Robert
July 9th, 2009, 04:23 PM
I've written up some practice suggestions on my website - http://www.dolphinstreet.com/blog/howto-practice-guitar.php
I often hear people say they are not improving, they feel stuck in a rut, playing the same licks, etc. They ask me for advice. So, I tell them to work on scales, arpeggios, scales, songs, technique, etc. They say "uhu", and nothing happens. So, how about a more detailed schedule you can print out and make easily available for when you are practicing?
So, here is my suggested 80 minute practice schedule. However, feel free to change these around in any order (except for the warmup) and to do each listed practice item on the list shorter or longer, as it suits your own life schedule.
Hopefully this will help some to figure out the answer to that common question, "what should I be practicing?".
Warm-up - 5 minutes. First of all - tune your guitar! Then, play anything you like, but don't do anything that is really hard on the muscles in your hands. Let them get warmed up first.
Scales - 10 minutes . Work on scales you don't yet know well. You probably have scales tabbed out and printed. Take your time and play these slowly with the metronome. Play the notes of the scale in question in any order, random, sequential, etc. As you do this, try to visualize in your head the patterns this scale creates on the fretboard. Over time, you will be able to "see" the scale on the fretboard without thinking much about it.
Arpeggios - 10 minutes. Do the same as with the scales mentioned above. An arpeggio is a group of notes which are played one after the other, either going up or going down, where the notes belong to one chord. Again, visualize and try to remember the patterns you play.
Chords - 10 minutes. Learn new voicings of chords. Learn new chords. Practice chord progressions with some of the new chords you are learning.
Theory -5 minutes. Get a good book about music theory. There are many out there. This one is great - Alfred Essentials of Music Theory: Complete Self-Study Course (Book/2-CD)
Technique - 10 minutes. Work on things that need improvement or that may be new to you, for example - hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, strumming, alternate picking, sweep technique, tapping, etc.
Fretboard training - 10 minutes. Set the metronome at a low BPM. Start with any note you want. Find and play that note for every click of the metronome on every string, but start with 2 strings at a time. Once you have that down, move to 2 more strings, then practice finding that note on those 4 strings. Continue with the last 2 strings and finally do all 6 strings. Play the notes in any order and direction. The purpose here is to find the note in question as quickly as you can. It will become "transparent" with enough training - you will be able to find any note anywhere on the fretboard without having to think
Work on a song - 10 minutes. Work on a song which has something challenging in it, something that gives you an opportunity to practice something new.
Reading music - 10 minutes. Work on reading TAB and music notation. Practice reading rhythms, notes and sight reading.
Transcribe something - ANY minutes. This is the best way to teach yourself, and it's fantastic ear training. Listen to a few seconds of a song, over and over. Imitate best you can, try to figure out one note at a time. This means replaying the same sequence many times. After a while, you will be able to do this quicker, as well as picking out more than one note at a time.
Play anything - ANY minutes. Noodle around and play whatever you want - playing should first and foremost be FUN!
Please also read the rest of my advice on http://www.dolphinstreet.com/blog/howto-practice-guitar.php
Let me know what you think.
I often hear people say they are not improving, they feel stuck in a rut, playing the same licks, etc. They ask me for advice. So, I tell them to work on scales, arpeggios, scales, songs, technique, etc. They say "uhu", and nothing happens. So, how about a more detailed schedule you can print out and make easily available for when you are practicing?
So, here is my suggested 80 minute practice schedule. However, feel free to change these around in any order (except for the warmup) and to do each listed practice item on the list shorter or longer, as it suits your own life schedule.
Hopefully this will help some to figure out the answer to that common question, "what should I be practicing?".
Warm-up - 5 minutes. First of all - tune your guitar! Then, play anything you like, but don't do anything that is really hard on the muscles in your hands. Let them get warmed up first.
Scales - 10 minutes . Work on scales you don't yet know well. You probably have scales tabbed out and printed. Take your time and play these slowly with the metronome. Play the notes of the scale in question in any order, random, sequential, etc. As you do this, try to visualize in your head the patterns this scale creates on the fretboard. Over time, you will be able to "see" the scale on the fretboard without thinking much about it.
Arpeggios - 10 minutes. Do the same as with the scales mentioned above. An arpeggio is a group of notes which are played one after the other, either going up or going down, where the notes belong to one chord. Again, visualize and try to remember the patterns you play.
Chords - 10 minutes. Learn new voicings of chords. Learn new chords. Practice chord progressions with some of the new chords you are learning.
Theory -5 minutes. Get a good book about music theory. There are many out there. This one is great - Alfred Essentials of Music Theory: Complete Self-Study Course (Book/2-CD)
Technique - 10 minutes. Work on things that need improvement or that may be new to you, for example - hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, strumming, alternate picking, sweep technique, tapping, etc.
Fretboard training - 10 minutes. Set the metronome at a low BPM. Start with any note you want. Find and play that note for every click of the metronome on every string, but start with 2 strings at a time. Once you have that down, move to 2 more strings, then practice finding that note on those 4 strings. Continue with the last 2 strings and finally do all 6 strings. Play the notes in any order and direction. The purpose here is to find the note in question as quickly as you can. It will become "transparent" with enough training - you will be able to find any note anywhere on the fretboard without having to think
Work on a song - 10 minutes. Work on a song which has something challenging in it, something that gives you an opportunity to practice something new.
Reading music - 10 minutes. Work on reading TAB and music notation. Practice reading rhythms, notes and sight reading.
Transcribe something - ANY minutes. This is the best way to teach yourself, and it's fantastic ear training. Listen to a few seconds of a song, over and over. Imitate best you can, try to figure out one note at a time. This means replaying the same sequence many times. After a while, you will be able to do this quicker, as well as picking out more than one note at a time.
Play anything - ANY minutes. Noodle around and play whatever you want - playing should first and foremost be FUN!
Please also read the rest of my advice on http://www.dolphinstreet.com/blog/howto-practice-guitar.php
Let me know what you think.