Mike Zito on practice

Greatape

"A question I get a lot as a guitarist is “do you still practice?”

The answer is yes, as much as possible.  People seem a little stunned for some odd reason. I guess they maybe think I’m good enough so why I would I need to practice anymore.

But in reality, I’m never good enough.

I don’t mean that I’m disappointed with my playing or performance all the time, I just mean that I know I can do better and that reaching higher is what drives me to continue to be inspired.

So what is “practice”?

Well, there’s “warming up” and there’s “practice” and they are not quite the same thing.

I need to warm up everyday. 

It’s like going to the gym everyday to stay in shape or being a professional athlete. You don’t just hit the field and start playing, you stretch and run and throw the ball around to get loose.

Warming up consists of me and a metronome for maybe 10-30 mins a day, depending on what kind of time I am allowed in my schedule.

I just play some very chromatic exercises in time slowly up and down the neck. Then I do the same pattern but in a triplet feel against the same bpm. I sit and just pick one string for minutes at a time to loosen up my wrist. I have a whole routine of exercises to “stay in shape”.

That’s not “practice”, that’s just exercising, warming up.

“Practice” for me is to try and learn something new on the guitar. I might learn a new chord that I want to use or a cool lick. So I practice being able to incorporate the chord or notes into my playing. Or if I really have time, I pull up a tune I’ve been wanting to try and learn to play and work it out. 

This is usually something like a Kenny Burrell instrumental song on guitar or maybe some guitar runs by John Scofield or Larry Carlton. Sometimes I go the opposite and look up a crazy fast 80’s shred lesson on YouTube to test my skills. It’s all for fun and maybe I’ll get lucky and find a way to add something new to my playing.

If I had more time, I would take lessons or classes to learn more.

I’m so fortunate to be around some of the greatest guitarists alive today. I always take advantage of the situation and ask them to show me something. Show me a cool chord voicing or a hot lick. Even if it’s just backstage at a festival or event, I try to sneak something in from the other players while we’re hanging out.

There is so much to learn in music and on the guitar that it’s never ending,

that to me is exciting.

I once convinced Anson Funderburgh to give me a guitar lesson on a cruise.

He had told me for days that there wasn’t anything he could teach me, but I was persistent and finally he caved. We sat down and played some Blues to just kinda get started. 

He was quiet and then looked at me and said “You want a guitar lesson?”

Yes I nodded. He said “you don’t use your little pinky finger. You only use three fingers when you got four.

There’s your guitar lesson.”

And that was it. He was right and from the day forward I’ve worked hard to incorporate my 4th digit into my playing and it’s been very helpful.

You never know what you’ll learn from other players. Everyone has something to offer, it’s all in there approach. Approach is everything to me. It’s about walking into a song or a melody and bringing an idea of how you want to play it before you play it.

Not overthinking, just taking a second instead of just jumping in all willy nilly.

Although, I guess “Willy Nilly” is an approach as well…..just not the one I’m comfortable with.

I look forward to practice. I like learning and holding my instrument.

Players that never touch their instrument until they get onstage are weird to me. That’s odd. The thought that “Practice is for beginners” is kinda dumb to me. To me, I need to be ready and willing to perform whatever the situation, song, or inspiration wants me to play. Someone might need to hear something tonight in the audience and I might be the messenger. If I’m not in physical shape to deliver the message, the message is lost. I have a responsibility to the music and the audience to be able to deliver physically, mentally, and spiritually to the best of my ability each night.

This is what I do, not what everyone does and there’s no right or wrong way. I feel best when I’m warmed up and fresh. I need to try to do better than the night before. It keeps me inspired.

Delbert McClinton told me years ago

“You’re only as good as your last performance.”"

guitarjack66

Interesting stuff. You make a good comment about 'holding your instrument)' ooerr missus! ) and I think its a great point as its something I have always thouggt about. I only starter playing less than 3 years ago and the first thing I felt I needed was to become 'comfortable' simply picking up a guitar and holding it. It's a lot like a child learn to use a fork,spoon and knife,which is something I have seen recently with my Grandaughter. Until a child feels comfortable just picking it up and trying to use it,failing a lot at first,it will never become a part of your tools of the trade in the same way cutlery,pens and pencils and so on and will always be that scary thing in the corner or the cupboard. We have to 'fail' before we can succeed but we need to go through this process regularly to retain the muscle memory in the same way we use cutlery and stationary and such instruments.

Greatape

Zito's words, not mine