; it both confirms that I can play a tapping instrument and also that I need to practise more!