How to practice

Hey!

First post. I didn't even realize there was a forum!

So I've been doing a bunch of the technique tutorials and could use some guidance as to how I should practice.

For example:

I know how to play major, minor and blues scales but how should I practice them? Do I play through them in every key?

Basically, I'm just looking for a little guidance into "how to practice". What do I do first? How to integrate chord change practice, Travis picking, and scales into a cohesive 30 minute practice? What else should I add in there?

Also, I can't seem to find any lessons on memorizing the fretboard. Is there a hidden lesson that I'm missing?

I'm sure one of the instructors will post a reply giving you advice on how you can integrate those techniques into a practice routine but whilst you're waiting I thought I'd point you towards to the fretboard trainer part of this site as you also asked for help to memorise the fretboard.

https://www.guitartricks.com/toolbox.php

Hey & welcome to GT!

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

So I've been doing a bunch of the technique tutorials and could use some guidance as to how I should practice.

[/quote]

I'd love to help. But I need to know what your current skill level is & what your goals are. What technique tutorials are you working on? What is your skill level? What are your goals (style of music or target songs, skills)?

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

I know how to play major, minor and blues scales but how should I practice them? Do I play through them in every key?

[/quote]

You could if one of your goals is to play solos in every key. But some of you time might be better spent learning specific licks & repeating them to build your repertoire of licks.

[br]If you came to take a lesson from me & asked me those questions, the first thing I would do is ask you to play every major, minor & blues scale for me. If you could do it well, then I would suggest that you start learning songs, licks & solos. If you struggled, then I would say slow down & work on one a day at a time until you've really got it down & can play it musically.

Having said that, practicing scales is always a great idea. We practice scales in order to build & maintain physical dexterity, strength, get used to playing in different areas of the neck & of course to develop aural skills (ear training).

[quote=newgreyarea]

Basically, I'm just looking for a little guidance into "how to practice". What do I do first? How to integrate chord change practice, Travis picking, and scales into a cohesive 30 minute practice? What else should I add in there?

That's a lot of stuff to squeeze into 30 minutes!

It really depends on your goals & skill level. In general, a practice session should look like this:

1. Warm up (stretches, basic chords & a few scales to get fingers moving).

2. Work development.

3. Play something complete & fun to finish on a good note.

That could be done in 15 minutes, 30 minutes or several hours & it's widely applicable to any skill level.

It important to warm up, to get your mind & body settled in to focusing on & playing the guitar.

Development means working on building your knowledge & skills. Learning a new song or song section, mastering a new chord change or progression, learning or drilling a new scale pattern or lick (learned or original). After you are warmed up & ready to get to work, this is when the heavy lifting gets done.

Finally finish with something that satisfies, leaves you with a sense of enjoyment & accomplishment. Play a song you already know, play a simple chord change you've already mastered, etc.

[quote=newgreyarea]

[br]Also, I can't seem to find any lessons on memorizing the fretboard. Is there a hidden lesson that I'm missing?

Learning the notes on the fretboard is another matter of repetitious practice & use. You will learn all the theory & freboard knowledge you need in the context of the lessons in either GF2 or a style course.

If you have questions about specific topics, concepts or techniques, then please ask. If you have more questions now, then please ask. Hope this helps.

Best of success with your learning. Have fun!

Originally Posted by: fuzzb0x

I'm sure one of the instructors will post a reply giving you advice on how you can integrate those techniques into a practice routine but whilst you're waiting I thought I'd point you towards to the fretboard trainer part of this site as you also asked for help to memorise the fretboard.

https://www.guitartricks.com/toolbox.php

Doh! Am I blind or is none of that on the iPhone app? I don't really use the site so much so I've never really looked at the toolbox! Nice!! Thanks!

Well, dammit!

I wrote a long-ish response to you, Chris, but it seems to have disappeared when I hit "Submit".

DOUBLE DAMMIT!! It did it again!!

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

Well, dammit!

I wrote a long-ish response to you, Chris, but it seems to have disappeared when I hit "Submit".

OK, let's try this again.

Skill level. Intermediate. I've been "using" guitars for about 30 years but am self-taught and it was never my main focus. Never learned scales or chord names or anything. Just one of my songwriting tools. If I follow a lesson, I usually do not have any problem executing it given a little practice.

Lessons I've been doing:

Travis Picking (really dig this as I never learned fingerpicking stuff and just got a new Taylor 214CEN. Love nylon strung guitars!)

