Idea of Practice Routine to accommodate the Lessons?

[Qwerty1928]

Hi guys!

First, I want to thank you again that the lessons are back online!

Now I am pondering about what could be a nice practice routine to progressively go through (most of) the content of the school.

I mean, I know there is A LOT of content, and the possibilities to practice it are endless. On almost each lesson, it's repeated over and over again : "Take some serious time with this, it will take years to master it"

But that's the thing : there is so much to do that it can be a bit overwhelming. On the one side, I'd like to spend a lot of time on many individual lessons, to properly digest them. On the other side, spending too much time on the same lesson can get a bit boring, and give the feeling of not going forward.

So I'm just curious how you guys tackle it. Any anecdotes of anyone who went through most the beginner and/or intermediate and /or advanced lessons?

For example, for the advanced stuff, do you spend a lot of time mastering a single technique (alternative picking, economy picking, legato, sweep picking, etc), or do you learn them in parallel with a bit of daily practice for each?

Thanks in advance for any feedback !

 

[Damian Garcia]

I understand the difficulty in finding balance between practicing the lessons, and applying those lessons to your playing.

On the one hand, there's no avoiding committing the techniques/music theory to your muscle memory. You have to put in the practice to start feeling comfortable doing them, and that's what the lessons here are great for. If you take them at your own pace while being honest with yourself about your progress, you will eventually create a habit for practicing techniques that are important to you at first, and then leading to being a well-rounded guitarist. Practicing to get to that point may not be the most fun and can be stressful at times, but on the other hand, eustress is a natural part of learning and growing as a musician. Embrace that feeling, and over time you'll find a routine that you prefer as you start prioritizing your musical needs.

I've gotten comfortable to the point of being able to play some of Syn's Etudes, and to apply them practically, I incorporate them into my playing when improvising over backing tracks I make or look up on YouTube. Practicing alternate picking was all I could handle at first, but I saw progress in learning to mentally handle more material at once. Learning songs that you personally enjoy is also another way that will help cement techniques, and you will eventually become competent at handling alternate picking, economy picking, tapping, etc. in one session, especially if you play metal.

The quality of your practice is definitely going to help you master techniques/theory over practicing sloppily for a long period of time, so don't worry if you only want to dedicate practice to, say, sweep picking for 5-10 minutes. Growth is going to be incremental, not instantaneous, and it all starts with the fundamentals

 

[William B.]

I practice subjects separately and switch often. Like into categories, rhythm, theory/lessons, practice + ear training and syncing with songs. Also a lot of listening. I heard/read somewhere like 20 minutes of learning is enough and should take a break. It's so that the new information can settle and process. Some kind of accumulation buffer

this stuffs in general and there's more stuffs

 

[Qwerty1928]

Thanks both for your responses !

I guess I am still at the stage where I focus almost exclusively on alternate picking I also found organizing my practice into categories has been helpful so far. At the moment it goes more or less like :

Current routine

• Chords practice
  • Per CAGED shape and per Scale Degree
  • 30 Min
  • For example : I might do a session to go through many chords that can be formed on the 2nd degree of a Major scale (1st chord of the Dorian mode), specifically in the A shape. Then I might do another session to do the same, but in the E shape. Etc.
• Intervals & Progressions
  • 30 min
  • Example for the intervals part : I go through all the intervals in the Minor Scale, and try to play them starting from a 6th String Root, then from a 5th String Root, and then from a 4th String Root. Also in both direction. So, let's say, if I'm doing the 6th interval for Minor, I'll do a flat 6 going up, and also a 3rd going down
  • Example for the progressions part: I try to play a Minor chord progression in all 5 CAGED shapes (with CAPO on, as with CAPO off I end up playing the same bare chords over and over). During that exercise, I'll also try to embellish the chord of my tonal center (I tend to loose focus if I embellish them all, so I prefer to focus on one single chord per exercise)
• Rhythm:
  • 30 min
  • Basically learning new strumming patterns, practicing the ones I find more difficult, writing down how to count them, counting them alound, raising up the speed, etc.
  • I also try to alternate between "alternate strumming" exercises, "down strum" exercises & arpeggiating chords
• Scales
  • 30 min
  • Mostly practicing the Major scale in all CAGED positions, and with different patterns (Up & Down, 3 notes in a row, 4 notes in a row, in 3rd, etc). Slowly increasing the speed over weeks
  • Almost exclusively alternate picking here, but I sometimes include Legato exercises. In that case, I switch to the 7 positions 3NS system.
  • I also try to include a bit of pentatonic lick practice. So if I'm practicing my Major scale in the E position, I'll add a bit of Pentatonic lick practice in the same position, with the pentatonic root on 4th and 2nd string. So not the "bluesy sound"
• Songs
  • 30 min to many hours
  • Just working on a specific song. Usually one which is challenging to me, but that I can learn in couple weeks max. Not something far beyond my current level

Additional Notes

As you can see , there is tons of stuff I'm not practicing at all at the moment (Tapping, Sweep Pick, Economy Picking, improv, etc). Also, I don't practice all those above categories in one day. I might do one day of Chords + Rhythm, another of Scale + Song, etc.

