A critique of my daily practice routine, please.

[Fuzzy125]

Before the twin babies arrived, I practiced seven days a week, close to 1.5 hours a day. Now, it's about 45 minutes a day, Monday through Friday only—it's basically my lunch break at work. I'm trying to maximize my practice time and have distilled my daily routine into the following three components:

Warm-up: Tune the guitar with a tuning fork, cycle through some common progressions in a few keys.
1. Ear training—transcribe a song by ear. Identify the key, chords, and melody with guitar in hand. May also try to play the guitar solo.
2. Jamming with backing tracks.
3. Learn a song arrangement from a DVD lesson.

My style is fingerpicking blues. I move along briskly and always wish there is more time when my 45 minutes is up. Any critique of my routine or advice on how it could evolve would be very welcome.

[JonPR]

All sounds ideal to me.
Mind you, if I only had 45 minutes a session, I might spend it all on learning one song. And then the same song the next day if necessary.
Personally I don't regard it as essential to pre-program variety into your sessions if you are totally engaged in something you're enjoying. I'd only do that if I felt my practice time was getting aimless, or I was bored.

[SteveBurt]

Surely it takes a lot more than one or two 45 minute sessions to learn a song?
Maybe I'm just slow, but it's more like 4-5 hours practice to learn one song properly. Learning a new finger picking piece takes weeks.

[mr. beaumont]

Yeah, sounds pretty good. You might also think about rotating days...Monday, do all transcribing...Tuesday, learn a new tune, etc...

My practice time is limited too, got a full time job and a 3 and 1 year old...so my practice time is almost all devoted to tunes--learning them, improvising on the form, writing etudes that address issues I have with them. It's very important for me that all my practice is musical, so even if I'm shedding scales, it's over the form of a tune.

[rickwaugh]

It can take me weeks to learn a complicated piece. If it's a strummer, or simple picking, a session is probably okay,but I don't know that I'd say I "learned" it.

II do an hour. 5 minute warmup, scales and stretching exercises. 15 minutes sight reading. 15 minutes on pieces. 15 minutes on ear training. Short breaks between. I have been playing for a long time, and am pushhing myself ot the next level, and working through a conservatory program. In the evenings, I play, compose, try to apply what I'm learning. And sometimes, I do some more ear training. On the weekends, I do some recording.

I think you route is not bad at all. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. Actually having a schedule, and things you're working on, is a huge step.

[TBman]

I couldn't do all that in 45 minutes (I play finger style blues too). It takes me a few weeks to learn a song also, but I can write a pretty decent one page tune in that time frame, if inspired.

[Fuzzy125]

Oh, bad word choice. I didn't mean to imply I could learn a finger picking arrangement in one session. It takes me anywhere from one month to two, or even three months if the piece is challenging enough and I'm so drawn to it. Perhaps I should've said: work on learning an arrangement.

Very reassuring to hear others are in similar situations. Family, work, etc. If only I had started earlier in life.

[jseth]

Fuzzy - One important aspect has not been mentioned... that would be:

WHAT do YOU want from your practise, playing???

Having that goal/purpose fully in mind would help us to comment on your regimen, but more importantly, it will HELP YOU, guide YOU to what you should/could be working on in your practise time...

[jpfeiff]

Wow--you sound SOOOO much more organized than I am--maybe that's why my progress is so slow. My practice is much more random and includes reviewing songs I already know, trying to "invent" or write some original progressions and tunes, noodling over backing tracks or just the imagined backing track in my head. I'm very scattered, dabbling in fingerstyle blues, slide, flatpicking fiddle tunes, and writing originals.

Your disciplined approach is inspiring! I need to get my sh*t together!

[Fuzzy125]

Well, I thought my routine, especially the first two sections, pretty much reflects what I want to achieve: playing by ear so I can (1) figure out songs and arrangements on my own; and (2) fit right in when playing impromptu with others.

I've been mulling over a recent event though. A friend of mine asked me what the blues is. Although I seldom, almost never, play for others, I thought actual music would be better than words, and this friend was very supportive. So I grabbed my guitar and launched into a song I had been working on for close to three months. I thought I had it nailed . . . I thought I was composed . . . There was an errie sense of detachment, as if my fingers didn't belong to me, and I was viewing my lefthand fingers from a distance. I was both astonished by the jitters I had in front of a very supportive listener and disappointed with myself. Now I'm thinking about adding "playing consistently well in front of others" to my goals. Not sure yet.

