I've finally been pretty consistent in practicing at least 30 minutes every day. I'm getting some helpful points from Pete Huttlinger's Guide to Better Practicing DVD and a book by Jack Grassel on practicing. What have you found to be the best way to divide your practice time?

I took violin lessons for a short amount of time and my instructor seemed to have good advice on time management:

• 1/3 Scales
  
• 1/3 Technique
  
• 1/3 Repertoire

I'm trying to balance between my C10 and Tele, with some resonator thrown in for good measure. Any recommendations or observations to be a well rounded player?

That's pretty good advice from your teacher. I never run scales except the only one I know...the 5 note one.

Play with other people. I got into a church band and there were other guitar players covering chord strumming in open positions and single line players so to stay out of the way I had to learn different voicings more like a keyboard and it opened up me head.

Nick,
I am probably not a very well rounded player,as my Goal was to perform Songs. So I spent 100% of my practice time learning songs. With each new song, I learned another movement, walk-up, walk-down, chord progression, chord shape, hammerons, etc., etc., etc., so by the time I knew 20 songs I was a pretty good Guitar Player. My focus on practicing was to always FINISH A SONG...Have an intro..verses, chorus, bridge, and outro. Then during practice of each song, I forced myself never to stop if I made a mistake! Keep going no matter what. Of course by that time I had spent enough time to completely know the song.

Then by the time I knew 40 songs...I was even a much better player...then 60 songs....then 80 songs.....You get my Point.

Lastly, when I give Guitar Lessons I always stress what I consider to be one of the most Critical Aspects to Practice, and Learning anything new...........

ACCURACY NOT SPEED!!!!!!! Do not try to go to fast. Increase your speed slowly...being accurate rather than fast! You avoid many bad habits by following that suggestion.

This is probably just generic reading for you,as I never approached Guitar Playing the way you are. All I ever wanted to do was Sing and Play songs on my Guitar.

Best to You,
Michael

PS.....I could not play a scale on a Guitar to save my life. No wonder I was always a Solo Guitar Player/Singer. But I can hang with a jam pretty good sometimes.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dadthrash,

Metronome.

No, I don't have one.

I practice some scales every day. (G minor pent for blues)

Avoid the rut of playing the same thing over and over because you know some riff.

Push yourself with something new.

Jefeism #26: Play the piece all the way through without stopping at mistakes and starting over.

- In addition to your avg 30 min per day, have one practice each week that goes 1-2 hours
- Practice scales that relate to the repertoire that you are working on and relate to your style of music. For instance, if you are playing a song in the Key of G Major, stick with the G Maj, C Maj and D Maj scales. If you are working primarily on fiddle tunes, don't bother learning the half-diminished scale.
- Make sure you are practicing the various alternating scale patterns up and down, in different positions (open position, root note on low E string, root note on A string)
- Alternating patterns take the standard scale and change the order of the notes which helps burn into muscle memory.
- Normal major scale is 1(G) 2(A) 3(B) 4(C) 5(D) 6(E) 7(F#) 8(G)
- Alt. scale is 1 3 2 4 3 5 4 6 5 7 6 8 7 9 8
- Another is 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 3 4 5 6 5 6 7 8 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 0 8
- If you are into Bluegrass or fiddle tunes, an adherence to DUDU picking is crucial
- Make sure you are producing good tone and volume at all times (practice like every note is a performance)
- Make sure to have excellent posture and hand position at all times
- Make sure to have fun. Mix things up once and a while. Skip the scales altogether sometimes.
- Play with a metronome.
- Play along with CDs

Great advice. I'm doing about half the stuff Rolfomatic recommended, so I'll incorporate some of the others that I'm not doing (ie playing 1-2 hours one time a week and varying the major scale).

Do you players find it more beneficial to practice on multiple guitars, or does it just confuse your hands? Do you take one day off a week?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dadthrash:
Nick,
... Lastly, when I give Guitar Lessons I always stress what I consider to be one of the most Critical Aspects to Practice, and Learning anything new...........

ACCURACY NOT SPEED!!!!!!! Do not try to go to fast. Increase your speed slowly...being accurate rather than fast! You avoid many bad habits by following that suggestion.QUOTE]

Nick,
It took me many years to learn how true and how important the facts are that Mike stated above. Two things are important, but distinctly different, namely; 1) HOW to practice. 2) WHAT to practice. Of the two, HOW to practice is MUCH more important than WHAT. "WHAT" IS important, just less so than "HOW". Most of this thread focuses on WHAT to practice. That's OK, but most folk need the most help with HOW to practice because it is so seldom taught. Let me expand to why this is to try and be more clear/helpful.

