Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: Brodo on April 14, 2007, 12:50:19 PM
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how does this sound for a 2 hour practise routine:
30 mins scale work
30 mins arpegio work
30 mins tapping work
30 mins chord work and songwriting
Any suggestions are apreciated, I've never really had a practise routine but want to get serious about improving so i can conquer the world with my guitar skills next year at my schools talent contest.:gib:
thanks in advance
-brodo-
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Play some songs with a metronome or a beat box. Rhythm and timing are more important than anything else.
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I know it varies from person-to-person, but I always found practices routines mind-numingly boring. I took up guitar because it was fun and something I liked.
My practice routines have always been to play along to records - jam along to them. I seem to remember only practising scales in the first year of playing, after that it was all jamming.
All that said, I still have limited theory knowledge - I play from experience, gut instinct and ear. Works for me but it's not for everyone.
Did that help at all? :?
:twisted:
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how does this sound for a 2 hour practise routine:
30 mins scale work
30 mins arpegio work
30 mins tapping work
30 mins chord work and songwriting
Any suggestions are apreciated, I've never really had a practise routine but want to get serious about improving so i can conquer the world with my guitar skills next year at my schools talent contest.:gib:
thanks in advance
-brodo-
If you really wanna get good quick then I'd consider more than 2 hours to be frank, but you don't need to ONLY play guitar for instance, although multi tasking does reduce the amount you actually improve in my expierience.
Frankly, 30 mins for tapping is a bit odd since it's so specialised.
What I do most is sit with a metronome and scales, scales, scales.
Keep it up and your technique goes miles. Try scales going up in seconds, thirds, try segmenting, try sequencing - Then try all the above with Alternate AND economy picking.
I usually do something like sitting for an hour at a time doing the above on various different scales and modes, a good bunch to start with would be the 3 a string shapes for the major modes from Ionian to Locrian.
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NPs right on ... practice practice practice scales at various speeds until its all just muscle memory and you don't need to think about what the hands are doing at all, then you can play almost anything. Think of it like Karate ... up to Black Belt you're just learning the motions. Once you've mastered that, _then_ you can really express yourself :)
Unfortunately I come from HTH POV regards this theory and find it arse achingly dull. As a result I'm probably 1/8th the guitarist I could be technically. Still love playing though!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: And maybe in my own way I have cultivated a unique style!
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i second heavier's motion that guitar should be fun. obviously, if you have the head/willpower for it, an 18-month intensive practice session a la bill and ted (with steve vai's 10 hour workout each day) is preferable to 2 hours of mindless noodling each day, but if you get bored and don't actually do the practice, the 2 hour noodling session would be better than nothing. if you know what I mean.
obviously structured practice is best. but unstructured practice, or just jamming, is better than no practice because you find it a chore.
i also second ratrod's message that timing is important.
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i don't have a practice routine. scales bore me, and i can't shred for my life, so what's the point?
to riff or not to riff, that is the question.
if you are a riffing person (like me) then you riff: you play songs with a good number of technical/challenging/fun riffs in (i usually play Raining blood, creeping death, and master of puppets, with some battery on the side :) ), play random riffs from other songs, and play your own riffs until you learn them by heart. then you finish off with some good old songwriting (i usually centre around 1 riff/idea and build on it)
but if you are more of a lead/shred/technique/uberskill motivated person rather than a riffing one, then you practice is going to be based around scales, metronomes and lead parts, tapping, arpeggios etc.
when i practice, it is pure fun and riffing, all the way, 3/4 hours a day.
it depends on what type of player you are.
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you guys play a lot. most days i don't play guitar - the days i do i only play about half an hour nowadays...
No wander i suck so badly.
I've got to get back into practice after the holidays
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I tend to practice scales while watching TV when I'm in London.
I would do it at home but the wife & kids would knock the cr@p out of me for annoying them
Rob...
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I try to practice songs .. I'll pick one then stick at it till I can do it all. Its a bit more interesting than scales &c I find, but like BM I just Riff ... no shredding. I found learning a few blues scales improved by technique though. I really like that style of playing, and with the soloing you do a bit more hammer-ons / pull-offs than with just riffing away. After a few months of the blues, I suddenly noticed my heavy riffing was much better! bonus :)
Trying to do the riffing for Holy Wars / Punishment Due at the mo ... definitely on the next level for me, but hopefully I'll get there.
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People who dis young people for working too much on their technique and not enough on their songwriting etc, in my opinion, are totally wrong.
