How to Develop a Structured Guitar Study Program

[Tim]

I am looking for some advice on arranging a structured study program for myself. I have found myself spending too much time trying to figure out what I should be doing and get nothing accomplished. I have reviewed several websites and have not really found what I am looking for.

If I really want to move to the next level of playing guitar, then I need to get serious about studying the instrument. Since I can not find a good instructor in my small local town, then I will attempt to move out on my own.

I would like to set up a weekly schedule dedicated to specific topics. I, like most members, do not have 2 -3 hours to spend a day on practice. I have a few topics, but I realize I need go deeper into the subject matter. For example:

Monday
Finger Exercises
Scales
Cord Study

Wednesday
Finger Exercises
Scales
Finger Picking

Friday
Finger Exercises
Scales
Strumming Techniques
Jam Session (recording self while jamming)

The other days would be free days to do whatever I want. It would be a mix and match of the sets above.

What I need help in is how to go deeper into each topic. Such as: How many finger exercises are there? Or how would I study chords. Do I just look them up and then try to play them? Where would I find information on the various types of strumming?

Hopefully the replies generated by this post will help others in their own development in studying the guitar.

[Katastrophe]

I admire your dedication to learning the "dry" stuff, but if I had a recommendation, it would be to find a way to put in more jamming (and not necessarily to record yourself, either). Since you're going the self taught route, I would recommend learning a new song from beginning to end, at least one a week. That was something I neglected in my youth (I only wanted to play my OWN stuff), and now that I have to learn covers, it is steadily expanding my knowledge.

The most important thing to remember is to HAVE FUN! I guarantee you won't learn near as much if playing becomes a humdrum chore!

[jpfeifer]

Hi Tim,

This is a great idea to push your playing to a new level. One thing that I would encourage you to do first is to define some goals for yourself and use that to define what it is you work on. Define some kind of tangible goal first, then setup a plan for getting there with the small steps that you can do each day to eventually reach it.

Let's say you that you want to become more fluent with chords and fingerstyle playing. Maybe you could look for a song or method book to go through that will help to get you there. Your goal could be:
- Be able to play (to be defined) song to a performance level

Your plan could be to first learn the chord changes for this new tune, then to focus on the picking patterns that you will need to use, etc.

One good way to get into chords and fingerstyle is by learning some solo guitar arrangements from other people. There are lots of books for solo guitar out there, and maybe you could get one of these and try to learn a few tunes out of it.

Or, if you just want to get some new chords under your belt and be able to use them in various playing situations, you might want to look for a book that covers this topic and study a little bit of this each day. One great book for learning some new chords for Jazz is the Hal Leonard book called "Jazz Guitar". It has a very nice section devoted to building up your library of usable chord shapes.

I hope this helps, -- Jim

[Tim]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I will apply them to my small program. I record myself to hear my mistakes and where I need to improve. It helps me to gage where I am on hammer-ons, slides, and bends, etc.

[JLefty]

Tim, I'm a newer player also and I like you wanted a little structure to what I was doing. I've really like going thru Dave Mead's book the 10 minute workout.It's got progressive exercises that you can see your improvment on,and its got alot of chord and scale info presented in a real simple way. I've learned alot from it and have been at this book for about 7-8 months. Do a search on it and check it out. john

[Bandit]

I am looking for some advice on arranging a structured study program for myself.

If I really want to move to the next level of playing guitar
Monday
Finger Exercises
Scales
Cord Study

Wednesday
Finger Exercises
Scales
Finger Picking

Friday
Finger Exercises
Scales
Strumming Techniques
Jam Session (recording self while jamming)

1)Scales
2)Melody's
3)Ear Training
4)Play Live

I think of scales as finger exercises. I went to a guitar instructor and I learned all open chords, bar chords, minor chords and all seven major scales in all positions. That was the first lesson. My second lesson I was informed I should be learning melody's by ear. Develop you ear and play with other people in a live situation.

Everyone has to learn the basics. It's like math first you add then you multiply. Stevie Ray Vaughn said he plays Rude Mood every time he sits down and trys to play something new after that. Keith Urban said that you should practice with an acoustic because they are very unforgiving. Then when you switch to Electric it's so easy to play.

If you really want to challenge your self start an open mic night. Take a flat top and jam with some musicians that are more talented than you. Playing with others is always productive. Playing a differnet style is also fun.

90% of practice is intros and solos. Performing is 10% intros and solos and 90% singing. People want to hear the words.