practicing

[spencer096]

just wondering what some of the practicing methods you all use here.

this is mine:
15-30 mins stretching
15-30 warm up exercises
1 hour learning a new chord arrangement for a jazz standard and figuring out harmony
1 hour transcribing random musics or learning a song
1 hour learning new chords and scales
15-30 mins cool down

[Artist]

throw in a piss the neighbours hour for my work out :P

[Swirly]

I just wrote out a new one as i dont have half the time i wish i had to practice so i have to sort it all out a abit. Cant wait till i finish school and can play all day

10 Minutes warm up

Scale Excersises

15 mins on 4 differnt types of scales or licks to a metronome


Sweeps/Arps

15 mins on basic 6 string patterns

15 mins on basic 5 string patterns

15 mins on 3/4 string patterns

15 mins on contrsucting arps (just started to do this)

Jam/Riffs

I normally have 3 or 4 sections of songs im working on, for example things like Altitudes-Jason Becker (first sweep section) And i play each for about 15 mins, to fill up an hour (ish)



This takes up 3 hours normally. And i pick the guitar up whenever inbetween.

Its actually getting to the point where i onyl play the guitar to get better, rather than anything else driving me on.

Im very unhappy with my techniuqe latly as well, i cant seem to play anything cleanly or complex, and i just thought i was getting faster (working on 3 note per string kinda stuff) when all of a sudden i realise that im making just as many mistakes on the speed im on as one say half the tempo, so im having to right back down and start again yet i dont see any results, its just a day to day process of playing the same stuff but still sucking at it, not getting cleaner or faster or anything

[baileyk85]

I just spend an hour or two over the course of the day working on anything that comes to mind as needing work.

No wonder I suck!

[Swirly]

Ive got my summer holidays comming up soon. And although i wanna chill and go out a lot i want to put some hard hours of playing in, mainly to improve my technique.

Are there any suggestions people can give to my current workout for things like Arps, shred type licks and the like. I dont mind if theres loads of stuff as i plan to play for around 8-10 hours every other day, or somthing like that

[earthman]

pick up a guitar whenever I feel like playing it. :-)

sometimes I don't even pick one up or a few days. didn't play yesterday at all. the day before I was figuring out riffs to "viv woman".

damn sight more enjoyable than spending hours every day working on some technique I'm going to use once or twice over the course of an album.

:-)

I'd much rather throw on some bb king or something and play the blues for an hour.

--c.

[Swirly]

Yeah its always nice just to jam to somthing. But i dont get much enjoyment from just playing a few riffs,and without much technique thats all you can do basically. Which is why im trying to get my tecnique up to scratch this summer so that i can play somthing ill get enjoyment out of.

[davester1234]

I hate regimented practice schedules personally.

I like to do what I want, when I want. The bottom line is, I always LOVE to do what I'm doing that way, and therefore, I'm happy and inspired.

I find my willingness to play goes WAY down when I force a schedule on myself.


Ultimately, If I don't feel like playing one day, I just won't. It usually doesn't happen, but when it does, it does. I like to take practicing as it comes naturally.

That said, when I was young, I'd sit for no less than 6 hours everyday and just play. before school, after school, at lunch time, everything. But I just had an insatiable urge to play, not that I felt I had to do that for this reason or that.

That said, all the more power to ya if a practice schedule works for you.

[baileyk85]

This is all very reassuring to hear. All this talk I always hear about practice shedules and stuff just plain scares me. I couldn't stick to one if my life depended on it.

[DKnight]

I'm from the grab the guitar when you can and turn it up loud so you can drown out the kids and wife wanting you do something else.

I do not have a particular regime. There are things that I like to work on ad make effort to do so but I think that spending 15 minutes on this or that is kinda silly.

Somedays I'll pracitce for 15 minutes, some days will be 6 hours and all other times in between.

Last thing I want is for it to seem like a work out!

[Swirly]

True. But with a workout i think its good at a young age as you can divide what time you have up and work on say 10 differnt things, that way your going to be happier with your playing rather than if you spent all the time just playing random stuff. I mean yeah, jam whenever but if i didnt put myself in the situation where i had to do a practice session i would forogt half the stuff i do and probably not improve

[Ravager]

Right now I pick up my big book of chords, arpeggios, and scales and just work through it. Right now I'm just memorizing the different modes. After that I'm going to follow in Nick Lee's footsteps and do some diminished stuff because it sounds cool as hell.

[Vai the god of Sound]

Haha, you like my augmented tapped arpeggios? :P

[Ancestor]

There were times when I would play 8 or more hours a day, when I was much younger. I think that's probably important, because it gives you a lot more comfort and muscle memory to work with. And I would always stumble onto a new idea here or there.

But, now, I'm old... lol... I've got other stuff to do besides stooping over my guitar all day long (unfortunately). I just try to learn new stuff and find out what notes really make me feel good, and work on expanding my knowledge of theory a little here and there. I probably play from 30 minutes to an hour every day - 2 or 3 hours if I'm practicing with a band and 5 or 6 if I'm recording.

The main thing is: It should be fun, or else why bother?