How does your practice routine look like?
- Thread starter pac112
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seafoamer
Guest
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
i don't practice
i don't practice
pac112
Bravarian PacMan
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
are u serious foamer? FYI i'm think i really really have to improve alot. thats why i asked
. IIRC you have a masters in music right? if you've gone that far i guess you can concentrate more on writing and composing than learning.
seafoamer said:
are u serious foamer? FYI i'm think i really really have to improve alot. thats why i asked
. IIRC you have a masters in music right? if you've gone that far i guess you can concentrate more on writing and composing than learning.
S
seafoamer
Guest
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
For yrs I practiced all day. I try to be more in the moment now & just play. Play like it's my last time playing. I don't recommed this for anyone who hasn't had a tremendous amount of musical experience, though.
On one hand, practicing is valuable, on another hand, life is too short to practice.
For yrs I practiced all day. I try to be more in the moment now & just play. Play like it's my last time playing. I don't recommed this for anyone who hasn't had a tremendous amount of musical experience, though.
On one hand, practicing is valuable, on another hand, life is too short to practice.
S
seafoamer
Guest
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
Ya know, there are a zillion things to do to "practice", but let me give u what I think is, by far, the most under-rated thing to do to get better as a musician:
Pick ur favorite tunes from ur favorite players and transcribe them. Use your ear and spend hours with your guitar on your lap, sitting next to a CD player and "Lick for Lick", learn it all. Your ear wil become a freakin detective. Your hands will learn how to coax the sounds you are hearing out of ur own ax. You will inherently aquire the feel of the artist. etc, etc, etc.
For beginners, this may start rediculously slow. DON'T GIVE UP! If it takes you 3 hours to learn a bar of music, it's sooo worth it in value of the steps your ears and hands took to get there. This is the key!
You'll notice you'll get faster too.
Ya know, there are a zillion things to do to "practice", but let me give u what I think is, by far, the most under-rated thing to do to get better as a musician:
Pick ur favorite tunes from ur favorite players and transcribe them. Use your ear and spend hours with your guitar on your lap, sitting next to a CD player and "Lick for Lick", learn it all. Your ear wil become a freakin detective. Your hands will learn how to coax the sounds you are hearing out of ur own ax. You will inherently aquire the feel of the artist. etc, etc, etc.
For beginners, this may start rediculously slow. DON'T GIVE UP! If it takes you 3 hours to learn a bar of music, it's sooo worth it in value of the steps your ears and hands took to get there. This is the key!
You'll notice you'll get faster too.
S
seafoamer
Guest
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
Oh and NO TABS or other written music. U have to use your own ears & hands to figure it all out. As a musician YOUR EARS are your greatest asset. NOT UR HANDS! If i lost my hands, I'd still be making music, just in different ways than now.
Oh and NO TABS or other written music. U have to use your own ears & hands to figure it all out. As a musician YOUR EARS are your greatest asset. NOT UR HANDS! If i lost my hands, I'd still be making music, just in different ways than now.
vinterland
New member
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
Stretching and warming up are mainstays. I take about 10 mins to warm up. Then it all depends on what I'm working on for the day. If its speed/endurance I'll set the metronome and run chromatics for 5 mins straight, then break for 1 min, then run chromatics again. Then I'll bump up the metronome speed, rinse and repeat. Sometimes I'll just run through scales, sometimes I'll just do legato exercises. It all just depends.
Stretching and warming up are mainstays. I take about 10 mins to warm up. Then it all depends on what I'm working on for the day. If its speed/endurance I'll set the metronome and run chromatics for 5 mins straight, then break for 1 min, then run chromatics again. Then I'll bump up the metronome speed, rinse and repeat. Sometimes I'll just run through scales, sometimes I'll just do legato exercises. It all just depends.
Pierre
Stratologist
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
Has anyone got any tips for non academical people who rarely spend more than half an hour per session on their instruments...? I just can't study... I always did the minimum in life and always had pretty decent grades and now I'm just extremely lazy and I don't work a lot...
Anyhoo what I 'practice'...
Scales. I've been working on the major scale for about a week. My fretting hand doesn't have the right angle and I can't move it down too well so I can't play the major scale properly yet. I just repeat it until I feel a bit more comfortable, then I switch it one up etc... but...yeah. Who doesn't find scales boring
I like to learn easy lead runs, like part of the intro to 'Swim' by In Flames for instance... I like to mess around with major chords, add a finger here and there and find more arrangements that work.
