Practicing. How and what?

[Apprentice]

Alright, today I've decided to sit down an actually practice and work towards my goal of learning guitar and forming my ultimate metal/Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore type metal band. But.... I dont know what to practice : (

When I sit down I practice the Minor Scale up and down, I practice my few sweeps I made and thats it, then I just mess around and get bored because I dont know if Im heading in the right direction so Im just all "Bah, this sucks. Im going to go watch TV." I've decided to get a guitar teacher just to help me out with theory and just playing in general. Though, I still want to do all these things that I hear my guitar heros doing, but I dont want to flat out copy them. Though I have started learning Far Beyond the Sun by Malmsteen just for the sake of knowing I can play something like that and giving me confidence.

I mean, what should I be practicing? I just need guidance.

Example, and just one of many... When practicing sweeps, do I just go up and down a chord until I get it right and then just move on to another sweep arpeggio until I have a bunch that I can play and am able to link them together? Is that how all these big names play them effortlessly, they have played it a billion times or they simply have the technique for it? Its kind of confusing.

[jonnyh]

hey u should be practising a lot of everything e.g. classical to help ure fingerpicking some soloing some rythms and shred licks even if u can't play them fast u can build speed by practising em and stuff so yer my guitar teacher doesn't give me enough stuff to learn well it isn't much for me so i get lessons from the net i practise shred lick i make metal solo's i play full songs including solo's with tha CD so i can get better timing i play classical pieces yeh i play pretty much everything so yer at the moment i m learning a clasical piece from my teacher and i m learning like 5 metallica songs for my band and i m trying to find some sweeping exercises so i will be larning everything

[ReinierK]

I'll try and use some punctuation. ;)
Take a look at the articles by Eric Vandenberg, he really has some nice exercises and puts you on to think about and make up your own.
Also, you should start out with not too many topics.
I'm going through a similar phase and I decided that I first had to work on my picking and right-hand / left-hand coordination and fingering. So I do a lot of chromatics in difficult patterns, just to make sure I practice the hard things, not the easy things.

Furthermore, I started to learn theory from ground up. Starting with interval theory, thirds, perfet/major/minors etc... Then comes scales (Major -> Minor -> Harm. minor etc.).

Btw: I think variation is important... Going up and down a scale isn't very usefull... Sure, you can play it up and down pretty good and fast, but what if you need to play the scales back and forth in small pieces? So I suggest looking at EV's articles and really practice the 2 up-1 down / 3 up - 2 down / 3 up - 1 down / etc methods.

Good luck!

[Apprentice]

Ill look at them in a moment. I just woke up since my dad hogged the computer last night and I couldnt reply.

Anyways...

The main thing Im concerned about is what I'm practicing, I lack any confidence in it. Really, I was just sitting there asking myself "Did these guys really sit here and play the same thing a million times just to get it perfect?" Thats the real question I want to ask.

jonnyh: Thanks, I think... lol.

Reinierk: Thanks, I can read again! I never really did chromatic runs. For some reason, everytime I practiced with chromatic runs, and then went to 3NPS it really messed my playing up so I just stop doing them. Hopefully my teacher will be able to teach me theory 'cause I dont really understand half the things people say on IBM most of the time : ) Yeah, I agree variation is important, I said said going up and down to express how numb my mind felt when playing sometimes.

[Los Boleros]

hey u should be practising a lot of everything e.g. classical to help ure fingerpicking some soloing some rythms and shred licks even if u can't play them fast u can build speed by practising em and stuff so yer my guitar teacher doesn't give me enough stuff to learn well it isn't much for me so i get lessons from the net i practise shred lick i make metal solo's i play full songs including solo's with tha CD so i can get better timing i play classical pieces yeh i play pretty much everything so yer at the moment i m learning a clasical piece from my teacher and i m learning like 5 metallica songs for my band and i m trying to find some sweeping exercises so i will be larning everythingWow, That was a long sentence.:rolleyes:

