Originally Posted by: renI don't know if this will inspire, but the first step is to write something down... I suggest my students practice in 2 hour chunks:

15 minutes warming up - alternate picking spider patterns in different fingerings, some legato patterns and some sweep sequences. The time can come down in summer, when you're not so cold in the first place...

scales for 15 mins - alternate picking / economy picking and learning new ones if necessary.. partially as a picking / co-ordination exercise.

chords for 15 mins - scribble a progression down with lots of altered 9th / 7th / 11th / diminished / whatevers to get your hands tied up! Whatever stage you're at, just try to push yourself and take on the changes you'd try to avoid...

'technique' - 30 mins - I alternate between focal points here. At the moment I'm doing alot more tapping, so am practicing 8 fingered stuff, but it varies, and it's whatever works for you...

Freedom - 45 minutes - I split this between practicing anything I'll be performing that needs a polish, or learning a track of someone else's I like, maybe doing some recording... maybe playing along with backing tracks.

A decent piece of advice is to make sure you practice the things you can't already do. Switching off and noodling in an Am pentatonic box might be fun, but you need to push if you want to move beyond it.... (not to say switching off and noodling in Am isn't fun though... ;) )

And spider, the grades are good for structuring your practice and expanding your knowledge. Grade 8 guitar assumes a grade 5 theory level so it does give you alot. You have to apply it though - The tools are no good if you don't use them...

Also, just to add that if you are looking at the grades, The RGT grades look to be far harder than the Trinity and 'Rock School' equivolents, so RGT is probably the way to go for a comprehensive syllabus...

Good post. Always good for a practice regimen to be focused.