Seafomer, I agree with you as a musician. For all instruments, it's the key to getting a musical ear and learn PATIENCE. As myself though, I could never see me doing it. I just can't work on an instrument for more than half an hour.
Another problem is that by not getting, and never have had any, lessons, I just have no clue what to do. I love open chords, strumming, and I think I'm more of a rythm person, but I don't quite know how to work it. So I do scales to learn how to place my fingers and some tapping for strength and accuracy. But I'm quite clueless.
Has anyone got any tips for non academical people who rarely spend more than half an hour per session on their instruments...? I just can't study... I always did the minimum in life and always had pretty decent grades and now I'm just extremely lazy and I don't work a lot...
Anyhoo what I 'practice'...
Scales. I've been working on the major scale for about a week. My fretting hand doesn't have the right angle and I can't move it down too well so I can't play the major scale properly yet. I just repeat it until I feel a bit more comfortable, then I switch it one up etc... but...yeah. Who doesn't find scales boring
I like to learn easy lead runs, like part of the intro to 'Swim' by In Flames for instance... I like to mess around with major chords, add a finger here and there and find more arrangements that work.
Seafomer, I agree with you as a musician. For all instruments, it's the key to getting a musical ear and learn PATIENCE. As myself though, I could never see me doing it. I just can't work on an instrument for more than half an hour.
Another problem is that by not getting, and never have had any, lessons, I just have no clue what to do. I love open chords, strumming, and I think I'm more of a rythm person, but I don't quite know how to work it. So I do scales to learn how to place my fingers and some tapping for strength and accuracy. But I'm quite clueless.
Zerberus
Baron Von Shred
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
Unfortunately, neither do I. I SHOULD, but I actually find myself playing less and less at home the more we progress in the studio (though I think part of that is normal "burnout"
)
I took technique lessons in the beginning, for about the first 6 months, but I´ve never learned a single scale, for example... Everything else is just hands and ears...
seafoamer said:
Unfortunately, neither do I. I SHOULD, but I actually find myself playing less and less at home the more we progress in the studio (though I think part of that is normal "burnout"
)I took technique lessons in the beginning, for about the first 6 months, but I´ve never learned a single scale, for example... Everything else is just hands and ears...
callous_frigid_chill
New member
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
I warm up for about 15 minutes, and then I just do whatever strikes my fancy.
I warm up for about 15 minutes, and then I just do whatever strikes my fancy.
bungalowbill
Luckybastidologist
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
I usually practice by learning new tunes or working on something technique wise that may be lacking. After I play for a while and get warmed up I like to work on improvisational stuff.
I usually practice by learning new tunes or working on something technique wise that may be lacking. After I play for a while and get warmed up I like to work on improvisational stuff.
Rotten Guitar String
New member
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
For the last few months I've just been screwing around and not practicing at all, but now I'm trying to get into practicing more.
I never stick to a strict schedule, but it's usually something like
-Play some random slow stuff to warm up fingers
-Screw around for 15 mins
-Do (sometimes record) some jamming/improvising
-Some metronome practice 15-30 mins
-Work on songs that I'm learning until I'm sick of it
-Screw around some more
Sometimes I spend the whole time working on a song, sometimes I screw around the whole time. Depends how I'm feeling that day.
For the last few months I've just been screwing around and not practicing at all, but now I'm trying to get into practicing more.
I never stick to a strict schedule, but it's usually something like
-Play some random slow stuff to warm up fingers
-Screw around for 15 mins
-Do (sometimes record) some jamming/improvising
-Some metronome practice 15-30 mins
-Work on songs that I'm learning until I'm sick of it
-Screw around some more
Sometimes I spend the whole time working on a song, sometimes I screw around the whole time. Depends how I'm feeling that day.
MesaDCLP
New member
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
I have no time to practice, I just play for the love of it. If you focus too hard, you miss the point... just play what you feel and then listen and feel what you play. try to keep the two in sync and people know where you're coming from on an emotional level. Oh, and record everything so you can listen later to see if it takes you back to where you were... hope this makes sense
I have no time to practice, I just play for the love of it. If you focus too hard, you miss the point... just play what you feel and then listen and feel what you play. try to keep the two in sync and people know where you're coming from on an emotional level. Oh, and record everything so you can listen later to see if it takes you back to where you were... hope this makes sense
TheLizardKing
New member
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
How funny, I was just going to post a topic on this forum about this exact idea. My "practice" routine usually consists of practicing a few songs, maybe turning on the radio and playing along with jimmy page on a solo. I also practice random scales at random positions just to improve my musical vocabulary but I know next to no music theory unlike Jimmy Page does. Does anyone have any advice on what scales and modes and keys I should be practicing playing?
