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Posted by: AdamB Feb 16 2009, 06:40 PM

OK, so I've been doing 4 hours most days for a while now, but not really feeling like it's getting very far. So, in order to try and be a bit more pro-active I've planned out a practice routine for the week. Basically, I've set my target at doing 30 hours a week (as I have to work rougthly 40 hours a week, which sucks).

My main objective is to build speed and accuracy, as I'm very into shred (vai, satriani, eric johnson etc.) at the moment.

I've split it up into jamming/learning, scales/songs from my influences and finger exercises.

The exercises for each day aren't complete as I haven't decided what I'm doing on the saturday yet, but I did the morning half of monday this morning already (my practice on weekdays is 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours 30 mins in the evening).

I've attached my practice routine as a text as I didn't wanna post a massive thread.

The random parts are got by selecting the first random lesson returned when opening guitarmasterclass, and the exercises (except the vai ones) are from masterclass.

Can anyone see any holes in this routine? Do you guys think it will be effective or am I missing something important?

-Adam

 practice.txt ( 2.71K ) : 497

Posted by: Vasilije Vukmirovic Feb 16 2009, 11:55 PM

This reminds me on my routine when I used to practice technique.
Honestly, I think it's very good, just try to keep it up, that's very important.
I was sticking to my routine for 11 months at a time. Maybe, every week I would make a break. I remember getting home from late night party at 3 am, picking up the guitar and playing another hour to complete my plan, THEN go to sleep.
As time goes by you will see that it will be more and more difficult to stick with a plan, but if you are disciplined, believe you would play insanely in a months.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Feb 17 2009, 01:10 AM

It's a good routing, and as Vasilije recommended, it is best to stick with it properly and do a consistent practice sessions. This will ensure fast and effective progress.

Posted by: Outlaw2112 Feb 17 2009, 03:20 AM

seems like alot, and you could possibly burn out from this.... I would cut everything down in time to make sure you wont burn out

Posted by: Rated Htr Feb 17 2009, 09:11 AM

We gotta a Steve Vai class practise guy here...Personally, that's to much for me to handle, I would grow tired of it, especially with my busy schedule, if you follow it thought, no doubt you'll improve very fast

Posted by: Pavlov Feb 17 2009, 10:09 AM

Something that might be beneficial to everyone out there; much like studying (any, not just guitar of course) theory, practicing implicit memory motor moves, like playing the guitar, has been proven to be retained better (by renowned psychological and neuropsychological research) when practiced right before going to sleep. The exact reason for this is unclear, but it seems that while dreaming you practice skills you have learned during the day, fine tuning them (mostly, it's thought that it's because the appropriate neuron/axon connections are slowly made, but I will not bore you with that).

Moral of the story, of course practicing every part of the day helps - but you can gain that bit of a small but somewhat significant advantage if you practice before going to sleep.

Posted by: AdamB Feb 17 2009, 10:51 AM

Think today I'll sort out the rest of the assignments for each day (as they're obviously all messed up at the moment).

I don't really get bored playing, I can play for hours without feeling like I need to stop, the problem I have is that I have to play early in the morning and late at night because of work, which obviously sucks as it makes me very tired.

But I really wanna get somewhere with my playing, and I think to get to where I want to be this is the only way of going about it.

I'll upload my finished routine when I finish planning out the days.

Posted by: AdamB Feb 17 2009, 02:29 PM

here's the one I've just updated. It's still not finished, somehow the numbers don't add up, should probably do this on a spreadsheet or something as it's getting confusing. But anyhow, it's getting closer to being done...

If anyone is interested in using this routine too then I'll sort out some guitar pro files for it or something.

 practice.txt ( 3.39K ) : 217

Posted by: David Wallimann Feb 17 2009, 04:12 PM

This is a very good practice routine, congrats man!
Stick to it and you will see amazing progress.
I need to get back into that kind of discipline, I miss it!

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Feb 17 2009, 07:21 PM

Since your plan is huge I will add some things that you missed

You added 2, 3, 4 and 5 sweeping arpeggios, you missed the 6 string but that's ok I imagine that if you practice on the others the result is almost there. Also for arpeggios when I practiced a looot I used to pick them (I recently made a lesson about this, I'm sure is comming out soon).
And I'd add some stretching exercises from the Rusty Cooley clinics because they are great to improve your skills to reach wide intervals.
Also I'll attach some exercises that are usually asked here and I've transcribed.

I hope this will help you.

 Exercises.rar ( 4.06K ) : 122

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 17 2009, 11:31 PM

Great stuff Adam

With practice routines the best thing is they need to evolve. Only one recommendation - finger 1234 workout might not be needed to do as much every day once you reach your comfort zone and keep practicing every day.

Hope that makes sense

Posted by: AdamB Feb 18 2009, 10:08 AM

I did think about doing arpegios picked (sweeps but picked) after watching petrucci's rock discipline dvd. I suppose I've gotta leave one or two things out in order to give adequate time to the things I am practicing, as my picking and legato is still really sloppy even just doing linear patterns (like playing through the modes).

