[7 Dying Trees]

I need some help figuring out a good way f getting practice back. Basically, i work so it's evenings only, and something I can do effectively for 30-90 minutes a day. Another stipulation is my boredom threshold as well!

Suggestions welcome, as once I have demoing for handouts out the way my plan is to get back into this, as I have been meaning to for ages.

Another thing I want is to break out of the same repetitive patterns I am finding myself using, so suggestions on that are more than welcome!

[dpm]

You can fill a bit of time by setting strict time periods for warmup exercises. 10 minutes of this, 10 minutes of that, 10 minutes of something else up and down the neck. Having a set time period for each stops you doing something once or twice and giving up because you're bored. Tab out some patterns that involve intervals you wouldn't normally use, string skipping, etc.. Maybe you could come up with a 5 day cycle of exercises, something along those lines, which might help get out of your comfort zone.

Apart from that, the most effective way I've found of refreshing my playing is to not play for an extended period

[7 Dying Trees]

Well basically I've just looked at my playing and found I am recycling a lot of ideas, mainly through lack of exposure to new influences or forcing myself to play stuff outside my little box world. Now there's an album's worth of material that's been done, I know I am going to have to freshen everything up, and work on my lead playing as I am using a lot of the same patterns over and over.

I was thinking of 10m warm up, 30-40 practice and then free time blasting over cheesy 80's rock (or anything else that is fun to play over)

But, I've always been crap at practicing but I am more determined than i have been in ages, so I may as well get a routine going.

Any good ways of measuring how well you're doing? I usually find i sit at a plateau for ages, and then suddenly realise I have got better, but if it wasn't for that plateau and I saw more improvement more regularly, then that may inspire me more!

[dpm]

I suppose you could record what you're doing and listen back later to compare with more recent jams

My own issue with motivation I think relates to being around guitars constantly. I want to practice but after working on the damn things all day (and all night at times), well, it's just hard to feel too interested. The other issue is that I'm so out of practice that after a solid hour of playing I'm still not as good as I once was

In the last month or so I've pretty much converted to bass. After an hour of bass playing I can see improvement, it's a constant thing at this stage so I feel motivated by it. I've probably played more bass in the last few weeks than guitar in the last year

BTW, I've just been jamming along to tracks by Niyaz and Axiom of Choice (check youtube). The cool thing about these dudes is that one song will be in B, the next D, and so forth, and they venture outside western 12-tone scales. Fun to play along.

[distressed_romeo]

Just a thought...have you experimented with fingering permutations, a la Derek Taylor/Deryl Gabel? That's a good way of breaking out of familiar ruts... The cool thing about it is that it's conceptual rather than lick based, so it's quite easy to vary your practice regime each day.

Hit me with a PM if you want some powertabs...

[distressed_romeo]

Just to clarify, what is it you're more interested in, improving at melodic improv, and playing over changes, or chops and technique?

[stubhead]

You might find that some rhythmic variation will zap right through your "boredom threshold." A lot of guitarists who think that they understand beats and time and syncopation just play the same legato lines over everything, they can't really play the rhythms. Get this book:

Amazon.com: The Drummer's Bible: How to Play Every Drum Style from Afro-Cuban to Zydeco: Mick Berry,Jason Gianni: Books

Drum notation is super easy to read, it's just pow-pow-tick-tick-pow-pow. It helps to have a drum machine, they're easy to program, but you can play all the beats on a guitar too. Play the bass drum on the low strings, the snare in the middle strings and the hihat on the top strings. It's a lot of fun - I pretty much end up writing a song every time I start working on a beat, the notes just completely sort themselves out.

Many, many great guitarists are good drummers too and think rhythmically. Paul Gilbert, Eddie Van Halen, John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, they could all go out and tour or record as a professional drummer tomorrow. In his videos Gilbert especially talks about approaching a solo like a drummer, and his method of alternating a few bars of rhythm with a few bars of a fill is a good way in. Learn what a "Mersey beat" is, learn what a "train beat" is, learn what a samba is and where the beats are, then play them on your guitar.


(Gilbert's new album has some killer beats on it, that's how he writes stuff.)

: : The Drummer's Bible : :

You can get a perfectly adequate drum machine on Ebay for $25-$40, the old Yamaha RX's will make you feel so-oo 80's metal....