[jeanray1113]

Like you, I've mostly played for my own enjoyment(unless you consider a dog and cat an audience), but about a year ago, I decided that I would really like to be able to play and sing in informal settings comfortably. I started taking my guitar to social gatherings and making a point of going into a music store and playing a guitar or two just for the practice in playing around others. Started taking lessons again--you have to play in front of your teacher! And six months ago, I started doing a local open mic. Beyond the fun of sharing your music with others, playing for others pushes you to work a bit harder on really polishing a piece, learning new things, adding embellishments. I was terribly anxious the first time I did the open mic. Each time it has become easier. I'm getting more relaxed, getting better at connecting with the audience, and not making so many stupid mistakes because I'm nervous. I highly recommend adding playing for others to your goals.

[billder99]

With only 45 minutes I can see why you skip the warmup, but those exercises are also important. Even with a short practice I always run melodic scales and then do cross picking exercises, or whatever I am developing, for 10 minutes. It makes my time working on songs more accurate, cleaner.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy125

Now I'm thinking about adding "playing consistently well in front of others" to my goals. Not sure yet.

For me, that goes without saying - I guess because playing with others is what I've always done right from the start, and the whole point of playing music, for me, is to play "in front of others", because I see it as a social experience, a shared activity. I enjoy playing at home for its own sake, but the real thrill is gigging (doubled if people are dancing).
Still, I understand the "jitters", and even now my skills diminish in front of an audience. You always have to prepared for a percentage reduction in chops! (for me, my live skills are around 70-80% of what they are in private.)
That's why they say "practise until you get it right; and then practise some more until you can't get it wrong".

However, one thing I have noticed is that it's the pieces you do practice note for note (including solo licks) that are the things that suffer most. If I just improvise off the top of my head, not trying to remember what I practised, that usually works a lot better.
But then, of course, it's the same reason: what works is the stuff I've practised so much that I don't need to think about it - "off the top of my head" actually means "drawing from the deep subconscious" (everything I've learned over the past decades). The more you try to consciously reproduce something you worked out in private, the more likely it is to go wrong. Not completely, but it usually feels as if you are playing with gloves on, or with some similar kind of mental handicap.

One important thing to be aware of is the effect of adrenalin. Playing in front of others is experienced as a challenge. You have to impress, all eyes are on you. Your "fight or flight" response kicks in, meaning you automatically (without being aware of it) start to think faster. (You can't run, so what are you gonna do?) Problem is, that makes you play faster - you don't think you are, because your fingers are just keeping pace with your brain. But of course, it can mean your chops can't keep up; so it feels like you're being clumsy, getting stuff (inexplicably) wrong. You're tense, the rhythm doesn't flow, the groove is absent.
It becomes more noticeable (to you) when playing with a band. You'll find yourself getting ahead of the beat, or you might think the band is actually slowing down when they're not. You have to learn to "sit in the pocket", to relax and let the groove carry you, and not drive it, which is hard.

That's what metronome practice is designed for, but of course you can't easily replicate the "stage nerves" effect. A good tip is to set the metronome slower than your comfortable speed, and try to settle into the groove at that tempo, feeling all the beat subdivisions. Then when you speed up again, set the metronome to half-time so it only clicks on 1 and 3, or 2 and 4.
The idea is to train your own internal clock, and stop it being so subject to the effects of the jitters.
If there's one thing that marks out pros from amateurs, its not how fast they can play, or how clever their improvisation is; it's how solid their time-keeping is, especially when playing really simple stuff.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by billder99

With only 45 minutes I can see why you skip the warmup, but those exercises are also important. Even with a short practice I always run melodic scales and then do cross picking exercises, or whatever I am developing, for 10 minutes. It makes my time working on songs more accurate, cleaner.

that's what i noticed, a void of any technical exercises. you might want to consider adding some. do them to a metronome, and you will get a double benefit.

also, when you are learning or have learned a song, run through it as best as you can as you fall asleep. try to play it in your head, noting the strings, frets, fingers. try and figure out the chords and relationship of the melody notes. beats counting sheep.

also, hum or sing when you can.

[SFCRetired]

I think you're trying to do too much in that 45 minutes. I would spend one day a week on ear training and transcribing. One or two days a week on jamming to the tracks, and the rest of the time learning from the DVD.

The more you play and learn from a DVD lesson it will help with the other two anyway.

My routine is

Warm up,
Lesson from a DVD which also encompasses jamming to the track that's included and it includes a lot of ear training as I don't solely use the tabs, I try to hear what's being played.
Weekends I play what I've learned that week and just randomly noodle or play things I already know.

I started some Bluegrass lessons a month ago and I have 3 songs down and another one I already knew. I have 2 to go. Then I will devote a lot of time jamming to the provided tracks. These lessons have taught me a lot and I spent an hour yesterday just jamming and randomly inserting licks I learned.

Sometimes in my warm up I just randomly go through chord sequences and practice barre chords.