I believe that everything you practice should have a musical value to it. I too use cromatics to warm up but don't spend too musch time with them because there are much more musical things out there to practice. Here's some suggestions:
When practicing sweeps, try organising them into a progression. Such as: Am,Dm,G,C,F,Bdim,Em
Try making patterns with your sweeps, patterns like Am,Bdim,C,Bdim,C,Dm,C,Dm,Em,Dm,Em,F,Em,F,G,F,G,Am
Try 7th arpegios by alternating direction. Like Am7 up Bdim7 down CM7 up Dm7 down etc.
Make up a short melodic riff in Aeolian. Then transpose it to the other six modes.
Try that same aproach but skipping modes.
first in Aeolian, then Ionian, then Phrygian, then Mixolydian, then Locrian, then Dorian, then Lydian. This way you can not only apply your riff to other chords, you will also be learning the harmony to that same riff.

[Apprentice]

Dot 1: I've been doing this to some extent. Every chord I learn, I also try to learn the basic sweep for it and try to link it together with other chords. Though, I only do 3 string sweeps right now since my technqiue isnt the greatest.

Dot 2: What do you meany by patterns? I know you can build advanced sweeps by taking notes from the chord you're sweeping in and build around it.

Dot 3: So play up one chord, but when you sweep down, you sweep the next chord instead? Thats intresting, Im going to try that one.

Dot 4 & 5: Thats a good idea that I havent really tried all to often. Thanks for the tips.

Though, my main question still hasnt been answered. Am I practicing correctly?.. For some reason it feels odd when I sit there and practice my scales and what not, it feels like Im not accomplishing anything. Perhaps this belongs in the mental-type stuff board, I dont know.

Thanks in advance for anymore help or suggestions.

[Los Boleros]

Wow, That was a long sentence.:rolleyes:

I believe that everything you practice should have a musical value to it. I too use cromatics to warm up but don't spend too musch time with them because there are much more musical things out there to practice. Here's some suggestions:

When practicing sweeps, try organising them into a progression. Such as: Am,Dm,G,C,F,Bdim,Em
Try making patterns with your sweeps, patterns like Am,Bdim,C,Bdim,C,Dm,C,Dm,Em,Dm,Em,F,Em,F,G,F,G,AmH ere you play one arpegio,then next, the next, then go back one, then the next then the next, then go back one etc.
Try 7th arpegios by alternating direction. Like Am7 up Bdim7 down CM7 up Dm7 down etc.




(In C Major / A minor)
E|---------------7---5----------------------5--3------------------5------
B|------5---8-----------6---------------6---------5------------5---------
G|--5----------------------7--5--4--7----------------5--4--3-------------
D|------------------------------------------------------------------------
A|------------------------------------------------------------------------
E|------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make up a short melodic riff in Aeolian. Then transpose it to the other six modes.[code]
Try that same aproach but skipping modes.
first in Aeolian, then Ionian, then Phrygian, then Mixolydian, then Locrian, then Dorian, then Lydian. This way you can not only apply your riff to other chords, you will also be learning the harmony to that same riff.
Though, my main question still hasnt been answered. Am I practicing correctly?.. For some reason it feels odd when I sit there and practice my scales and what not, it feels like Im not accomplishing anything. Perhaps this belongs in the mental-type stuff board, I dont know.
Maybe I am not getting your question. Exactly what is your question?

[Apprentice]

Ok, I had a long reply written up, but now that I've thought about it...

Does everyone basically practice the same things. Scales, chords, arpeggios, etc... and then once they get the hang of it all, then they start turning all these exercises into actual songs and licks?

[Los Boleros]

Alright, today I've decided to sit down an actually practice and work towards my goal of learning guitar and forming my ultimate metal/Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore type metal band. But.... I dont know what to practice : (

Because you said that.... I gave you these excersises. But, If you want my opinion, training the ear for melodies and progressions is extremely important. One third of music is the mechanical side, two thirds is Ear and Theory and one third is heart. Yeah Yeah.... that's 4/3's baby!

[Apprentice]

Yeah, I know I didnt get the question out right the first time. I guess its just one of those obstacles in life where you fall off the horse an dthen you just have to get back on, or however that saying goes. I get it all now that I've been reading some articles.

Thanks!