I have tried improv couple of times, but my solos attempts feel so uninspired that the motivation is a bit low on that side. I'm not sure what's the best approach here. Learning a lot of classic solos before attempting improv? Only practicing pentatonics for now, and wait until I can do decent solos with it before moving to new techniques/ scales?

Also, regarding speed... I'm still pretty damn slown to be honest Like 16th notes at 100 bpm is kinda my max, and even then I need to push it. I don't intend to become the fastest player on earth, but I'd like to reach a speed which allows me to follow "standard difficulty" metal solo with relative comfort. Looking into couple of new exercises ideas that could boost my progress on that side.

Well, that ended up being a way bigger post than intended. But hopefully it can also help someone else a bit

 

[William B.]

Seems solid, maybe could add in upstroke practice and for improv, doing it makes it easier. There's backing tracks but can also put your favorite songs on and jam with those too. I'm going to try some of this, thanks!

 

[Syxguns]

@Damian Garcia and @William B. both made great points.

Now I would like to interject my opinion of a practice routine. Currently I look at your layout and see 2 and a half hours of practice. Do you have any fun in the process?

There comes a point of burnout. I have been playing guitar for 35+ years. The way I run my practice now is for approximately 30 min.

I also change up my practice routine regularly. For example I work on the following.

Day 1: I spend my time on double picking techniques.

Day 2: I work on string skipping.

Day 3: I work on sweep picking.

Then I start the routine over. After I finished my practice I have fun playing or working on a song that I'm writing. Whenever I happen to make a happy mistake I record it with an explanation.

I did this yesterday with a nice little lick that I liked. I recorded the lick and then played with it. I have not gone back to it yet, but I laid down a great foundation with chords and a nice intro line.

So I guess just keep in mind that you don't want to burn yourself out. Remember that I have been playing for a long time. When I was young I practiced about 6 hours a day.

Maybe think about shortening the practice and moving certain items to a different day. Use a scheduler if you need to. Then in your free time enjoy yourself learning a song, or writing a song. Play some things you enjoy.

Put on a strap and stand up to play like a live performance. It feels different than sitting down while you practice.

Work on improvisation. Imagine you are in a live audience and the spotlight is on you. Start playing and when you make a mistake, make that mistake sound intentional. Repeat the mistake then throw in some flare with a grind or harmonics. Then out of nowhere you are back in the jam.

Keep up the great practice routine you have got going!

 

[William B.]

Day 1: I spend my time on double picking techniques.

Hey what's this? I've been trying to do adjacent string double stop riffs with timely hammer on pull offs, is that the same?
I like that how you also put an explanation with the brief recording.

My bad but I haven't got into the theory stuff you shared, got some fatigue these last days.

 

[Syxguns]

Hey what's this? I've been trying to do adjacent string double stop riffs with timely hammer on pull offs, is that the same?
I like that how you also put an explanation with the brief recording.

My bad but I haven't got into the theory stuff you shared, got some fatigue these last days.

My double-picking technique is more of a hand synchronization exercise. I have a problem with speed picking that is not clean. I want each note to sound independent of others.

Don't need a video to explain it as it is pretty simple. Starting out it is just a spider walk. Remember down up down on the pick. Use a metronome to keep in time.

6th string: 1st fret pointer finger, second fret middle finger, 3rd fret ring finger, 4th fret pinky.
5th string: 1st fret pointer finger, second fret middle finger, 3rd fret ring finger, 4th fret pinky.

work your way to the 1st string with the same pattern, but then descending move pinky to the 5th fret, ring to the 4th fret, 2nd finger to the 3rd fret, and first finger to the 2nd fret.

Work your way back up to the 6th string. then increment a fret again and start the process over.

The point is to play each note independently where the pick is striking the string as you are selecting the note. As your speed increases you will have speed and the notes will all be crisp and clear.

As far as hammer-ons and pull-offs those would be a different exercise.

 

[William B.]

work your way to the 1st string with the same pattern, but then descending move pinky to the 5th fret, ring to the 4th fret, 2nd finger to the 3rd fret, and first finger to the 2nd fret.

so the 1-2-3-4- creeps up the neck slowly by 1 fret? I don't play too crisp I'll try it