What's your practice routine like?

[BeyondAntares]

For those that have been playing for a few years, how do you usually practice? Do you focus more on older songs or learning new material?

Do you look at exploring different styles or focus on theory?

 

[Mboogie7]

We’re talking about practice!? I’ll leave my Allen Iverson jokes at the door 😂

Personally speaking though - I’m not sure I’ve “practiced” in years. What I do if I want to get better is I’ll write material I can’t play, and then work on building up speed for that. Or, I’ll check out a song that I’m really into, but I haven’t had any inspiration to learn others material in a while.

 

[odibrom]

I'll surf through Sevenstring.org in search for news and guitar jokes, then the reverb and local classifieds.. and then when I'm tired I'll sometimes pick a guitar and play some shit with it, and then go to bed because the Sun is rising early the next day...

 

[PuckishGuitar]

Usually my routine is to warm up with a few scales and picking exercises.

*Fuck around with my amp settings and effects for an hour before just going back to what I had at first (kidding but not kidding). This can happen multiple times and is sometimes all I do.
*Run through Major/Minor/Phyrgian in 3 positions using strict alternate picking.
*Couple of stretch exercises from Ben Eller that I like
*Fast chromatic runs across the board, build up to 16th notes at 170bpm
*That Petrucci crawl where each finger is playing the flatted fifth of the note prior across the board

From there I'll spend some time on what I wanted to do when I picked the guitar up that day - learning new songs, translating something new in my head to actually playing it, learn/master a new technique, look into unusual scales or chord progressions and their modes, continue turning knobs to understand some nuances in tone stacks and gain, or experiment with recording/mixing stuff. I tend to do the learning new songs or songwriting on the weekends when I have bigger time blocks to focus. I find that I tend to pick up theory better in small chunks repeated in multiple sessions, which is good when working from home and I can just pick up a guitar when I feel like it and practice for a few minutes - I have been called out on a conference call for my unplugged strumming

Often though there is no real practice and I just want to play something fun that fits my mood at the time.

 

[clemencecc]

Usually my routine is to warm up with a few scales and picking exercises.

*Fuck around with my amp settings and effects for an hour before just going back to what I had at first (kidding but not kidding). This can happen multiple times and is sometimes all I do.
*Run through Major/Minor/Phyrgian in 3 positions using strict alternate picking.
*Couple of stretch exercises from Ben Eller that I like
*Fast chromatic runs across the board, build up to 16th notes at 170bpm
*That Petrucci crawl where each finger is playing the flatted fifth of the note prior across the board

From there I'll spend some time on what I wanted to do when I picked the guitar up that day - learning new songs, translating something new in my head to actually playing it, learn/master a new technique, look into unusual scales or chord progressions and their modes, continue turning knobs to understand some nuances in tone stacks and gain, or experiment with recording/mixing stuff. I tend to do the learning new songs or songwriting on the weekends when I have bigger time blocks to focus. I find that I tend to pick up theory better in small chunks repeated in multiple sessions, which is good when working from home and I can just pick up a guitar when I feel like it and practice for a few minutes - I have been called out on a conference call for my unplugged strumming

Often though there is no real practice and I just want to play something fun that fits my mood at the time.

Hi! I'm new aboard and have to say doing smth similar

My guitar practice routine usually starts with scales and picking exercises for warm-up. Then I spend way too much time messing with my amp settings and effects, eventually going back to where I started (happens more than once!). I run through Major/Minor/Phrygian scales in different positions using strict alternate picking. I also do some stretch exercises by Ben Eller that I like.

Looks amazing. I was shocked when reading your routine XD

 

[groverj3]

Usually it involves playing some random exercises, and then trying to learn a new bit. Followed by running through songs, and then devolves into pointless noodling.

Afterwards, I think to myself "I should really have a practice routine."

 

[T_Gobbs]

Besides some basic stretches (chromatic hammer ons and pull offs with each pair of fingers up the neck), I just play the lick I want to play to a metronome at half speed until I'm feeling loosened up.

 

[Pietjepieter]

I just try to play stuff that I can not play...

Couple of years back I mainly practiced exercises, tree notes per sting scale runs, chromatic stuff, sweeping etc.
But at some moment it is just boring I guess. So no I try to learn songs to a metronome. Currently working on BTBAM (revolution in limbo), Protest the Hero (the dissentience) and Monuments (Make shift harmony). I do still pracise also some runs and sweeps etc. but less intensive than years back.

I found exercising with practicing actual songs a lot more rewarding! And if you choice the right songs it is also a bit better I think. Because in a song you kind of continues combining different techniques, and also it directly shows how to use them.
And its more fun. If for instance you want to be good in down picking, you can just practice 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 to a metronome but practicing some sick trash riffs to a metronome is way more fun in mine opinion.

Bonus link the free protest the hero tab: https://www.sheethappenspublishing....oskin-and-15-years-of-fortress-riff-playbooks

 

[clemencecc]

I just try to play stuff that I can not play...

Couple of years back I mainly practiced exercises, tree notes per sting scale runs, chromatic stuff, sweeping etc.
But at some moment it is just boring I guess. So no I try to learn songs to a metronome. Currently working on BTBAM (revolution in limbo), Protest the Hero (the dissentience) and Monuments (Make shift harmony). I do still pracise also some runs and sweeps etc. but less intensive than years back.

I found exercising with practicing actual songs a lot more rewarding! And if you choice the right songs it is also a bit better I think. Because in a song you kind of continues combining different techniques, and also it directly shows how to use them.
And its more fun. If for instance you want to be good essay in down picking, you can just practice 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 to a metronome but practicing some sick trash riffs to a metronome is way more fun in mine opinion.