How funny, I was just going to post a topic on this forum about this exact idea. My "practice" routine usually consists of practicing a few songs, maybe turning on the radio and playing along with jimmy page on a solo. I also practice random scales at random positions just to improve my musical vocabulary but I know next to no music theory unlike Jimmy Page does. Does anyone have any advice on what scales and modes and keys I should be practicing playing?
jimpmiller
New member
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
For Jimmy Page..Penatonics..all of them 10000X a day
For Jimmy Page..Penatonics..all of them 10000X a day
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
When I was in college, studying music, and playing about six hours a day, I spent about an hour or two playing exercises and scales. Learning all seven diatonic scale patterns is a must, especially if you then want to twist them and play modally.
Also, at that time, I'd spend about an hour each on jazz and classical guitar studies.
The rest of the time I mostly just played the rock stuff I was interested in at the time -- including a lot of Zeppelin, which you can never go wrong with as a learning tool.
If you need help with the seven diatonic patterns, I've posted a lesson on that. Go to www.BluesQuest.com and click on Lessons and Tips, then choose the article titled "Scales Are Everywhere."
I teach in a store one day a week and I stress learning these seven diatonic patterns to all my students, especially if they want to play lead guitar.
When I was in college, studying music, and playing about six hours a day, I spent about an hour or two playing exercises and scales. Learning all seven diatonic scale patterns is a must, especially if you then want to twist them and play modally.
Also, at that time, I'd spend about an hour each on jazz and classical guitar studies.
The rest of the time I mostly just played the rock stuff I was interested in at the time -- including a lot of Zeppelin, which you can never go wrong with as a learning tool.
If you need help with the seven diatonic patterns, I've posted a lesson on that. Go to www.BluesQuest.com and click on Lessons and Tips, then choose the article titled "Scales Are Everywhere."
I teach in a store one day a week and I stress learning these seven diatonic patterns to all my students, especially if they want to play lead guitar.
Quencho092
New member
Re: How does your practice routine look like?
Very good point. If you're going to be playing at a gig somewhere, it's not a very good idea to have practiced all your songs off of a sheet. If you learned it by ear, you'll never lose it and everything will come out the way you heard it.
I really don't practice too much these days. I started playing when I was 13 and built up hand dexterity, etc, and learned all my scales and chords. Now I focus more on theory, songwriting, and working on improvising better and self expression through guitar, especially since speed and technique aren't extremely important for blues guitar and the 'blues/jazz/funk' that my band plays.
Believe it or not, if you practice alot one or two days in a row, then take a break for one day, it's usually a breath of fresh air for your creativity. Lots of times when I play TOO often and work on the same stuff too often I end up sounding a bit monotonous (Let's say I was working on SRV chops for a few hours a day-when I jam with my band, I end up sounding too much like SRV in all of the songs we play). :smack:
When you come back after a one day break, you will find yourself having the same skills and style that you were working on before, but you will be able to explore more sounds without having that style intrude upon what else you want to learn. It lets you approach on a different perspective.
seafoamer said:
Very good point. If you're going to be playing at a gig somewhere, it's not a very good idea to have practiced all your songs off of a sheet. If you learned it by ear, you'll never lose it and everything will come out the way you heard it.
I really don't practice too much these days. I started playing when I was 13 and built up hand dexterity, etc, and learned all my scales and chords. Now I focus more on theory, songwriting, and working on improvising better and self expression through guitar, especially since speed and technique aren't extremely important for blues guitar and the 'blues/jazz/funk' that my band plays.
Believe it or not, if you practice alot one or two days in a row, then take a break for one day, it's usually a breath of fresh air for your creativity. Lots of times when I play TOO often and work on the same stuff too often I end up sounding a bit monotonous (Let's say I was working on SRV chops for a few hours a day-when I jam with my band, I end up sounding too much like SRV in all of the songs we play). :smack:
When you come back after a one day break, you will find yourself having the same skills and style that you were working on before, but you will be able to explore more sounds without having that style intrude upon what else you want to learn. It lets you approach on a different perspective.
