What's in a well-rounded practice session?

Hello everybody.

While browsing some other guitar-sites, I've noticed that people keep mentioning practice sessions, but they never really say anything about what's in them. So I ask you folks here, hoping that someone can clarify it a bit. What's in a practice session? Most of the time, I just play the progressions in the lessons I'm at or practice songs, but there must be some better way to use practice-time efficiently. What is the ideal composition for a practice session? I can imagine that Improvisation and practicing techniques is a big part of it, or is that wrong?

A while back, I decided to simultaneously tackle both Country and Blues style in the Core Learning System. I'm not sure that was a wise choice but I've stuck with it. My morning practice session, therefore, starts off with a few minutes of warm up (a previous Country lesson that I never played well) and then it's on the current Country and Blues lessons. The blues part has it's own warm up period playing one form or another of the 12-bar blues and 30 minutes of improv incorporating the current and recent blues lessons. From there it's on to 30 minutes of song practice; whichever new song I'm working on is practiced every day, the ones I 'know' ;) alternated every other day.

The afternoon session is all drill...thirty minutes of scales, about 20 minutes on a flexibility/stretch/strength exercise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xex90siLkXg , and a little over 20 minutes on chord progressions. That too is all timed and all played with a metronome the speed of which I increase monthly or so.

Recently that all has been adding up to more than three hours a day, six days a week (I hit 21+ hours each of the last three weeks). Needless to say that's a big chunk of my day but there's a lot more I don't get to. I expect that this summer, as other activities claim my time, my weekly practice time will drop. But there's so much more to get to, not to mention continuing on with the style lessons, that I keep a notebook of 'what's next.'

Here's what I think is most important...the time is fingers-on-strings time. It's actually timed playing. Further, what I do each session and how much time I expect to spend on it is written down beforehand. In other words, I use a written lesson plan, log the times, and keep the records. Overkill? Perhaps. Obsessive? Quite likely. Efficient...you bet! Noodling is allowed but it don't count. :)

For me the key is keeping practice *efficient*. I spend a lot of time on it but I still don't have enough time for everything I'd like to learn/practice. I've got to get the most bang for the buck.

Here is Tom Morello's practice routing from Rage Against the Machine:
"2hrs theory, 2hrs technique, 2hrs jamming, 2hrs experimenting w/sounds/songwriting"

Of course not everybody has 8hrs/day to devote to guitar but you could make each segment whatever number you want.

I think the key is to identify where you want to improve and work that into a regular schedule.

Originally Posted by: john of MTA while back, I decided to simultaneously tackle both Country and Blues style in the Core Learning System. I'm not sure that was a wise choice but I've stuck with it. My morning practice session, therefore, starts off with a few minutes of warm up (a previous Country lesson that I never played well) and then it's on the current Country and Blues lessons. The blues part has it's own warm up period playing one form or another of the 12-bar blues and 30 minutes of improv incorporating the current and recent blues lessons. From there it's on to 30 minutes of song practice; whichever new song I'm working on is practiced every day, the ones I 'know' ;) alternated every other day.

The afternoon session is all drill...thirty minutes of scales, about 20 minutes on a flexibility/stretch/strength exercise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xex90siLkXg , and a little over 20 minutes on chord progressions. That too is all timed and all played with a metronome the speed of which I increase monthly or so.

Recently that all has been adding up to more than three hours a day, six days a week (I hit 21+ hours each of the last three weeks). Needless to say that's a big chunk of my day but there's a lot more I don't get to. I expect that this summer, as other activities claim my time, my weekly practice time will drop. But there's so much more to get to, not to mention continuing on with the style lessons, that I keep a notebook of 'what's next.'

Here's what I think is most important...the time is fingers-on-strings time. It's actually timed playing. Further, what I do each session and how much time I expect to spend on it is written down beforehand. In other words, I use a written lesson plan, log the times, and keep the records. Overkill? Perhaps. Obsessive? Quite likely. Efficient...you bet! Noodling is allowed but it don't count. :)

For me the key is keeping practice *efficient*. I spend a lot of time on it but I still don't have enough time for everything I'd like to learn/practice. I've got to get the most bang for the buck.[/QUOTE]
Sounds like an effective practice Schedule, but I'm not 100% sure how well it translates to the Rock Course, since it doesn't really have any "warm-up" lessons in it. The closest thing to such would be the Power Chord exercises in the first few lessons of the rock course, since they're pretty easy (although I tend to just use the Rhythm Guitar part of a song I'm practicing, which is 100% Power Chords and it's pretty simple too). I also usually completely forget to practice different things (songs, techniques and improvisation) in the same session, so I might want to consider that.

[QUOTE=Neal Walter]Here is Tom Morello's practice routing from Rage Against the Machine:
"2hrs theory, 2hrs technique, 2hrs jamming, 2hrs experimenting w/sounds/songwriting"

Of course not everybody has 8hrs/day to devote to guitar but you could make each segment whatever number you want.

I think the key is to identify where you want to improve and work that into a regular schedule.

The biggest problem at the moment is that I don't exactly have a training schedule. I usually just practice whatever I feel like, which usually ends up leading to lots of practicing songs but no theory and technique-practice.

I currently don't really feel that I'm getting the most out of my practice-sessions. I usually start at a certain level, and only rarely see that level rise drastically. Yes, I know that learning to play the guitar will take years (I've already been trying for almost a Whole year now, only one month from the 1-year-mark), and I'm willing to dedicate my time and money to learning to play the guitar properly and reach my musical goals, but to get there, I still evidentally need to re-think my approach to practicing (starting with making a schedule...). Right now it's more or less 30min practicing stuff like scales and chords (the basic stuff), 30min watching tutorials on random techniques, 30min practicing those techniques and 30min watching more tutorials, but a schedule might help me get something more out of my practice sessions. If nothing else, I've read that it's a good idea to have a schedule anyway...