Scales (Maj, min, Penta, Blues) Could use a little work on transposing but that's more a matter of finishing the lessons. What I know, I can play fairly well up to a certain speed. The pentatonic stuff has been very useful when "jamming" over chords I build up on my looper pedal.

Triads/Inversions - Really dig this as I love finding new ways to get a similar sound.

Double Stops - Love it! Need to memorize the fretboard a bit better to execute and find a way to work with my practice. I know what it's doing, just not how to approach as practice.

Chords - Travis picking made me realize how sloppy my chords are. Some chords I've been fingering incorrectly so I'm unlearning that. I want to be faster and more accurate. I'd also like to know a bit more theory in this dept.

Fretboard Memorization - I was just using printouts but didn't feel that was teaching me as once I fill in one note it's easy to just go down the line and name the rest. I want to be able to look at a fret and know every note across all 6 strings without having to start at the nut! I'm gonna work with the trainer in the ToolBox that I didn't know I had. Hah!

I don't really have guitar heroes. The stuff that the average guitar guy loves, I probably don't. Beatles, Zepplin, Hendrix . . etc. I know they are good! I know they're important. I just never got into them. I do like old blues stuff but not the Clapton/SRV/BB King stuff. Leadbelly type stuff. Country Blues I've heard it called. My guitar heroes are probably the likes of Sonic Youth or Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and more recently Marc Ribot (Tom Waits' guitarist).

So, feedback is cool. Noise is cool. Dissonance is rad when used in the right place.

Marc Ribot- This is amazing to me and probably unlistenable to most! Hah! He clearly knows his way around a guitar but chooses to do something a little different. He's been on most of Waits' records since Rain Dogs and has such an original way of playing.

I have time to practice. I just want to be able to set a timer and focus on just practicing otherwise I'll start writing and never learn anything new. Melodic solos are cool but I don't care to "shred". Just not my style.

Anyways, love the site. I've learned more in two months than the last two decades.

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

Well, dammit!

I wrote a long-ish response to you, Chris, but it seems to have disappeared when I hit "Submit".

Ouch! I've had that happen. I typically copy & paste my replies right before submiting them. Or for longer ones I'll write them in notepad.

Wow, great detailed reply! Thanks! :)

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

Skill level. Intermediate. I've been "using" guitars for about 30 years but am self-taught and it was never my main focus. Never learned scales or chord names or anything. Just one of my songwriting tools. If I follow a lesson, I usually do not have any problem executing it given a little practice.

[/quote]

So, it sounds like you are long on dexterity but short on theoretical knowledge. I'd encourage you to have a look at this tutorial that covers the basics of music theory.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=495

And this tutorial that shows how to quickly visualize how the guitar is essentially a framework of repeating octave patterns (also useful for starting to quickly identify the notes on the fretboard).

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=419

And this tutorial that shows how to view all possible intervals in any given fretboard position.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=462

I don't personally care for those avant garde artists you mentioned. But the above tutorials will give you a great means of understanding what they are doing & how they are creating such unusual & dissonant patterns. And why they don't sound like typical tonal musical patterns, for example.

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

Triads/Inversions - Really dig this as I love finding new ways to get a similar sound.

[/quote]

I assume you've seen my tutorials on triads & inversions. Those will open up the entire fretboard!

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

Double Stops - Love it! Need to memorize the fretboard a bit better to execute and find a way to work with my practice. I know what it's doing, just not how to approach as practice.

I'd encourage you to find ways to play harmonies of melodies. Start with simple pentatonic melodies, then visualize another note of that pentatonic scale to harmonize with. Double stops can be on adjacent strings or skipping strings.

For example:

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1849

I'm not sure if you'd like this R&B style tutorial, but it has a lot of neat double stop ideas that you might get some milage from.[br][br]https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1316

[quote=newgreyarea][br]Chords - Travis picking made me realize how sloppy my chords are. Some chords I've been fingering incorrectly so I'm unlearning that. I want to be faster and more accurate. I'd also like to know a bit more theory in this dept.

My section on jazz chords will stretch your fingers & give you wider vocabulary of chords while at the same time teaching you what those chords are & how they function.

https://www.guitartricks.com/instructor.php?input=155014#Jazz_Guitar

Further down in the Jazz Chord section are the Joe Pass tutorials that will give you good head start on chord melody playing. That stuff is great for musical dexerity & clean chord comping skills.

[quote=newgreyarea]

I have time to practice. I just want to be able to set a timer and focus on just practicing otherwise I'll start writing and never learn anything new. Melodic solos are cool but I don't care to "shred". Just not my style.

