When I first started playing I was a maniac! I had no real structure to my practice. I just put in the hours and hoped that I got better. And I did! But there was a problem. I practiced something different almost every day. My practice "schedule" changed from one day to the next. This created two major negative side effects...
1. Sore hands. For example, I would often go so berserk on alternate picking exercises that my picking wrist would get incredibly sore. It would be so sore that I couldn't practice alternate picking the next day. So what did I do? I then went crazy with legato exercises. So much so that I wouldn't be able to practice legato the next day. So I went back to my trusty alternate picking. Mmmm...there's a pattern emerging here. :-)
2. Slower Progress. Now, don't get me wrong. I progressed faster than any of my friends. But I definitely don't think I progressed at my fastest possible rate. If I had practiced less on an exercise, but did it EVERY day I think my progress would have been much faster.
I guess the moral of the story is to temper your enthusiasm with intelligence. Let's look at how to start to be more consistent with your practice...
***Step One***
Decide on something that you would like to master. Make it something short like a lick, scale or perhaps a few bars of a song.
***Step Two***
Decide on a speed goal for the thing that you have chosen. This will be your target tempo. Make it challenging. Something that will make you a significantly better player once you have achieved it. Of course, you need to keep in mind your current playing level. If you are a beginner and you set a speed goal of sixteenth notes at 240bpm, you are definitely setting yourself up for a failure!
***Step Three***
Decide on how much time you'll invest practicing the thing that you have chosen. I would recommend setting a goal of 10-15 minutes a day. A small amount done daily will give you better results than hours done irregularly.
***Step Four***
Make a commitment to practice what you have chosen on a daily basis. The key is to practice it every single day until your speed goal has been reached. No excuses,no crying, no moaning, no exceptions.
***Step Five***
Get to work! This is the step that requires discipline. It could take weeks or months to achieve your speed goal! Just keep in mind that anyone can write down a goal, but unfortunately VERY few people will follow it though to completion. That's probably why there are so many more guitar OWNERS than guitar PLAYERS ;-)
I invite you to try this approach to guitar practice. I've found that it really helps me, and I'm sure you'll benefit from it as well!
Having a balanced practice routine is essential if you want to become a versatile guitarist. If you just practice one or two things, sure you'll get great at those things...but you'll be weak in other key areas.
In this lesson you'll learn how to create a practice routine that is well-balanced and will help you work towards your ultimate vision of how you would like to play.
I generally categorise what I practice into one of seven areas: 1. Technique. 2. Repertoire (Covers). 3. Composition. 4. Improvisation. 5. Ear Training. 6. Theory. 7. Music Reading.
Everything that you practice will fit into one or more of the above areas. For example,if you are learning a very challenging cover tune by transcribing it off the CD you are essentially working on your technique, repertoire and ear training at the same time. If you also write down the song in standard notation, you will also be developing your music reading skills.
Now…do you have to practice things in all seven areas? I believe that you don't have to if your vision doesn't require it. For example, if someone wants to become an awesome classical guitarist and has no desire to improvise, then I believe that they don't need to practice things relating to improvisation. We all have limited time available for practice, so it's a waste of time working on things that don't specifically help you reach your goals.
Let's go through a few exercises…
Exercise One:
Think about the vision that you have for your playing for a few minutes. How would you like to play in ten years time. Make it exact!
Once you've done that, brainstorm as many things that you need to practice in order to play like your vision. What specific things do you need to learn, develop and practice? Write them down now.
Exercise Two:
Next to each of the things written down for Exercise One, write down a category next to it. For example, if you wrote "I need to be able to play faster" then write technique next to it. If you feel that something you wrote belongs to more than one category, then write down all the categories it could belong to.
Exercise Three:
Look at your answers for the previous two exercises. Once you've done that priorities the categories shown below. For example, if you feel that technique is the most important thing you need to work on to reach your vision then put a 1 next to it.
**Practice Area Priority Level (1-7)** [Note: 1 is the highest priority].
Technique Repertoire (covers) Composition Improvisation Ear Training Theory Music Reading
Now here's the important point. You should spend the most time practising your number one priority. I know it's pretty obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many people don't do this! I know a few guitar players who would like to be able to play incredibly fast, yet they don't do a lot of technical practice. Talk about setting yourself up to fail!
Exercise Four:
Decide how much time every day you will spend on each category. Write it down below.
**Practice Area Time Invested Daily**
Technique Repertoire (covers) Composition Improvisation Ear Training Theory Music Reading
All done? Great!
So what's the next step?
The next step is to decide on a specific activity for each practice area.Make sure to write them down.
Here are a couple of examples of what someone might put down...
Technique: I will invest 10 minutes a day on alternate picking exercise one. I will start with the metronome at 80 beats per minute (bpm) and increase it by 4 bpm daily (as long as I can play it perfectly).
Ear Training: I will invest 10 minutes daily a day on A minor pentatonic ear training exercise one.
Got the idea? You would have one specific activity for every practice area. If you have a lot of time to practice you could set more than one activity per practice area.
Give this method a try. I'll think you'll be more than happy with the results!
Both Craig Bassett & Upinder Singh Negi3 are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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