The vai patterns are meant to be labelled as 1234 for monday, 124 for tuesday, 134 for wednesday and then 1234 and 134 again after I think, I thought i'd changed it but must have forgotten. I've left the 12, 23, 34, 13, 24, 14 parts of the vai exercises out as they're basically the same as parts of the masterclass lessons that I'm doing, so it doesn't make sense to do it all twice.

I did the random learning last night (which is something I've not really done before) and it worked out alright. It took me to 'rocking tune (advanced)', 'playing from the heart' and 'hybrid picking (beginner)'.

One thing I'm not sure as to whether to do or not, is for the random learning, should I chose 3 or 4 random things at the start of the week and fill the allocated time with repeating those things for 1 week, or every day learn something new?

I'm gonna work more on planning out my routine at lunch today, and hopefully sort out the times/allocations for each day, as it somehow adds up to 30 hours even though there aren't 30 hours of exercises... think I've made an error in it somewhere and repeated an exercise too much.

Posted by: Mrblomme Feb 18 2009, 11:01 AM

I also need some kind of practice schedule like that!
Since now these days I'm home the whole day so I could practice up to 14 hours a day!
Imagine what boost that would give.

Posted by: AdamB Feb 19 2009, 02:20 PM

I think this is the finished one, think the times work out correctly now.

I added some stretches, I was doing some of the malmsteen style assignments and noticed how unstretchy my hands are (doing the 2 string sweeps too), so I've allocated an hour for improving that.

I also shifted the 2 and a half hour session into the morning rather than the evening, as I find it's easier to do in the morning. I find it hard to concentrate in the evening, so that is probably the best time for the 'jamming' and learning parts of the routine.

I also added some legato and string skipping scales (playing 3nps modes with whilst skipping strings), which I think will help me co-ordination a fair bit.

I've decided I will stick to this routine for at least 3 months, at which point I can chose to change out 2 exercises. And this will continue over the months (every 3 months 2 exercises can be swapped out), creating a practice rotter. This is similar to what I've done previously, but without structure, I just stop practicing an exercise when Iget bored of doing it. I really must learn to stick at it!

I might start a blog or something to record my progress, as it'll help keep me focused. It's going fine so far this week, tiring but it'll be worth it. I've changed some of the allocations for the days since monday so I've not stuck ridigly to it so far, but now that it's finalised I will be following it. The only thing that will change is that sometimes I am busy on the weekends, so half of saturdays routine will move onto sunday, but other than that it's unchangeable.

-Adam

 practice.txt ( 3.49K ) : 268

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 19 2009, 05:35 PM

Looks better Adam

Stick with it and if you run into any trouble feel free to ask for help !

Posted by: Andrew6 Feb 19 2009, 05:53 PM

I wish I had that kind of time to practice! Thats a great plan I might implement somethign similar

Posted by: AdamB Feb 20 2009, 10:37 AM

OK, so did some playing to backing tracks last night.

I didn't find this particularly productive, as I just felt like I was messing around rather than improving my playing at all.

I think my technical abilities are my main limiting factor, so althrough I'm going to keep this in, I'm going to replace a couple hours of it with more scales or exercises.

One thing I thought about was upping the time spent on my influences instead, as the parts are very hard and not given much time at the moment. So I will make one last revision I think...

Posted by: Oxac Feb 20 2009, 11:22 AM

Have you thought about this approach?

Take a scale and one box. Play every triad arpeggio you can find in it, starting from the root and really learn them? Starting from the first note in the box going up. You can do a lot with this.

Like C - Ionian position (caged style). You have 7 different arpeggios there. By playing the arpeggios in that box and learning exactly what they are like - C major, D minor, E min.. You'll learn the notes of the fretboard faster, you'll learn the scale box better, you'll get away from playing arpeggios in shapes only etc. Then thing that's funny about this is that when you've done this with all of the caged and 3 nps scale patterns... you'll have all "normal" Major, Minor and Diminished arpeggios. You can do this with 7th arpeggios as well, like Cmaj7, Dmin7 etc... And you'll start learning the intervals as well. Really useful when improvising!

Just an often forgotten but a really effective approach.

Posted by: AdamB Feb 23 2009, 04:26 PM

That's a great idea! I've started doing the theory behind this in the car on the way to work, chosing a maj or minor key at random and then filling out all the 4 note chord voiicings for it (maj/min/dim/dom 7 chords). Maybe in a couple of months when I know these inside out I'll start actually playing them to connect it all up.

Posted by: playaxeman Feb 23 2009, 05:04 PM

QUOTE (Oxac @ Feb 20 2009, 11:22 AM)

Posted by: mattacuk Feb 23 2009, 05:33 PM

Hi there,

A tip I might add is Try to remember its not just about how many hours you put in. Maybe less focus on hours might see better progress. I tend to practice 3 hours or so a day but I dont worry about the time (since muris put me in the right direction).