Got it. So, I think you'd enjoy some of those extended chord harmony tutorials to flesh out your theoretical understanding of more complex chords, while at the same time building your dexterity & vocbualry.

As to a specific routine, after stretching for a few minutes, I'd run a few scales to get warmed up. Start with a scale pattern across the fretboard that you are familiar with, then an unfamiliar one. The idea here is to warm up by maintaining dexterity, then you are mentally & physically ready to gain ground.

After scales, do the same process with whatever inversions you are currently working on.

After that, you are ready to try some new chords & Travis picking. Start simple & ease into it, gradually increasing the complexity. Maybe try to add some jazz chords in your Travis picking, try a chord melody or Joe Pass style blues. This is the heavy lifting.

Finally, wind down with something fun. A song, or maybe something new & exploratory, but not too difficult. For example trying out some new pentatonic double stops.

Hope that helps! Glad you are learning from & enjoying the site. Please ask for more specifics or clarification anytime. Have fun!

Awesome!

Thanks, Christopher!

I'll go through this stuff and come back here if I run into anything I need help on.

I'm down to try anything that will get me into the realm of where I want to be! Even SHREDDING!!! Hah! [br][br]

As for my terrible taste. I can't blame you. I'm shocked that any of these people were signed and allowed to make records for decades! Hah! Though Marc Ribot can go in and out of any style. I went into a Youtube wormhole and saw him get very bluesy and very jazzy. I think the jazz stuff might be more of what I'm into. . . . . yet I find most jazz unlistenable.

Thanks again!

You're welcome! Glda that helps. Please do ask more when necessary. That's what the forum is for.

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

Though Marc Ribot can go in and out of any style. I went into a Youtube wormhole and saw him get very bluesy and very jazzy. I think the jazz stuff might be more of what I'm into. . . . . yet I find most jazz unlistenable.

Yes, I've heard Ribot play a wide variety of music. He's very versatile. And jazz is a very broad term. I enjoy a lot of pre-50s jazz & swing. Especially Ellington & Tatum. I don't enjoy much bebop or much jazz after that.

OK, so after a few days, I've sussed out a practice that seems to be fairly functional.

I found an app that selects a random key when you shake it.

So I select a random key.

Write out all the notes in the key onto a fretboard printout that I found.

Name the scale degree for each note

A Maj

A = I /Root

B = ii / minor /SubDom

C# = iii / minor / Mediant

D = IV / Maj / SubDom

E = V / Maj / Dom

F# = vi / minor / SubMediant

G# = vii Dim / Dom Leading

Then I play the full scale, Maj Penta, and the patterns from the second link you gave me(don't know what to call it) a few times calling out the note name.

Then I play to a click without calling anything out.

Then I build the chords for every scale degree.

Then I dick around with some triads/inversions.

I try to incorporate Travis picking into the last two things.

Some of this needs to be fleshed out a little more but it's a solid 30-45 minute thing.

Here are some questions. How would I incorporate minor and blues scales? Would I just make minor an entirely different thing? Or would I use the relative minor of whatever key I'm working in?

I'd like to add some sort of chord changing exercise and more fingerpicking stuff. Any particular tutorials you suggest?

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

OK, so after a few days, I've sussed out a practice that seems to be fairly functional.[/quote]

Good deal!

Originally Posted by: newgreyarea

... and the patterns from the second link you gave me(don't know what to call it) ...

[/quote]

This one: https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=419

I call that patterns of repeating octaves. It's a handy way to view the fretboard. You can also apply it to learning the major scale in all it's forms & patterns across the fretboard.

Major scale

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=453

Minor scale

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=887

[quote=newgreyarea]

How would I incorporate minor and blues scales? Would I just make minor an entirely different thing? Or would I use the relative minor of whatever key I'm working in?

[p]If you are going from completeness, then both! I would play the relative minor from the persepctive of play in A major & F# minor.

Then I would harmonize the minor scale using the leading tone (major 7th) either in A minor or F# minor so you can see how the minor scale is altered to harmonic minor for the V chord.

[quote=newgreyarea]

I'd like to add some sort of chord changing exercise and more fingerpicking stuff. Any particular tutorials you suggest?

Play that in arpeggios, scale lines, then work it as a bass note with upper string triads in a Travis picking pattern. Now you're getting a musical workout. :)

The Joe Pass tutorials are good for this. Also the Jazz Turnarounds. And any chord melody!

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=149

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2148

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1232

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2189

Hope that helps!