What to practice? Practice Schelude

[pelayo_jose]

Hi, I was wondering how do you guys practice... I mean, what do you practice?? do you have a practice schedule?? (like the one on Vandenberg's "Do Not Disturb" article). How should be structured a practice schelude of a beginning/intermediate player?

Thanks...

[Bongo Boy]

Welcome to the site! This question comes up a lot...I asked it myself not too long ago. Try doing a search (at this sight) for "practice schedule" or even just "practice". I think there are at least 2 articles written on it, but there is also quite a bit of information in some of the threads. The search engine should find them.

If you have no luck, let me know.

[Koala]

Hola pelayo, bienvenido a Ibreathemusic, es emocionante ver que mas y mas latinos se unen al mejor foro de musica en la red. (sorry guys)

Well, it all depends on how much time youe got on your hands, and what it is you want to focus on really. Do you want crazy chops? then go for sweeps, picking exercises, scale fragments, legato and such, but if youre into strummng and writing good lyrics you might want to learn about tensions and cadence.

[xenor]

I usually have a "focus piece" that I work on. For ex. it was Flight of the Bumblebee last month. (It's a fast 16th note piece in case you're not familiar with it) When I start to practice I start at for ex. 80bpm. I play at 80 for 5 minutes. Then I play at 90-100 etc. to the highest point. Then I practice some memorizing, using standart notation. I do it by memorizing it bar by bar. When I get to the point that I'm really bored, I practice scales for memorization. Then I do some fun noddling to finish.

[Anubis]

The problem the way I see it is not to make a practice schedule. The problem is to actually follow it. It's easy to make a schedule that includes exercises, ear-training etc.. but being able to follow that schedule every day is not always easy.

[forgottenking2]

Cierto pronto seremos una comunidad bilingue!!!

(and the translation)

We'll soon be a bilingual comunity!!

[pelayo_jose]

Thanks for your help guys...

Keep picking!!!!

[cozimnot]

I wont follow a routine, but I make sure I don't run out of things to work on on those good days, when the guitar seems to play itself.

[ash]

find out what you really want to be able to do on the guitar. what guitarists do you like? i follow a routine each night which takes about an hour and a half to finish. the first hour 15 consists of picking excercises, using scales and diferent chord positions on the fretboard. i use the y metronome program and increase the beats per minute every 90 seconds, and each time change the key im practicing in. for my left hand legato stuff its much the same with less picking . if i dont have much time to practice i only work on my picking because this is the first thing that goes if i dont work on it. my percentage of picking excercises to legato stuff is like 80/20 because i want a really quick picking technique. so yeah once again, work out what you want to achieve, and how much time you have to achieve it

[JimmyJ]

one of my favourite practice excercises is this 3 note per string variant riff, can be done in any key or fingering but ill do this one in Amin for you


E---------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------------
D---------------------------------------------
A-----------5--------------------5-----------
E---5-7-8----8-7------5-7-8----8-7------


then i change my fingerings for this major feel

E------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------
A-------------7-----------------------7---------
E---7-8-10-----10-8-----7-8-10-----10--8-

then change my root notes


E------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------
A------------5------------------5---------------
E---5-6-8------8-6----5-6-8---8-6----------


always a great exercise for me as it uses all my fingers

[ash]

i think its always a good idea to keep things moving, as in changing what you are playing. its keeps your mind fresh and sharp, so when it comes time to improvise your on the ball. i can testify to the rewards that come with quality practice. i have absolutely no natural skill on the guitar, but i work acceptionally hard when i practice and have a structured practice routine. i have been dedicated to it for 3 months now, and over this period of time i have achieved far more than i had in the 2 and a half years prior. now i can play blues progressions, solo in any key minor or major, work out what key a song is in, play much much faster more accurately, play chords in far more positions, now exactly where i am on the fretboard at any time, but most of all i can now jam with my buddies...properly.

[loveguitar]

Originally posted by Anubis
The problem the way I see it is not to make a practice schedule. The problem is to actually follow it. It's easy to make a schedule that includes exercises, ear-training etc.. but being able to follow that schedule every day is not always easy.

yes it's relatively easier to come up with a practice schedule than to follow it. I just come back from a week's leave and thus my practice has been interuppted for a week. Sometimes it is just hard to follow schedules every time, especially when I travel abroad.

I recently revised my schedule to concentrate on an area daily, rather than doing all in one day. For eg., speed and techniques one day, ear training one day, playing song one day etc.....rather than a bit of everything in one day.

I guess it's ok to change your schedule if you feel it's better for you. And at different stages, you might need different schedules.
Hope it helps

[forgottenking2]

It's funny that you mention that loveguitar 'cause I am go9ing exactly through the same transition... after a REALLY strict schedulled practicing routine I was getting pretty bored and unmotivated so I switched to the "one day - one subject" thing and it's been working fine, I feel fresher and I am a lot more motivated to play, and you know what? my technique hasn't suffered a bit so at least I know it doesn't hurt to try. It's still too soon to see if I would progress slower using this approach 'cause I just have been using it for a few days but we'll see. Let me know how it works for you.

Regards,

[pelayo_jose]

Chris Juergensen have a article about that matter, check it out in his page, the article it's called "Where do you go from here?" or simething like that...

Oh, Thanks for all the help!!!

See ya guys...