Until now, I've been practicing mostly half'n'hour per day (+ playing/composing throughout the day, gigs etc..), and this type of routine was good for my previously learned techniques mostly.

However I must be honest to myself, I'm not progressing like I did back in the old days. My solos became smarter but not that much faster, my tone and technique has become more polished, but I need to turn on the afterburners once in a while. I need to work on my heavy metal rhythm and some tapping too.

So guys, since it's my birthday today, I decided that I start with serious practice, as I did in the good old days. Wish me luck!

I also encourage everybody to be honest to ourselves, see what we were lacking in practice during the years, and try to make up for it. We'll all in this together, so I wish you happy practicing!

best of luck,
Ivan

Happy Birthday Ivan !

And good luck !

Thats very good that you are able to identify your own weakness or areas you would like to improve on, and then apply changes to fix it....

I too have taken a step back from learning "lessons" and I am mainly focusing on technique.....i am seeing results which is good.

Good Luck mate, I'd love to see some Heavy Metal Rhythm's with a "metal/bleus solo" from you..... that would be bad ass!

Yep this is awesome - you have to honestly revise you skills even if you have come very far. That's the only way to reach the top! =)

Happy birthday Ivan!

Greeat resolution to start the day. Happy Birthday again and good luck.

Good luck, Ivan! You're plenty good already, but it never hurts to get better.

Everyone can improve , even Satriani or Petrucci or......

Good luck and Happy Birthday !

The man learn whole life!

Happy birthday

Let there be thousands of heavy metal riffs,
and let them generates hundreds of heavy metal lessons

Thanks a lot guys!

Congratulations with your birth

When you are relatively new to guitar (as I am), making & noticing improvement seems to come quickly. But when you reach the level as you have, Ivan, I would think it might take a longer amount of practice time (or maybe just more intense) to notice significant improvement by comparison. Would you consider this a valid comment?

I also see this as a challenge to all of us. Especially to those of us who are not currently taking private lessons. I (we?) need to analyze my (our) practice routine to ensure I am (we are) focusing on areas that I (we) can improve. Thanks for raising the bar & best of luck, Ivan!

I hope you have an amazing birthday!

Gary

that's great news ivan, that makes 2 of us! (instructors)

This is a great decision Ivan!! Best of lucks my friend! However I must say that you are already an awesome guitar player.

Healthy thinking mate! What better way to celebrate then through work for building yourself up? You know, Andres Segovia used to study 6 hrs a day when he was 82 out of what I know! We can make a little effort now if the old man could, couldn't we?

Thanks a lot everybody for nice encouragement words and advices, it means a lot to have support!

@Gary: It's not harder, it takes the same amount of time to learn something new, it's harder today because I don't have so much spare time for practicing, but I'm playing all the time so this will help me. I'm making a practice routine just now!