This thought came to me last nite regarding how others can benefit from knowing how other guitarist practise. There are some who learn and practise guitar but still feel their guitar playing is stagnant and not improving. Maybe by learning from how others learn and practise guitar, they will be able to customise and tailor their own individual practise schedule to achieve better result in guitar playing.

I believe it would be good if we can discuss how we learn and practise, whether daily schedule or weekly or whatever. Hopefully this knowledge will be of benefit to not only guitar players, but guitar tutors too. Doing proper/correct practise will result in proper/better guitar playing...

So how do we discuss? I propose something like below (just an example):

eg.
Date: 6 March 07
Duration: ~1 hr
Details:
3 min: finger-arm streatching
15 min: warm-up with chromatic runs string 1-6 from open fret to 10th fret (up and down the neck)
25 mins: Finger exercises - 3 notes per string from fret 1 to fret 12 (up-down the neck)
fingering: 1,2,3... then 1,3,4... then 1,2,4... 2,3,4
using alternate picking, hammer-on.
(Tempo 60 bpm, Beat: 8th beat.)
30mins: learning Ozzy Crazy Train solo.
3 mins: warm down.

Aim/purpose: to get finger independence & clean note
Observation & Comments: in finger exercise, my pinky (ie finger 4) floats too far from the fretboard. Need to train the pinky to hover closer to the fretboard.

etc...

Just some ideas and brainstorming? comments? Thanks

nb: It is something like posting our own practise log book.

This post has been edited by Banzai_san: Mar 6 2007, 04:36 PM

hmm...i think there's a similiar thread edi.....
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...4281&hl=routine

Good idea for a thread, man!

Ok, here's my $0.02... My practice regime is a bit flexible (i.e. depends on my mood!)... but it usually involves:

30 seconds finger/wrist stretches
5-10 minutes chromatics
30-45 minutes of whatever technique or passage I'm currently working on
2 minutes winding down
+on weekends, practising my song repertoire

Sad to say, I only started practising chromatics recently. I used to look down on it because I couldn't figure out how I could use it in a practical scenario, like in a song or improvising etc... plus it pissed me off that I could only play it slow!

But now I realise that it's a very useful thing to practice just for the sake of building finger independence... and if played slow, it works well as a warming up exercise too!



I hate the pinky! I use to play with only 3 fingers for like 5-6 years coz my pinky was so bloody recalcitrant... but unfortunately without the pinky, I can't play anything below 9th fret without busting my wrist!

Edit:
...whoops, was typing my reply before I saw ReeveX's reply... my bad...

This post has been edited by RustReaver4D1: Mar 6 2007, 05:10 PM

Thank for the link. Yup, the thread is similar to this.

I went thru the whole thread. However, I find that postings are too general. For example, posting like "I practise minor pentatonic"... IMHO its not detail enough.

Postings such as
"Today I learn the minor pentatonic. My tutor introduced to me the 5 forms of the pentatonic. ATM Im trying to memorize the 1st and 2nd form. Did some scale runs on the pentatonic form 1 (ie 2 notes per string)... etc",
IMHO would benefit more to others who are trying to learn the pentatonic.

Rather than simply randomly practise, a PROPERLY PLANNED practise session will benefit more. Hopefully we can avoid being stagnant... eg "Ive been practising the same thing since 2-3 years but not much improvement".

I hope by sharing each others practise schedules, we can learn more. And with a properly planned practise schedule, I hope to gain much benefit from my practise session.

As Ive mentioned, its more of a log of what we learn/practise in guitar playing.

Addendum: it is also good to see what others practise today and what they practise/learn next week. Some thing refreshing to learn something new.

---

Added on March 6, 2007, 8:12 pmhey, thanks for sharing ReeveX.

You mentioned any particular technique/passage that you are currently concentrating on ATM ? & how do you practise the passage?

I too have problem disciplining my pinky Sometimes the pinky has its own mind, susah nak kawal . I think I need to do some slow tempo scale runs in order for my pinky to be more disciplined and gradually increase the tempo. May take me months (hopefully not years) before I can keep it under control.

This post has been edited by Banzai_san: Mar 6 2007, 08:12 PM

i play right handed...
and nowadays i practice with the guitar resting on my left leg.
its a more natural position when your left hand goes higher up the neck.
and your right shoulder doesnt feel as stressed.

few others do the same way, john petrucci being one of them.

You mean the classical position (ie with the left leg slightly elevated since you play right handed)? Does petrucci elevate his leg too?

whoever does it that way will need to elevate their left leg slightly.

this leads to another point.
in that position, to me, is about the similar position as when its strapped on standing up.
so unless, you're the kind who prefers strummy strummy power chord stuff...or some weirdo who practices for 2-3 hours standing up...

your guitar position when practicing sitting down, should be the same as strapped on.
especially important for those guys who like to blaze away, so you wont have to do any adjustments to your technique.

I play with the guitar on my left leg too.

My practice is normally :

1) 30 mins warm up
2) 30 mins RH exercises
3) 30 mins LH (legato) exercises
4) 30 mins sweep picking
5) 30 mins speed exercises

I've only been with this timetable for a few months. Before this I was more disorganized.

