HOW TO PRACTICE

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HOW TO PRACTICE!!!

Practicing Technique for it's own sake definately builds speed and endurance, BUT without strategy this goes nowhere FAST!. Avoid practicing aimlessly. Instead, use the following tips to maxamize the time and energy you devote to practicing:

*Set up a weekly schedule and STICK TO IT! Practicing efficiantly for one year can produce AMAZING results. Devote as much time to practicing as possible. If you can't practice for extended periods, try HARD to get in at least one 20-minute session daily.

*Arrange your practice time so there are no interuptions from phone calls or visitors. Designate a distraction-free zone in your home.

*Recognize and differentiate the two parts of the learning process. Mental learning requires intensely focused concentration, while repititious motor learning is strictly physical and can be practiced while watching T.V.

*Define weaknesses in your playing and assign short time frames-3 to 5 minutes-to each area. Always break new ideas down into small, digestable servings and devote all concentration to the moment. Valuable practice time is too often wasted with aimless noodling and lack of focus. Setting a reasonable goal within a short time frame yeilds attainable results.

*Don't practice any excersise for more than 10 minutes without a shourt break. If you burn out on an excersise, move on to other excersises-even if you havent acheived you projected goal yet.

*Focus on learning new ideas. Practice them slowly at first. Remember that if you make a mistake more than once, you are reinforcing that mistake. Slow down and do it right. Speed is a byproduct of accuracy, clarity, concentration and experience.

*Work with a metranome or drum machine to improve picking technique gradually and steadily. Choose and document a comfortable tempo-say 60 bpm's-for instance-and play non-stop eighth-notes for 10 mintues. No hammering-on, pulling-off, sliding, or bending-just straightalternate picking. Rest for a few minutes and repeat the same routine (not the same notes) three to five times daily, 6 days per week. Each day, advance the metranome 2 points(bpm's). The gradual increase in tempo is barely perceptable from day to day, but in a week you will have advance 10 points(bpm's)! Follow this procedure faithfully for 2 months and you will amaze yourself with your growth.

*Dont incorperate ornaments such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, etc, into a line until you can pick each note accurately.

*Strive to maintain a smooth flow when connecting fragments of a long line. Some areas will require more repetition than others. Locate, isolate, and drill your trouble spots.

*Practice mental visualization of finger board shapes and equate them with their corresponding sounds. Try to see AND hear yourself playing, then check your accuracy. Once you can mentally \"play\" an idea away from the guitar, it's yours to keep.

*Permute ideas to reveal their full potential.

*increase your efficiency by learning to practice several things siultaneously. FOR EXAMPLE- play the intervallic scal sequence of your choice through the cycle of fourths in 5/4 time while picking strict eighth-note triplets.

*Practice with and without an amplifier, and always strive for a good sound.

*Finally learn to apply any musical concept to other areas of study. Formulate your own excersises and strive to make them as musical as possible. Remember that by limiting yourself to small amounts of information, you learn more efficiantly and retain more of what you learn. All study has a cumulative effect. If you seek knowledge and practice faithfully, it will accumulate.