For those who Exercise

Ive been playing guitar for about 3 years now, and been on this site for a couple too. Whats always astounded me is the amount of people after work out exercises. To me the real way to learn is just to learn songs! If you learn a wide and varied range of tunes then you cant help but develop your pinky technique or intonation of bends. Just wondered who here does practice sessions n how neccessary you feel they are. Id say my technique is pretty damn good now, and I can bend and vribrate will all fingers. All Im saying is dont bore yourselves with training!

That can be equated to working out in general. One can get in great shape by just "doing stuff" - chopping wood, playing sports, etc. - but you can't get in the same shape as if you were to go to the gym and work out with free weights, doing an inverted leg press of 700+ pounds, or benching 200+ pounds. In the same vein, one can become proficient at guitar by just learning/writing/playing songs, BUT they will not be as good as someone that not only plays songs, but also "lifts weights" be pushing the envelope of their technique with sweeping, scales, chromatic exercises, alternate picking, etc. See what I mean? One thing you are right about, though, is that when doing exercises, you have to keep musicianship as your #1 goal, not technique for it's own sake...

Pretty well said by TheDirt.
The same works for me, I don't do shredding and showoff guitar in my music but I do regularly excercises to keep a decent level of my technique.

For me , I got most of my technique from playing solos by great guitar players ... Usualy when I have a trouble with a tricky part of a solo or so , I cut it out of the solo, play it over and over in loops, making an exercise out of it.

Occasionaly when I spend sometime without playing guitar much frequently , if I feel like loosing my speed , or getting sloppy at a certain technique , I pick up the metronome and practice.

I really liked what "TheDirt" said , and totally agree with him.