help me get better?

[CJ]

for those of you who remember hearing my god awful sound clips, i've decided i'm going to dedicate myself to getting good at guitar.

i was wondering if you guys had some good tips to help me out. first things first, i figured i should have a set practice routine that i work on every day. do you guys have any good suggestions? anything that works for you?

also, i was thinking of maybe getting a good book to help me out and to put into that practice routine. what do you guys think?

thanks a lot.

[MDV]

Metronome.

[CJ]

Metronome.

that will definitely be a factor in my playing from now on. what do you recommend playing with the metronome? obviously i'll have my scales... any other good exercises that you would suggest?

i'd really like to get myself an exact practice schedule to work on. do you think it's the content of the practice that'll help me in getting better, or just the fact that i'll have a set schedule. because obviously i can make up any random practice schedule, but i don't really know what to do.

[Matt77]

repetition works
have you tried the Tascam units that let you slow music down and loop it whilst retaining pitch?

[MDV]

Metronome.

that will definitely be a factor in my playing from now on. what do you recommend playing with the metronome? obviously i'll have my scales... any other good exercises that you would suggest?

i'd really like to get myself an exact practice schedule to work on. do you think it's the content of the practice that'll help me in getting better, or just the fact that i'll have a set schedule. because obviously i can make up any random practice schedule, but i don't really know what to do.

Pick half a dozen things that you cant do, technique wise, and play them all for 10 minutes each EVERY DAY.

Start at a pace that you can nail it at, however slow that is.

Do it at that speed till you can do it right pretty much every time (10 in a row is decent). Increase bpm till its a pace you cant do it at any more (no better than 1 in 3 or so). Repeat till at the desired speed.

What actual things you learn are up to you. There are hundreds of things you can do, thousands even. Finger independence alt picking stuff is a good place to start (the spider exercises)

[MDV]

To stress - its the every day part that makes all the difference. You imprint and improve while you sleep. No I'm not $%&#ing with you. Its a neurological fact. Its also a fact that you dont need to do it for a long time every day, just every day. 10 minutes every day for a week is much, much better than an hour, or even many hours, once a week.

[dave_mc]

^ agreed (not that i play every day :lol: ). little and often is better than none for ages, and then a monster 8 hour practice session.

[CJ]

To stress - its the every day part that makes all the difference. You imprint and improve while you sleep. No I'm not $%&#ing with you. Its a neurological fact. Its also a fact that you dont need to do it for a long time every day, just every day. 10 minutes every day for a week is much, much better than an hour, or even many hours, once a week.

 i heard something about this. and it makes sense. but what i heard was to go as far as saying it's better to break up your daily practicing into different sessions (and obviously play every day). but i would think it would be better to get in some consecutive playing hours every day. i feel if you split it up you constantly are playing "cold" unless you do a warmup session before every split section. what are your thoughts on this?

also, i got another suggestion from somewhere else to spend:
1 hour on technique/scales (metronome)
1/2 hour learning a new song
1/2 hour writing a new song
1/2 hour just jamming and messing around

so far this seems to be the best idea i've got. any other ideas?

[ailean]

To stress - its the every day part that makes all the difference. You imprint and improve while you sleep. No I'm not $%&#ing with you. Its a neurological fact. Its also a fact that you dont need to do it for a long time every day, just every day. 10 minutes every day for a week is much, much better than an hour, or even many hours, once a week.

This also works if you leave off playing for a few hours. Not much help on a weekday, but at the weekend practice a bit in the morning, and a bit in the afternoon / evening.

[MDV]

It doesnt work the same. Its the sleep that does it.

Play for longer and add a stock 20 minute warm up if you like. You really should warm up. I just noodle for a bit before getting down to it properly.

[MDV]

To stress - its the every day part that makes all the difference. You imprint and improve while you sleep. No I'm not $%&#ing with you. Its a neurological fact. Its also a fact that you dont need to do it for a long time every day, just every day. 10 minutes every day for a week is much, much better than an hour, or even many hours, once a week.

 i heard something about this. and it makes sense. but what i heard was to go as far as saying it's better to break up your daily practicing into different sessions (and obviously play every day). but i would think it would be better to get in some consecutive playing hours every day. i feel if you split it up you constantly are playing "cold" unless you do a warmup session before every split section. what are your thoughts on this?

also, i got another suggestion from somewhere else to spend:
1 hour on technique/scales (metronome)
1/2 hour learning a new song
1/2 hour writing a new song
1/2 hour just jamming and messing around

so far this seems to be the best idea i've got. any other ideas?

Thats a decent schedule. If that works for you, do it.

[JDC]

one idea I got off the mark tremonti dvd I've been meaning to do is warm up the left hand first with just legato, probably best to a metronome, and then add the right to the metronome as well, and I think your hands will be more in sync

I've not done it enough to say how effective it is though, anyone else tried this?

[CJ]

It doesnt work the same. Its the sleep that does it.

Play for longer and add a stock 20 minute warm up if you like. You really should warm up. I just noodle for a bit before getting down to it properly.

well yesterday was the first day i started my routine, kind of at least. i ended up playing for 3 hours, which was the most i've ever played for consecutively. so progress.

anyway, i started by doing all of my scales at a slow speed with the metronome. i'd imagine that's a fine warmup, right? then i just went on increasing my speed until i got borderline uncomfortable with them. did my scales for about 45 minutes and then some arpeggio/sweep picking practice for about 15 minutes. i'm going to look at that spider thing in the stickies and add that in if you guys think it's useful.

JDC, i think it was Dime who did a warmup routine where he's go up and down the fretboard with hammer ons/pull offs with just the left hand. anyone know what i'm talking about? can't find it anywhere.

[Crazy_Joe]

I second the practise everyday suggestion. If i practise something everyday i get good at it, but then if i don't play it for a few days and come to play it again it's rusty and needs more practise.

I was learning sweep picking before and that really does take every single day practising it. I left it for about a week and i sucked again so you need to do it as much as possible.

[Crazy_Joe]

Also, learn all the modes (apart from Lochrian, that's pointless) and lots of scales. This gives you more to play with than just your standard blues and pentatonic scales.

Play as many different styles as you can, Reggae/Metal/Rock/Country/Blues/Funk etc. it really broadens your playing horizon and improves you in general. Also, you can test out your new techniques and scales with these different styles and see how you can use them.