The instructor at one of the other sites I follow (Learn and Master Guitar) suggests (for a 30 minute session):

5 minutes of warm up
10 minutes of practice. This is dedicated to whatever one may be working on (scales, chords, soloing, etc.)
10 minutes of learning a song.
5 minutes of improvising or experimenting. This is just doodling, I call it putzing.

I have tried to use this and have a spreadsheet to log my practice. I try to practice an hour at a time and have modified it to an hour. Then I try and practice an hour in the morning and an hour at night.

I figure you don't need more than 5 minutes to warm up. And I will skew the practice a little depending on whether I need more work on the practice part or if I am working on a song and need a little more there.

5 minutes warm up.
15 -20 minutes of practice
15-20 minutes of song learning
5 -10 minutes of "putzing".

It's just what works for me.

Wow, I wish I had the kind of time others have for guitar. :-) No matter how much time you have, I think you should fit in all of the components mentioned here. Given my limited time (I get a half hour, maybe an hour sometimes), I try to follow what matonanjin suggests. It's important to be constantly refining what you've already learned, learning something new and challenging, and "playing" - jamming and having some fun! No matter if you have a half hour or 8 hours a day, if you include all of this, you'll make forward progress.

At least one of my guitars is always sitting on a stand and easily accessable. If I find myself waiting for something and have an idle moment, I'll grab my guitar and play through something I just learned. Other times, a song on TV or on the "radio" may inspire me and I'll pick up my guitar and play along or try to figure out the melody.

So even though it's important to have some structured practice, it also useful to have your guitar easily accessible for those short moments where you can play for 5 minutes or so. *Every* bit counts and is helpful.

I don't let a day go by (unless we are away on a trip) that I don't pick up a guitar for at least 5 minutes.

Originally Posted by: maggiorWow, I wish I had the kind of time others have for guitar. :-) No matter how much time you have, I think you should fit in all of the components mentioned here. Given my limited time (I get a half hour, maybe an hour sometimes), I try to follow what matonanjin suggests. It's important to be constantly refining what you've already learned, learning something new and challenging, and "playing" - jamming and having some fun! No matter if you have a half hour or 8 hours a day, if you include all of this, you'll make forward progress.

At least one of my guitars is always sitting on a stand and easily accessable. If I find myself waiting for something and have an idle moment, I'll grab my guitar and play through something I just learned. Other times, a song on TV or on the "radio" may inspire me and I'll pick up my guitar and play along or try to figure out the melody.

So even though it's important to have some structured practice, it also useful to have your guitar easily accessible for those short moments where you can play for 5 minutes or so. *Every* bit counts and is helpful.

I don't let a day go by (unless we are away on a trip) that I don't pick up a guitar for at least 5 minutes.

Good points. I usually have very varied amounts of time per day, but I always spend at least the last hour before going to bed with a guitar in my hands. I generally try to have my three working guitars (two electric and one acoustic) standing ready in different rooms, my main electric being in my sleeping room, where I practice the most, my second electric in the dining/living room near the TV and the acoustic moves around a lot.

So I've got them easily accessible, now I just need to make that schedule and I should be able to see my progress happening a bit faster.

My 2 electrics are what I have easily accessable. My daughter just got a 3/4 acoustic which I find fun to play. I can't help myself sometimes and end up sitting on her bed playing it while the kids are brushing their teeth getting ready for bed. It usually ends with a glaring look from my wife, usually followed by "so who did we buy that guitar for exactly?" :-).

Here's something that nobody mentionned and is kinda obvious. Fun. Make sure to have fun. Peronally I think its no use practicing 8 hours a day if you have to kick yourself to do it.
I prefer a good hour of fun then 3 hours of "I have to practice".
Sure, the more hours you put in the "better" you will be. But why are you playing music ? To be good and say look at me everyone I'm better then you or to enjoy this beautiful art and learn new things that helps you express yourself in a fun way? If its for the first option, well lock yourself up and practice practice practice because there's a lot of amazing technicians out there :).

Also, remember this, you dont have to be the best color mixer or the best brush manipulator in the world to make the most interesting paintings. Same goes for music. Have fun :)

If practice isn't fun learning guitar is going to be darn difficult and improving one's music expression unlikely. On the other hand, if the current skill level is acceptable and growth isn't a pressing issue then practice can be virtually eliminated.

But if one wants to get better fun is absolutely important and if there's no enjoyment in practice sessions those sessions should be reworked or the player might as well quit guitar now instead of the inevitable later.

"Doctor...it hurts when I do this..."
"Then stop doing that."

Kasperow,
While most players that are still trying after one year enjoy making chords and playing scales they also do not enjoy sitting and just switching chords.

To me practice time is the time spent just switching chords making sure each string that should ring does clearly or scales are done correctly or... It’s creating muscle memory that later will allow the player to “do it” without thought. I also think building chord memory is more important than building scale memory. Songs are made of chords, so the faster you master just switching chords the faster you will play songs better. Free your mind to think other things.

Myself, I have played different finger picking patterns so long, I can look down at my right hand and watch it pick the strings and do its thing. Never thinking I have to do this or that, it just does it. Most open chords and bar chords are the same way. Mind you, I have tried some blue grass picking and my right hand is as dumb as a mud fence. I have to tell it everything I want it to do.

I often mix practice and playing as I go. I also like to split time between electric and acoustic. Each pulls something deferent from me.