Most professional musicians I have talked to have their largest regret as being that they didn't work on their technique enough when they were young, so you really need to focus on technique more than songwriting. This is partly because you will reach an age where you don't have the time to devote to technique, and possibly not the patience either, but if you already have chops, you can devote more time to fun stuff like writing songs.
I know this through my piano, which is my first instrument. 4 years ago, when I was first picked up piano, I did so with the sole intention of one day being able to play 'fast', so I dug into my scales, arpeggios, runs and other technical things like that. 2 and a half years later I finished my 8th Grade, and I was very satisfied, but I thought "well, what do I do now?", so I quit lessons and ever since, I've been looking at different music styles, writing and arranging etc, and I still love learning songs that challenge me, and I really couldn't imagine being where I am without all the technique.
I still work on my technique with Hanon excersises etc, but I don't have the same drive that I did 4 years ago, so I'm VERY glad that I put the work in then, because now it's all paying off.
Brodo, what I say to you is that if you are COUNTING how long you are spending on scales, arpeggio's etc. you are probably looking at things the wrong way. Practise these things until you are satisfied with the time you've put in, and the progress that you've made. After all, the watched pot never boils.
(Sorry for the long post, It'll be over soon!)
Try playing other people's solos, and if there's a challenging lick or run or something, write it down and practise it with a metronome every day. It's also a good idea to do 3-note-per-string runs all alternate picked, it's helpful with inside and outside picking. Scales are a double-edged blade too, as you need them from a theory perspective AND they're great practise for picking.
Damn that's a long post...
Oh well, all the best to you, Brodo :D !
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What is this practise you speak of?
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^ :lol:
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when I was first picked up piano
wow, do you work out?
sorry. :oops:
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when I was first picked up piano
wow, do you work out?
sorry. :oops:
Think it was yoda speak actually - Not muscleman speak.
He can lift spaceships!
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Hi Brodo
Firstly what kind of ability level would you say you are? I would break down the time more so say practise, fingerstyle, alternate picking, legato, sweep picking, string skipping and tapping. Try and keep the exercises musical so its usually good to take licks from songs because you can always use them in your own stuff.
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I can see the point of the poeple that say that technique gives you a grounding and programs your fingers, but I think thats a double edged sword. The other edge is that programming your fingers can lead to you playing the same scale fragment type music all the time when you actually want to do something 'different'. I think a player thats gone through drills and scales really shows: they dont miss a note, but all too often you know exactly which one is coming next. [cartman voice] Weak [/cartman voice]
I try to get around this by playing as cleanly as fluidly as I possibly can, but basically improvising all the time, but always pushing myself. Always. I cant pick up a guitar without pushing the boundaries of what I can do or trying to do something I never have.
Like HTH I find scales and drills dull. They make a more proficient player out of you, yes, but I'd much rather make up a motive I like and then explore it, play it with different phrasings and emphasis, cut out and add beats and 'coloured', out-of-scale notes, all the while trying to be clean and fluid.
If youre going to go the way of drills and routine, then please please please, even if just as a 'reward' for yourself, spend equal time just going nuts throwing shapes on the fretboard and trying to make stuff up, thinking "well what if I play a major 6th over that?" or "I wonder what that shape sounds like?" and "lets stick a semitone in there, see what happens" or whatever, and try and spend some time thinking outside the proverbial box, and hopefully you'll get the best of both worlds: technique and proficiency as well as creativity and character.
Good luck!
Edit: and the importance of a click Cannot be understimated.
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Great idea! After your drills and routines.....go Angus on that axe.
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when I was first picked up piano
wow, do you work out?
sorry. :oops:
Haha, I was thinking that when I was writing it :)
MDV, that is FANTASTIC advice, I am now officially inspired!!
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:drink:
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I heard playing upside down after drinking Goat's blood helps too.
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learn your diatonic chords in every key with atleast 5 voicings for each one, be able to play any scale in any position over the entire neck. that includes Major, Aeolian Minor, Pentatonics, Harmonic and Melodic Minor and all the modes. know your triads and 7th chord arpeggios for every chord.
then practice playing chord tones throughout II,V,I progressions going backward through the cycle of 5ths it works for key changes that way.
then just practice rhythms, odd time signatures, syncopation and sight reading every day..
break all that down into a 2 hr practice session then concentrate on technique for say 30mins a day.
oh and just play songs nothing is better experience than just playing. but don't mistake this for practice.