What to practice..

[XxAxeDemonxX]

What would be some things to practice (Scales, accuracy)?
Could someone also please tell me, how to use scales once they have been learned?
It would help me a great deal.
I REALLY want to get better, I just seen to have a wall in my way..because of not know what things do, and how to practice, or what to practice, im stuck playing other bands songs, over and over again.
Friends and Family say im extremely good with only 1 year of experiance, compared to my dad when he had 1 year under his belt. I dont know, I guess I feel Im being compressed of Talent I know I have. Like something is holding me down from getting better and better.

Mike,

[EricV]

Hey there,

well, let´s see. First of all, you should focus on several different things. It´s rather rare that someone focusses only on one thing. To become a well-rounded player who´s able to function in different musical environments ( am I a smart-allick or what ?!? ), you need lots of different stuff. And to work on that, you should split up your practising time in separate segments and work on those things.

The elemental things
1. Chords / Rhythm ( Types of chords, accuracy... )
2. Timing / Rhythm ( a metronome, as usual, comes handy here )
3. Scales ( start out slowly, don´t waste your time on learning 87686 different scales initially... start out with a pentatonic or something and work on using and understanding it )
4. Technique ( Some playing-techniques... picking, legato, bending, vibrato... )
5. Improvisation ( a combination of # 2, 3 and 4 ... work on improvising solos and fills over jam tracks etc. )
6. Music theory ( stay away from the advanced stuff, try to understand basic things first... chord scales, chord progressions, soloing over chords... )
7. Ear-training & transcribing.
8. Songwriting ( Yes, you CAN work on that. Try to use some basic theory to come up with a chord-progression in any key, and work on arrangement, fills, melodies etc. )

Lotsa stuff. huh ?!? Well, there´s a lot you can do, and separating it into segments, working on all those different topics sure helps to keep it interesting.
Also, once you feel kinda confident and have developed some "chops" and knowledge about theory, get out and find some guys to jam or form a band with.
It´s cool to practise, but it´s pretty much pointless to sit on the edge of your bed practising for years... get out there, play WITH other people and IN FRONT OF other people ASAP.
Hope this helps
Eric

PS: About how to practise... there have been several discussions about this at these forums, and also some articles...

[metallibeast]

Originally posted by EricV
5. Improvisation ( a combination of # 2, 3 and 4 ... work on improvising solos and fills over jam tracks etc. )

Do you mean the notes from the scale?

-Beast

NP: Al Dimeola: Flesh on Flesh

[EricV]

No, I meant the numbers in my list of "stuff to work on"... 2,3 and 4= timing / rhythm, scales and technique...
Sorry for the confusion

Eric

[szulc]

Play, just improvise. Do it when you are happy, sad , angry, frightend etc....