Help with Practicing
- Jrb415
- member
- Gold Member

- From: North TX
- Registered: 2008-11-15
- Posts: 52
Hey guys I was wondering, how do i come up with practice plan that works for me and any advise on sticking with it?
Thanks in advance:)
- THE1HOSSFAN
- senior member
- From: Pearcy AR
- Registered: 2009-03-25
- Posts: 190
The best way to practice is to split it into two sections Chord play for about 30 minutes then Scales for 30 . as far as sticking to it just make it fun change up thye way u do it.
- GuitarFreak
- senior member

- Registered: 2008-11-20
- Posts: 237
when i used to practise scales i'd watch tv so that in effect. i would absent mindedly be playing scales while concentrating on the tv. so playing them without having to think about them. n now they r burned into my brain
although that may not work for you.
you could try making songs out of scales or little tunes that will make it more fun.
- cricketrider
- senior member

- From: indiana
- Registered: 2008-10-20
- Posts: 316
how to practice? i like to think of practice as just playing guitar with the goal of learning something new or getting better at something i already know. for me the best way to practice is to set goals on waht it is i want to accompish and go for it. Now that is good advice i am sure. here is the catch you may not achieve your goals the first time out but stay with it because the guitar is a hard instrument to learn for most and improvements come in small intervals msost of the time occasioonally accompanied by quantum leaps in understanding and achievement.
the amount of time you practice is accourding to how fast you want to learn but i would say a good minumum is twenty minutes a day if you can spare that.(most of us watch that much in commmercials in a day right?)
the way to stick with it is to have the drive to learn you have to want it or it will not come.
one thing that also comes to mind is that many guitarst have certain things that are thier trademarks. rof example Randyrhoads of OZZY solos in the diminished arpeggios alot and i cannot think of another guitarist that can do a dim arp better than he could. or ygnwie malmsteen and his harmonic minor scales. no one even comes close to doing them as fast and uniquely as he does. So perhaps that is a good idea as well specialize for awhile on one thing that you really like because if you get really good at one thing i promise you that it will have some relationship to other things on the guitar that are going to be useful to you.
that said the thing i focus on more thatn any is the pentatonic scales and all of its variations, there are so many players out there that this is thier bread and butter or in some cases that is about all that they ever played is the pentatonic scales Ie b.b king , howlin wolf, alot of slash, zack wylde,
if my calculations are correct SLINKY + ESCULATOR = EVERLASTING FUN
- CrabFries
- member

- From: Philadelphia PA
- Registered: 2009-06-09
- Posts: 12
Little late as usual.... but worth putting my 1 cent into this.... They key is consistency!! Start the same way every practice... Finger stretches then chromatic scale exercises.... also remember you don't have to kill yourself for hours... this will only burn you out!!! QUICK!!! maybe do 30 min in am / 30 min at night.. till you really get goin...
- chancho
- member

- Registered: 2009-03-15
- Posts: 62
hey JRB!!! How are the practice sessions coming along? Anyway I thought Id share what has become my system with you. I practice strumming chords looking for a clean sound when i do as well as an even smoother transition. I then go and play the Pentatonics,...............this can and does go on longer than I sometimes want, back and forth back and forth. I like to then play what songs I know, only then do I begin to practice what my teacher ecently gace as ana exercises, which is why I look bad when he comes around....................LOL!
Bob Dylan
Cavett-..well when you mention the National Anthem and talk about playin it in any unorthodox way, you immediately get hate mail....
Hendrix- I didnt think it was unorthodox, I thought it was beautifull.....but there you go
I've been imitated so well I've heard people copy my mistakes.
Jimi Hendrix
This is the strangest life I've ever known.
Jim Morrison
- Newbie Dean
- senior member

- From: Northern Wisconsin
- Registered: 2009-06-15
- Posts: 196
I am lucky to have a coach; not a weekly teacher. He tabbed a few songs for me in the basic chords and got me going playing songs. Playig these songs makes it FUN, yet I'm learning the basic chords at the same time. Whatever makes it fun for you is what you need to do. Being retired, I don't have a "schedule". I "retire" to my practice "closet" whenever I have a few minutes during the day when I don't have something specific to do. For me, this keeps it fun. I always have said: "If it's not fun........go find something else to do". That's why I retired!!!!! When I master the songs he's given me, I get together with him to get something new to work on.
Good Luck and HAVE FUN!!!!!
