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Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

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71–80 of 145 posts

Re: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

#71
The bit about athletic performance for the average, advanced and elite categories is fascinating. I had read about this phenomenon in Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength, and reading it here again makes so much sense.

The title really should be "Practice Alone Doesn't Make Perfect". We all have our own genetic potential, but how much of it we're able to harvest then depends on how we are nurtured and how much we're willing to push ourselves. Makes a lot of sense.

Re: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. I'm a guitarist, and have been for over 30 years. I'm good, but not REALLY good, and I hit a wall in terms of technical ability / speed a long time ago - after about 5 years of playing. Nothing I did improved my speed and I didn't have the accuracy of a Malmsteen or MacAlpine, despite practicing religiously for hours at a time. I thought I had a speed limit and that was that - everyone I consulted felt th…

This is why having a good coach can make all the difference. It does no good practicing the wrong techniques.

It depends. I have a thick skull, even with the best teacher I probably wouldn't "understood" the advices until my own intuition about things was matching them. I took years to learn some stuff, that I could have found in a one afternoon if I asked the right questions. But I couldn't. Now I know that I am capable of finding them, and that I can also communicate to share point of views and ideas. Also, teachers could be wrong too. There's a lot of stuff in my understanding of music that I find no trace of in theory (except for the "swing it" tag on a score).

Re: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

#73

I have my own theory. The idea is that there are lots, lots and lots of tiny unspoken things which could make huge difference in long run. And those who successful doesn't necessary know their own tiny things they got right. Let's say there are two persons A and B who is training in chess. Person A trained for X hours and became chess master. Person B trained for 10X hours and didn't get even close to master level. T…

Absolutely. I'm a guitarist, and have been for over 30 years. I'm good, but not REALLY good, and I hit a wall in terms of technical ability / speed a long time ago - after about 5 years of playing. Nothing I did improved my speed and I didn't have the accuracy of a Malmsteen or MacAlpine, despite practicing religiously for hours at a time. I thought I had a speed limit and that was that - everyone I consulted felt th…

I loved drumming, after 6 years of banging into walls, this was my most precious lesson: be smart in what you do. Practice slow and simple, but deeply and patiently. Everytime I was hitting a wall, it's because I was blinded by my own false assumptions. It was mostly a journey into the self as much as in music (after that I called her the fair bitch).

Re: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

#74

I have my own theory. The idea is that there are lots, lots and lots of tiny unspoken things which could make huge difference in long run. And those who successful doesn't necessary know their own tiny things they got right. Let's say there are two persons A and B who is training in chess. Person A trained for X hours and became chess master. Person B trained for 10X hours and didn't get even close to master level. T…

Absolutely. I'm a guitarist, and have been for over 30 years. I'm good, but not REALLY good, and I hit a wall in terms of technical ability / speed a long time ago - after about 5 years of playing. Nothing I did improved my speed and I didn't have the accuracy of a Malmsteen or MacAlpine, despite practicing religiously for hours at a time. I thought I had a speed limit and that was that - everyone I consulted felt th…

Is this the pick slanting technique you're talking about? http://troygrady.com/2015/01/08/the-difference-between-picks...

Do you remember which video it was that made you "get it"? I'd like to watch it too!

Re: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why having a good coach can make all the difference. It does no good practicing the wrong techniques.

It depends. I have a thick skull, even with the best teacher I probably wouldn't "understood" the advices until my own intuition about things was matching them. I took years to learn some stuff, that I could have found in a one afternoon if I asked the right questions. But I couldn't. Now I know that I am capable of finding them, and that I can also communicate to share point of views and ideas. Also, teachers could…

That is the thing about (good) teachers: they have a lot of pedagogical content knowledge (Fachdidaktik). They know what questions to ask to what student at what time in her learning process. They know what examples, metaphors, strategies, and so on, might work for certain students or situations. They understand the individual nature of a student's learning process and are able to fit their teaching to best guide a student towards deepening their understanding and reaching a learning goal. That is also what makes teaching hard and it is not easily learned or taught either. A teacher not only needs a good understanding of the topic herself, but she also needs expertise teaching the topic, and manage the students and the classroom pedagogically sound to boot.

Re: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

#77
In case you weren't paying attention while reading this otherwise fascinating article ... practice has little positive influence on:

1. Academic achievement,

2. Computer science shyte, and

3. Sales

Fuuuuuuck this. I'm off to the beach.

Re: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

#78

I have my own theory. The idea is that there are lots, lots and lots of tiny unspoken things which could make huge difference in long run. And those who successful doesn't necessary know their own tiny things they got right. Let's say there are two persons A and B who is training in chess. Person A trained for X hours and became chess master. Person B trained for 10X hours and didn't get even close to master level. T…

here are lots, lots and lots of tiny unspoken things which could make huge difference in long run

The technical term for these tiny unspoken things is, I believe, "alleles."

Re: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect

#79

This is a case where I really doubt that the studies referenced in the article were rigorous/well controlled. There are WAY too many talent "hot zones" (small training clubs that produce an extremely inordinate number of champions) for me to be swayed without iron-clad evidence to the contrary. The author talks about being motivated, but I don't think she really understands the scale of motivation. Mozart would typic…

Talent is definitely a thing, morphology of the brain is absolutely relevant. Unfortunately most of us confuse great skill with innate talent, hence these endless articles. There are people out there with whom we simply cannot compete regardless of how much hard work we put in. They have advantages over the rest of us that we won't be able to overcome. Variability of brain structures is even more dramatic than visibl…

"IIRC there are something like 50 different areas of the brain that are continuously being permuted in size with each next generation."

I'd be really interested by a source on that.

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