Kris, Practice? Options

[Martin la guitar...]

Hi kris! Im amazed by your technique and tonality in guitar playing. Im curious in how you practice. I know, that a persons practice schedule changes at daily bases, but it would be great if you could just give me a hint of how it looks like.

How much time do you practice guitar a day? What do you practice, do you practice numerous of different techniques or do you only practice a few exercises a day. How much time on each technique/exercise? Do you learn songs from different bands?

Thanks in advance!

[Kristofer Dahl]

This topic is one of my favorite / so thanks for asking!

The last couple of month I have just got an average of 30 - 45 minutes per day, which isn't enough for me.

However since I only focus on technique - more specifically the technical things that limit me, I find that I get a lot out of my practicing minutes. The downside is of course, that I don't have time to learn new stuff (30 - 45 minutes per day surely isn't enough for that).

Most people who have been at GMC for a while know what happens if you only practice technique - your musical ability drops and after a while you start feeling that you aren't capable of playing much other than your exercises.

The same is of course true for me - so what I do is to try to think of new songs, soloing approaches and even licks when I am not even holding a guitar. This will certainly not make me a better guitarist - but it does really help when I get the time to sit down and write a solo or song. Basically it gives me a home-built library of inspiration to choose from.

This approach wouldn't work unless I got that minimal amount of technique practicing (If I didn't do that I wouldn't have any chops to play my accumulated ideas).

do you practice numerous of different techniques or do you only practice a few exercises a day

More specifically - I practice

* vibrato (at speeds and strings where I am not comfortable),

* I practice left hand strength/legato (with finger movement and stretches where I don't feel comfortable),

* and I practice speedpicking tone (basically slowing down alternate picking exercises and making sure every note sounds the way I want it to).

Let me know if you have got any more questions!

[Oxac]

O.o THat's great to hear Kris. I like the fact that you separate being a musician and being a guitarist I do this too, but it's a shame that I can't sight-sing. I think that is something that should be taught here at GMC because if you can sight-sing you can write down any melodies etc. that pops up in your head wherever you are (almost). And you can forget about them and think about other stuff because our brains shouldn't be used for remembering, paper is superior in that aspect... Our brains should be used for imagination

This post has been edited by Oxac: Jul 27 2009, 10:53 AM

[Kristofer Dahl]

Sorry Oxac I missed this comment.

I am really lousy at sight singing and write down ideas of mine. My thinking is like this - if the melody isn't good enough for me to remember it in my head and recall it when it's recording time, then it probably means the idea wasn't good enough from the beginning.

If I get a riff idea in my head - and afterwards can't exactly remember how I did it - then I usually find that I remember the stronger parts of the riff and forget about the weaker ones. Perfect in other words!