What is THE biggest timesink in regards to your practice time on the Stick? After you have dealt with all of the things that life throws in the way, and you finally have an hour to spare, what chews up that hour the fastest? And what are your solutions to whatever the issue is?

For me, it was about getting everything in line with what I already know, and making it so that everything I do is relative. Simplifying things so that I could "fill in the blanks" and advance it as I myself advance...

So yeah, I am curious what's frustrating y'all...

For me I can learn a tune quick. (A day or two) Polishing is what I spend a lot of time on.( weeks) Trying to get the piece to flow seamlessly and naturally. Also lately been focusing on using Melodics to hone my finger drumming skills. This is hopefully going to help with hand independence and so far I’m noticing split hand stuff becoming slightly easier. Melodics is addictive but so is playing Stick. I’ll loop a measure and play it for half an hour straight A’s well to get the fingers to memorize the pattern do I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. It almost becomes meditative I never find laying frustrating. Only wish the process was faster so o can learn more tunes. I have a solo Stick gig at a street fest in mid September so will be focusing on my set list and making sure I remember what I did on each tune. I forget half the stuff I do which is why I record video and post. That way I can watch what I did. Usually my muscle memory kicks in and I remember again.

Looking forward to hearing other people’s responces to this. Good post

If I sink about it (ha ha), it’s the 15 songs a day I have to play each day. 75 songs divided in 5 practice playlists, one playlist a day from monday to friday EVERY WEEK and all year long. That’s what it takes to remember all the chords, words and arrangements. Then there’s the week-end to go gigging and/or learn new songs. No picnic. But a nice way to train one’s memory.

Probably polishing arrangements

I spend a lot of time dialing in the perfect tone. When I find it, I can play for hours at a time. The most recent event was last night with my used Railboard. I could never get the tone to sound as good as my vintage stick. I've read that using phantom power is the answer, but the LED never illuminated on my Railboard. I was using the proper XLR Y-Cable and still no LED. The sound was horrible and kept cutting out. I turned out the lights and suddenly I saw the LED flash at me a few times. I wiggled the input connection and the LED flashed a few more times. I dismantled the pickup module and discovered that one lead from the LED was broken and the other was wobbling around on the circuit board. I made the necessary repairs and suddenly my phantom power Railboard is working properly now. It does have a much better tone on phantom power. I still prefer the vintage stick as far as tone goes. I spend a lot of time dialing in all of my instruments. I create my own custom string sets and I can even tell the difference between different cables. I like high quality microphone cables the best.

Rob - It took me quite a while to get to a point where I could learn a tune pretty quickly, but now that I have it, getting a new tune down isn't too big of a deal, not too time consuming.

Olivier - I really dig what you do, man! Kind of what I want to do, actually...

For me, the biggest time-sink now is projects like memorizing the Bach 2 part inventions, haha takes forever, but very rewarding!

Not the kitchen sink, but the Stephen Sink...

My biggest Stick Happy-TIme Fun-wasters are tuning, and then futzing with the truss rod. Both are things getting in the way of just rocking out. I can never get the stupid truss rod up on the nut at first either.

And then my stupid right hand pinky is weak, and can't keep up with the left hand. That slows me down. I think: well, I can do it with three fingers in the right hand if I just adjust my patterns, and then the wave of self loathing for not using that weak pinky hits me, and the left-hand pinky says "What up, bro? Do you even lift?" and then more shaming. And so I keep working at the pinky.

I also waste time plugging the darn things in and adjusting levels and knobs. Which is why I play my Sticks acoustically an awful lot. Just pick up a Stick and work on that pinky exercise (again) while watching the news. Don't worry about any knobs or levels.

My other time waster used to be effects, but now I record DI and clean, and add most effects later. Nothing gets in the way of laying down a track--except the need for video. That's another big time waster. I hate to record stuff into the DAW and then say "Man, I should have recorded myself on video," and then I waste hours and hours trying to sync up another performance with the first one. If I just had video recording every time I hit record on Pro Tools, that would save me a lot of time and hassle after and before the fact of rocking it out.