I used to spend hours a day just playing exercises and scales seperate which although good perhaps wasnt the most efficient way of practicing. Now I tend to shred through the scales I wish to practice using sequencing and other chops which means im practicing both technique and scales at the same time. The other portion of my practice I devote to learning songs/tracks of my favorite players which makes practice really fun and I think thats what its all about!

What im trying to say is dont make your practice "robotic", make it fun and you will feel even more motivated

Posted by: Oxac Feb 23 2009, 06:19 PM

I understand if everyone can't understand my post. It's one of those things that you almost already have to have done, to understand the greatness of it. Anyway, I'll try to explain the best way I can (using examples).

Terminology:

Arpeggio: Notes of a chord played separately. EX: Amaj7 arpeggio - A C# E G# (you can extend it in octaves, doesn't have to start on A and it doesn't have to end on G#).

Triad: Chord that consists of three tones. The normal way to build triades is by stacking thirds from a scale.

EX: A major. A B C# D E F# G#.

From this you can build 7 triads.

A - a third up we find C#, third up again and we find E. A C# E gives us the A major chord.

If we use the same scale, starting on B (dorian) we get B D F# (B minor triad).

A seventh chord (Amaj7 per example) is built the same way, but you just add one more third.

Amaj7 is then A C# E G#.

Amaj9 is then A C# E G# B

Could you tell me Amaj11?




Another way to look at 7th chords is by stacking triads separated by a third. In Amaj7 that gives us A major triad (A C# E) + C# minor triad (C# E G#).


The major scale has 7 modes ( Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian). Guitarists love shapes, boxes and patterns so we have a couple of ways to relate them to guitar. There are awesome topics about modes and such in Andrews theory lessons.

Basically Ionian is starting on the first note of the scale, Dorian - second (I wrote them in order above).


So what I like to do is to take one of these "boxes" and play patterns within it. But even more rewarding is playing these arpeggios that exists in every box. All of the 7 different arpeggios exists in every box. And when you're done practising all of the arpeggios in all boxes all over the fretboard in all keys, you know ALL shapes basically. Maybe you shouldn't practise 4 notes per string boxes so much as it is a little overkill so of course you'll have positions you haven't practised, but you'll probably never feel sorry about it. I'd just practise 4 nps boxes to be able to transition from the normal CAGED (andrew theory lesson - READ IT!) and 3 nps boxes smoothly.

I hope this clears things up, if not... maybe an instructor with more experience than me have understood my approach and can explain it better.

Posted by: playaxeman Feb 23 2009, 07:13 PM

QUOTE (Oxac @ Feb 23 2009, 06:19 PM)

Posted by: Oxac Feb 24 2009, 09:12 AM

Not 100% correct I'm afraid. The Amaj11 arpeggio includes the 7th and 9th. So it'll be: A C# E G# B D.

About the arpeggios again: What I mean is that in A major scale there's 7 7th arpeggios. They are

Amaj7, Bm7, C#m7, Dmaj7, E7, F#m7, G#m7-5. What you need to do is to understand that these are the arpeggios. You don't have a B dorian arpeggio, that's a scale (equal to A major, but starting on . However the chord you build from B dorian is Bm7.

This way you'll really learn what you can built out of the scale. You'll also learn when to use what scale.

IE. You have a chord progression: Gm7 C7 Fmaj7 - you'd naturally use the F ionian scale to improvise. (II V I in F major).

Posted by: playaxeman Feb 25 2009, 06:53 PM

Now i understand what you mean

Thx

Posted by: AdamB Feb 26 2009, 09:30 AM

Well it's going great so far, managed to do all my practice up until this morning. I missed this mornings 2 hours 30 mins, as I'm moving this mornings and friday evenings onto sunday this week, as I had to be in work (lame) early this morning and my girlfriend is away on the weekend so I'm spending some time with her on friday evening instead. I think so long as I come up with ways to re-arrange my practice when things like this happen, I'll still be able to keep it up. Having the sunday spare is definantly a good thing, as most weeks I can keep it to just laze around and chill, but still fit in a couple of hours when things go wrong in the week.

Done 13 and a half hours so far this week, another 16 and a half to go!

I've found doing the random lessons has been really useful. I decided that I would chose them at the beginning of the week and then continue 2 all week rather than keep chosing each day. I might continue the ones I've got at the moment for another week, as it's something I've neglected for a long time - playing extended chords with weird fingerings. I can play straight maj/min chords fine and although I can play the chords (fmaj7/a etc.) perfectly fine, my hand gets tired after 10 seconds and then stops being able to pull them off cleanly. This is obviously a problem, so I'll continue playing progressions with them until my hand hardens up a bit. The other one it chose this week was unlocking your scales, which funnily enougth is what has been suggested I do in this thread. Maybe it's fate...?