Practicing

[Julian Barton]

I have been playing today and practicing and I noticed my same old dull routine is stale. I am wondering if it is supposed to be this way or if I am supposed to really expand like for example when I skateboard I practice 3 or 4 tricks not to wear myself out on one. I have hit a point where playing is becoming a bore. Should I just start busting out through lessons and learning more or continue what I am doing? I am unsure where to go from this point.

 

[Joe Giumarello]

This might be odd but I learn the most from learning songs. I see what different arpeggio patterns people use, chord progressions, licks, etc. and eventually if you start remembering these nuances, you can apply them to your own playing. Jam along to a backing track and throw everything you got at the wall and see if it sticks (meaning find out what licks are good or not). Also, practice your sight reading maybe and I personally can’t stress enough to just ENJOY the instrument. If all you do is practice, practice, practice, and don’t enjoy the instrument then what’s the point of playing (not sure if this sounds mean or not, but I’m not being mean lol). With guitar, you just don’t practice but you play. I love playing along with my favorite Avenged songs, but first you have to learn them to enjoy them and that’s the beauty of guitar: you practice to play. It isn’t a video game where there is x amount of levels and once you beat the game it’s over (corny reference haha) but it is something you just keep building upon for enjoyment!

 

[Kevin Welton]

If you are a beginner, you want to be expanding once you are competent at what you are learning, not perfected! As long as your technique is correct you can perfect it later. If you are really trying to focus on a specific technique then i’ve found switching exercises every 5-7 days or once you got the bpm up 10-20bpm (whichever comes first) helps a lot, your technique will still improve and helps eleviate staleness! Plus it helps you focus on the technique itself instead of just the exercise you are using to improve it

 

[Ben Thorpe]

I’ve had the same thing happen to me before. Everybody has off-days where they don’t have any motivation to practice. I just begin to try out new exercises to keep things fresh as long as it’s still within my capabilities, or go back and refresh my memory on something I may have forgotten. Practice becoming stale for you means that you’re not feeling a sense of satisfaction and reward when you’re playing, as you no longer feel like you’re progressing. Learning something new is the only way that you’ll continue to feel like you’re progressing and improving. So my advice is to try and keep moving forward and try something new, whatever that may be to you, to avoid the feeling of staleness when practicing. Hope this helps!

 

[idssdi]

I agree with Joe. I lso learn the most from learning songs even though I’m trying out some of the lessons at moment. I personally am trying to keep up the following practicing/practicing pattern each day which is kinda new for me too: I pick 1 lesson from each of the categories on here and practice all of them for like 30 minutes a day (like 2 of them before I go to uni, then when I’m done having dinner do another 2) and that should be done at around 8pm after this just have fun playing along with stuff or something until 10pm or shorter however long you wanna play really. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be lessons on here you can also just learn new songs so you can play them during the fun time

 

[Julian Barton]

Thanks guys. I guess I am just having one of those days lol I don’t want to learn a song and challenge myself too much because I am lazy today but I am bored. Also joe this feels like a video game haha. I love how the skill levels are Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Syn (God).

 

[Chris Robertson]

I think there’s a ton of wisdom shared here by Ids, Ben, Kevin and Joe. I agree with all of it, and will add one more thought: I separate playing and practicing (at least, in my head). To me, practicing is when I pull out some sheet music with techniques or arpeggios or scales and work on them with a metronome. Or, a new song or solo. But after I practice, I’ll set aside time to play. Meaning, I will put aside the work I’m progressing through and play songs I already know for fun, or write some new music for myself. I think that helps keep a balance between the hard work (practice) and fun (noodling around and jamming).
One thing that may help you get out of a rut or ‘one of those days’ is to improv over top of a backing track someone else has made or posted. It’s still stretching your creativity, but also something new/different.
Cheers!