Rarely practice songs. I think I should start practicing more songs. Most of my exercises are from Speed Mechanics. During the first 30 mins I also practice inside picking (Im weak at that).

Sad to say though, improvement is very slow. I suck... so much. I'd like to see how others practice and maybe get better ideas on ways to practice.

OMG...2 an a half hours a day ?

you got any recordings ..pal ?

well i think the more you rush into improving ,
the crappier guitarist you become...

this is why in the 80's and 90's we only have shredding..

since 2000' above we have a new genre called "wanking" or "shred wank"

anyway , a tip for you guys..
don't routine pressure practice ..everyday the same thing ..gets boring..

try
day 1 . improvisation , exploring new chops
day 2 . Theory , scale
day 3 . Hearing
day 4 . REST
day 5 . Speed over backing track
day 6 . Speed over metronome
day 7 . getting ideas from youtube or studying a song...

much better this way

or..you can don't practice at all..and be happy ..like me

..cheers

no.
80s were shredding.
90s were wank-less, d***-less.
then now its wank-fest time.

Haha I suck big time, seriously. I just started getting serious about guitars since beginning/mid last year maybe. Had the interest before that, but I was more of a dreamer than anything else. I seriously dont know how Vai can practice for 9 hours, and other guitar heroes with their hours of woodshedding per day.

I came up with the routine because I always thought of reaching a certain 'skill level' before attempting certain songs that I like (mainly because I suck). Doesnt really happen though, my demands keep getting higher and higher. I should start doing and learning other stuff now...

Wow, you guys have good practice regime, keep it up! I'm too lazy to bother lol.

Anyway while we're at it, check out these useful regime tips from Yngwie :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnSo0Qa_cA0

lol , bro . i think what you need is a minum session with Bode and Abangular

they can change the way your view guitar playing and practices ..

anyway ..

a few things we all can think of

1. We don't need to play every song we like ..we spend too much time on a song , we lose out opportunity on learning things that are more important..

2. We are always comparing what we are weak at , with what other people are good at ...
Malmsteen lick number 1 can be really tough for you , but kacang putih for malmsteen.
the other way round..your kacang butih lick ..may be a tough ass one for malmsteen

3 I think we need to get over the "alternate picking is harder than Legato"
or " who says legato is easier? see holdsworth" thing..
If you can't alternate pick a lick ..ITS TOTALLY OKAY TO LEGATO it ..you won't go to hell for that..
and if you can't legato a lick..ITS TOTALLY OKAY TO PICK IT ..won't go to hell for that either

4.Mastering a shred song is like CHICKS...If you find yourself struggling , give her a break and move on..."NEXT CHICK PLEASE " and after trying out other girls ..you can think whether you want to get back with your ex-gf or not

muahahahahaha..i just joined here and i am posting so much of c*ck ..
i love lowyat ok

my practice only consists of scales and how to pluck with the pick

This post has been edited by BlueSilver: Mar 7 2007, 12:59 AM

My practice routine:
Learn one very impressive and fast lick. Practice everyday and perfect it. Then put the guitar in the corner. Then whenever opportunity arise use the lick to impress noobs.

If someone asks you to play anything other than that just reply with "Sorry not my genre" . Wualah!!! Instant noob conner

But for real: I only practice the stuff i need to play for my band. Not so much rudiments and stuff. One day one song, for about 30 minutes. It's usually enough. For the songs with more rudimentary stuff, like fast 16 note running riffs, the riff is my rudiment and i work on it for about 15 minutes. That's all. But just so you know, i'm a real lazy person. So you should be more hardworking than me .

I know that if I can play like you, I'd DEFINITELY be happy that's for sure!

classic abgular wisdom... listen to abgular for he speaks the truth!

good show brother ! good show brother !

WoW..a 30 minute warm up....heck after that my hands would be so tired I would'nt be able to even play properly. I normally start with just simple finger warm up exercises up 5 frets then back down again to loosen those fingers (5 min)then start running through basic fundamental techniques to maintain consistency, then its just improv or playing along a tape or favourite cd. Whole session 30 min to 40 min max. If I am required to learn a particular lick then i will break up sessions to 30 min intervals but spread it out.

I found practices longer than 1 hr straight is counter productive as the fatigue inflicted to your hands and fingers causes a drop in flexibility. Also playing exercises repeatedly has the danger of reinforcing bad techniques...or worse...reinforcing certain patterns in your mind so that whenever you jam, your licks sound like they come straight from a text book.

i had that problem but worked around it by focusing more on improv now.

First 30 mins I do warm up stuff like 1234 and all of its variations, stretching exercises from petrucci/satch (around the same), remembering notes on the fretboard (i find satch's exercise useful), inside picking, and picking while holding chords (harder than how it sounds...well I find it quite challenging la, for certain picking variations. lol). I dont know if this is considered warm up... but thats just what I do with my time for the first 30 mins. Not really tiring, not much movement.

I dont believe gapnap doesnt practice a lot. I've heard your recording on your jamtank sig a while back, quite a long time ago I think. You were able to play fast. Now I know speed isnt everything etc, but you've got your mechanical ability down. Less restrictions for you to do what you want with the instrument. How you practice la?