Most people can’t describe in detail how to tie their shoes without looking and doing it. Why? Because they have committed the knowledge for tying their shoes to their subconscious mind. They "do it without thinking”. That is, without conscious thinking. Much, if not most, of guitar playing is from the subconscious mind. We don't think about how to move each finger to play a G chord, we just play it automatically from the subconscious.

So the key to practice is in HOW to move the playing from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind WITHOUT ERRORS, or as Mike said, accurately. Conscious repetition without errors will PROGRAM our subconscious to play it back without errors. Repeated practice with errors will program our subconscious mind to play with those same errors over and over. They become “ingrained”. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

The only way to practice without errors is to slow things down enough so that the conscious mind can “see” and carefully control our playing body parts (shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, etc.) When we do things slowly and correctly over and over then the subconscious gets programmed correctly. This includes gradually speeding up so that by the time the playing moves from the conscious to the subconscious it is without errors. This takes great intention and attention to acomplish.

Here’s the most important thing that I can tell you, and very sadly, it took me many years to learn it. But thankfully, I finally did learn it. THE MOST COMMON AND WORST PROBLEM GUITAR PLAYERS HAVE IS EXCESS TENSION in the playing body parts (or even tension anywhere in the body). If you practice with tension in any part, then you will program your subconscious to also include that same tension in the memory banks. If you practice with excess tension anywhere you will have that same tension in the same location(s) when you play it later from the subconscious as that tension just becomes “normal” and ingrained. In fact, it can become so ingrained it is even often hard to see/feel/find and therefore eliminate. (e.g. If you practice with tense hands then your hands will always be tense when playing, and you may not be conscious of it.) If you practice with minimal tension (what we call relaxed), then you will program your subconscious to play relaxed. Then “relaxed” becomes “normal”. Relaxed playing is the key to good/great playing and the soaring joys that go with it. Tensed playing is frustrating.

HOW to practice:

- Practice slow and gradually build speed.
- Practice repeatedly without errors (be accurate) from slow to fast.
- Practice relaxed from slow to fast (with minimal tension in shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, and body) and stay very aware of and eliminate tension throughout practice and playing.
- Practice with great intention and attention to the above details

Best of luck,
Ed

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sugarlander,

Thanks Ed. I agree that "how" to practice is so important. I learned some bad habits that resulted in sloppy playing. Because of that, I've been focusing on slow, accurate playing, even though I could play things faster with mistakes. I will also focus on being relaxed instead of tense, which is probably a problem for many of us.

quote:

Originally posted by Nick:
Thanks Ed. I agree that "how" to practice is so important. I learned some bad habits that resulted in sloppy playing. Because of that, I've been focusing on slow, accurate playing, even though I could play things faster with mistakes. I will also focus on being relaxed instead of tense, which is probably a problem for many of us.

Nick,
If you focus on being relaxed in every body part for the next year, your playing will take a tremendous step forward and your enjoyment will grow exceedingly, regardless of WHAT you practice. (It is good to have a good practice plan of what to do!) If you focus intently on the HOW you prictice, you will be smiling from ear-to-ear this time next year when you look back on how much you gained, and how much enjoyment you are having.

It took me a long time to learn this. It should be obvious, but it is not since it is so seldom talked about or stressed by teachers or players, etc.

There are some materials to help. PM me if you are interested.

Ed

Nick,
I found this on Pete Huttlingers Website, in the "Ask Pete" section. Read his reponse to the question. Although he is a busy man. and his reply is short and to the point...take it to heart, and realize how much this is re-enforcing what Sugarlander is trying to convey about being relaxed.

Here it is:

Hello Pete, I hope this message finds you doing well. Met you in San Diego last month. Can you please comment on hand tension while playing. I notice that when I make a concerted effort to relax both hands, my playing seems to smooth up. If I'm learning a new tune, I tend to head towards the death-grip while learning new chords, passages, etc. Do you consciously keep your hands loose and relaxed? Or is it something that you don't really think about? Thanks Pete!! Glen (aka Greg)
Glen Guldbeck

Pete'e Reply:
I am very conscious about relaxing my hands when I play. I can't stress enough how important it is to be relaxed when you play. It shows in the music and will prevent injury down the road.
Pete

Best Regards,
Michael

Sugerlander: Your original post about practicing/tension, etc. was very, very good, probably about the best fundamental advice you could give and you laid it out very well.

quote:

Originally posted by redavide:
Sugarlander: Your original post about practicing/tension, etc. was very, very good, probably about the best fundamental advice you could give and you laid it out very well.

redavide,
Thanks for the encouragement!
Ed