And then keyboards--I waste time playing keys instead of Sticking with it when it gets difficult or frustrating.

Lots of time wasters, and then the making fractals keeps me from the Sticking too, and then there's video games and superhero TV shows...

Excellence in anything equals time spent on it, but time wasted is time wasted. So, I'd love to spend more time, and more efficient time, on my Sticking, and I've been trying to get the time in.

--Sink in Sync, time sinking

A thought or two; Well, there IS that 3 finger/hand movement approach that Greg champions...

Although I use 4 fingers, and believe that if the digit is there it should get put to work, 3 fingers and hand movement has a lot of advantages... But there are times when that pinky is kind of necessary on both hands for what I want to do, so I have to keep him in the game, so to speak.
Like guitar or piano I suppose...
But, the Stick is not a guitar, nor is it a piano.
LH and RH activate different muscles purely based on the positioning - LH is in a regular "curl" (Y'know, like curling a barbell) type position, whereas the RH is in a "reverse" curl type position. Different muscles will be activated/utilized for strength/balance and even tactile activities - I mean, heck, just try to slap one string with all 4 fingers and you will see that the pinky "misses" by almost an inch, whereas the first 3 fingers pretty much have even access. Yes, one can move one's hand to make it so that the pinky 'also' gains access, but at what price?

For 3 note per string scales, the fingering is always the same. That is a 3-1 ratio that drastically shortens the learning curve...Dynamically, the pinky can't get the same impact as the other 3 fingers. I have recorded it, and even after extensive practice there is a noticeable volume drop on the notes where the pinky is used... The hand movement portion is a pretty important component. Try repeated notes using the RH pinky and 3rd finger and you'll hear what I mean...

Now, I am not "for" or "against" either approach, I'm just saying that from a neutral standpoint, and an attitude of trying to find what works best for me this is what I have found so far... I use what works best for what I want to do, and when I practice something I am pretty hardcore - I do not like wasting time on things that are ungainly... (As applies to me )

I am currently doing a sort of experiment to see which approach works better for a certain result in a certain situation, 4 fingers or 3. Hand movement is pretty critical no matter what from what I have found... maybe I'll post my findings... Nahh Greg has already shared a wealth of info on this topic...

Where my right hand is concerned, I can definitely hear a difference in the volume between using it and not using it. But NOT with my left. My thumb and pinky are my main left hand workers when using piano, and that pinky is as strong as any finger. The right hand is noticeably weaker.

I completely and enthusiastically agree with everything that you and Greg have said about 3-finger scales and lots of hand movement. But using the pinky makes my left hand ever more efficient, especially for that minor third leap from tonic when playing blues. Sure, I can hit it next string up and over instead of same string reaching way down, but I like to play the blues in a nice little box.

And since I have a left-hand pinky, why can't I have a right-hand pinky? But I tried not using it all for a couple of days and learned to compensate. I'll keep playing with it and hoping I can still work it in. I'm not at all happy about not using the thumbs, either, which the LinnStrument shows me is extremely useful and valuable for making chord shapes. Enough that I've been tempted to go back to playing Sticks horizontally across my lap just to get the thumbs out from behind. Or use my stand more and mount it so I don't have to hold it.

And I just spent 2 hours last night futzing with the stupid truss rods of the Rosewood and the Railboard. Both had dead spots and buzzes and bows and curves that had to be cranked out. I can never do it as easily as I suspect everyone else seems to be able to, but I do eventually get there and get the board flat. The NS/Stick has not had its truss or anything else adjusted in 18 months now! Tune it up (and it stays in tune well) and go!

But it's a blast when everything (finally) gets all smooth and Happy Tappy. I'm all adjusted and tuned and strings changed and ready to rock it out!

lol I wanna clarify, I am in no way suggesting that anybody should do anything any way or the other in regards to technique -

Without a doubt, Steve! My LH too, is far and away stronger and more tactile than my RH - but there could be a few reasons for that! Position, physiology, etc etc

And yep, I too would like to make the best use all of my thumbs and fingers - but sometimes I catch myself wondering if one approach might be better than others in certain instances...