Bonus link the free protest the hero tab: https://www.sheethappenspublishing....oskin-and-15-years-of-fortress-riff-playbooks

Uhmm, it sounds interesting, so what motivated you to shift your practice routine from mainly focusing on exercises to learning and playing actual songs?

 

[Pietjepieter]

Uhmm, it sounds interesting, so what motivated you to shift your practice routine from mainly focusing on exercises to learning and playing actual songs?

I got bored with exercises, i find playing songs more fun, and also makes me a better musician. I mean ripping trough 3NPS excersisis at a sick number of BPM is cool, but even cooler in a song. I came to the point that I was only excersicing and not making music anymore.... Try to make music (and combining that with stuff that makes you also technical better)

 

[gnoll]

I only practice if there's something specific I need to play/record etc. And then I will practice that specific thing, using spaced repetition, whenever/however I feel like it. I don't do "exercises" etc. And I have no reason to learn theory because I already know it.

 

[Drew]

I'll surf through Sevenstring.org in search for news and guitar jokes, then the reverb and local classifieds.. and then when I'm tired I'll sometimes pick a guitar and play some shit with it, and then go to bed because the Sun is rising early the next day...

I was going to write, "talking shit on the internet," but you beat me to it.

 

[crimson]

mors principium est riffs as exercise practice

 

[Strobe]

I run some chromatic exercises, or something from Rock Discipline (the Petrucci book) to warm up. If I have time, I then do some scales with a metronome. I then usually work on some song slowed down using Guitar Pro until I can play it at speed. My rhythm kind of sucks, so I have been working on Lamb of God stuff, because damn, that's some challenging rhythm guitar. I also spend some time working on things I have written, as I often write songs that are too difficult for me to play easily. I may also spend some time writing music (which I also notate in Guitar Pro), because writing is practice of a different sort for me.

 

[odibrom]

I was going to write, "talking shit on the internet," but you beat me to it.

... well, not everything I post in the net is shit... I hope... and this post proves I'm wrong... probably...

 

[gabito]

I usually pick a song I want to learn and practice until I can play it competently.

Then I record a video, upload it to Youtube or whatever, and a few days or weeks later I’ll repeat the process. It keeps me motivated and in shape, and there’s plenty of songs I’d like to learn, so it never ends…

I usually learn the songs by ear, but also from tabs or videos for parts I can’t figure out or if I’m feeling lazy. Tabs are usually wrong, and videos too, but they help. Never 100% trust tabs.

Riffs and chords I usually can learn in a few hours or less (unless it’s something really demanding, fast, or whatever) and solos can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, you never know…

 

[gh0styboi]

I spend more time playing than I do practicing, but if I'm struggling with a certain technique or part, that changes. I generally prefer to use etudes as opposed to regimented practice. So for example, I was struggling with getting my 3 note-per-string alternate picking patterns and big stretches up to speed past a point, so I took the first several bars of Angel Vivaldi's "Dopamine" and drilled that for a while to improve those techniques.

But as far as 'I'm gonna sit down and divide up two hours into four sections of targeted, intentional practice to increase my chops," no, I don't really do that.

 

[OmegaSlayer]

I managed to stay on a practice routine for a year.
Allocated time for stuff, cycling exercises on a weekly basis, keeping track of progress.
Around 3 hours each day.
It does wonders for your playing.
BUT it's excessively taxing, especially if you're a full time worker.

As I get older, 45 in a bunch of days..., it becomes harder and harder to work on a routine, because you get tired and tired by the day when you get back from work.
So, when I get back home from work, I sit down on a chair and say to myself: "ok, 10 minutes then I pick up the guitar" then I literally fall asleep on the chair for at least half an hour.

So, now, basically I just try to focus on a weakness and practice 20-30 minutes on it, trying to be focused...
There's much more I would like to do but either the body or the focus isn't there.

AND the frustration grows because I tested that serious application works magic, but just I can't manage to obtain it.

 

[Blytheryn]

I have a few leads I learn at a time, and I usually just play them until I can play them at record speeds.

 

[Drew]

I run some chromatic exercises, or something from Rock Discipline (the Petrucci book) to warm up.

You know, one thing on this, actually.

One of the big inadvertent realizations from the Cracking the Code analysis for me was how much the prevalance of 1-2-3-4 chromatic patterns in rock practice probably has to do with the accompanying prevalance of trapped downstrokes/escaped upstrokes in rock technique.

For me, my neutral picking position tends to favor the reverse, escaped downstrokes and trapped upstrokes, so 4nps patterns like this are actually not especially easy or efficient for me to practice since they require some sort of "helper" mechanic to facilitate pretty much every string change.

For someone with an escaped upstroke, a pattern based on an odd number of pickstrokes on the first string followed by an even number on the second string is going to be more mechanically efficient, with my neutral picking position. Think the "Gilbert 6s," aka the fast bits from Technical Difficulties, 123-123, then repeat a string before ascending or descending to the next.

If you naturally pick with escaped upstrokes, you can rip through 1-2-3-4 patterns and it'll be a pretty good warmup for the stuff you're technique is optimized to play. If you don't, some creativity may be in order -like, 3-5-6 on the E string, 3/5-6 8-6-5 on the A, then 8-6-5 followed by a slide back down to 3, and just loop that at speed. For me at least part of the point of warming up is just getting my picking hand and fretting hand into a rhythm and in sync, and mechanically-efficient things like this really lend themselves to that, I think.