Beginner Practice Routine

[Jockster]

Hi,

I would be really grateful if I could get some feedback on a beginner practice routine that I have put together. Some info,
- I am starting from a position of knowing some open cords
- ideally (probably) many years in the future I would like to play decent fingerstyle (Bert Jansch, John Renbourne, Richard Thompson type stuff) and simple acoustic jazz
- I take lessons 30mins per week.
- I Practice about 1 hour per day on a combination of the items below

The practice schedule is as follows

1 SCALES
- focus on C A G E D to start with (and relative minor scales)
- Diatonic chords for these scales
- Major then Pentatonic Blues/Major/Minor to start with
- In 3-4 positions for each scale on fretboard
- Work on intervals with scales, 3rds, 5ths


2 CHORDS
- CAGED system
- Chords for the C A G E D scales, and for relative minor scales
- in 3-4 positions for all chords
- Practice changes
- Work on barre chords
- Simple standard cord progressions
- Arpeggios

3 FINGERPICKING PATTERNS
- I have got Mark Hanson books and am working through these

4 Fretboard memorisation

5 Basic Theory

6 Sight reading

7 Tunes that I am working on

I would be grateful for any suggestions for changes / additions etc.

Many thanks, Simon

[Riverwolf]

Wow! Seriously?
You do all of that in one hour?
We are all different.
I feel that I have very little natural talent and have progressed by dogged determination.
And for me that is many, many hours on each item.
I would never learn anything at 5 min each per day.
Myself, I set simple goals and steps and concentrate there until good progress is made.
Whatever works for you as long as you are having fun.
Oh yeah, welcome to the forum!

[Jockster]

Hi thanks for the reply... I do not intend to do all of that in 1 hour... going to spread out over a week ( or 2 ). Do you think there is any obvious other stuff I should do as a beginner, many thanks, Simon

[TBman]

That looks really good, I've never bothered with learning the different scales or even their names, lol. I think you need to set aside 2 days a week, the first is to take a day off. The formula for gain is stress + rest = progress. On the other day you should just play songs for fun and just make some stuff up. Don't let the books do all your thinking for you. Use your musical imagination on that day.

So what sources are you using for the finger style scales. I'll never be too old to learn.

[Ceabeceabe]

Looks like a good practice routine (and one I'd like to have on a scaled down version), as long as you are not spreading yourself so thin that: a) you are not making progress in any area; and b) you are no longer having fun.

If you like what you are doing, that is great. But try not to burn out.

What are your 30 minute lessons like?

What I don't see is anything about guitar ergonomics - proper posture, hand position, left hand / right hand playing. Maybe you're past that by now, but it is important to be mindful of while playing. Think also about economy of movement and space in terms of left hand fingerings.

I would also say practice changing the dynamics and sonorous qualities of what you are playing. It is amazing how much difference it makes to a phrase to add some cresscendo, or change your right hand attack position on the strings from creating a round full sound to a sharp staccato sound. This can make playing the same phrase twice sound fresh each time.

Are you spending any time trying to learn music from listening to it / playng with others rather than reading it? The theory and scales you are studying will come in handy there, and learning by listening / playing with others will help you see how your studies mesh with real life. Being able to think in theory and position terms while playing music with others is tough but can be fun and can feed the creativeness that is music as long as your academic thought does not overshadow your spirit. (Sorry for sounding goofy there, for a minute.)

Finally, you probably already know about Nic Jones, Martin Simpson and Martin Carthy, but if not, take a listen...

Have fun !

Curtis

[Jockster]

Many thanks for all the replies - really helpful and I will take them on board, especially the points about:
- rest
- having fun
- posture/position and dynamics (think I really could do with some work on clean fretting and adopting a more relaxed posture technique)


Curtis - thanks for the music tips, I know the 2 Martins, although have not listened to them for a while. Have heard of Nic Jones but never got around to listening to him in the past - will download and give him a try.

Thanks once again for all the help, Simon

[Jockster]

The fingerstyle books/DVD's I am using are:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contemporary...+art+of+travis
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Solo-Fin...WA522F7S1HW5E1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beginning-Fi...PS4J9Q17VEGQZJ

As an uninformed beginner I really rate them and should be able to get years of practice/ideas out of them.

Cheers, Simon

[paulp1960]

Hi Jockster,

I would just add that it is important to be learning songs as soon as you can since this is the reason most of us play. And try to sing as well if you are not singing.

Scales are ok to learn but I would advise you get some ear-training otherwise it can all be meaningless. There is some software called Earmaster that can help with that. Or use a teacher for ear training.

Good luck on your journey.

[Salzburg Steve]

Hi.

As a previous reply said . . . Wow that is lot to fit in a practice reoutine, even it is over a couple of weeks.

I feel i am an advanced beginner and I took on various pieces of advice i have picked up from here and there.

So for what it is worth here is the view I have settled on for practice.

I have decided this guitar playing thing is a massive subject, and the more you learn and see the more you want to try.
Therefore this is a lifetimes work and I cannot do it all in one go so now I dont try.

Doing lots of stuff in 1 hour may not move you along as you would like.
You spend the first part of your . . . 8 mins on a particular theme getting to be where you left off last time, you just start to get into some improvement area . . . Then stop and move onto the next thing.

So i dont do that.
I may spend 30 mins or more just working on one thing . . . For a few days.
As Curtis said - messing with the dynamics of something.

I have also set goals - to learn some tunes.
My view is if you are not going to play some tunes what is the point of learning scales and theory?
So unless something helps me learn a tune i dont bother.
But what i do is search out tunes which add a new skill or something.

Currently I am playing around with minor pentatonic scale and playing over a backing track.
Doing that has been a far more interesting than just plodding up and down the scale (which i did previously and gave up on because it was boring)
Again - i spend a decent amount of the time in each session doing this and i have seen some real improvement.

Regards

Steve

[Riverwolf]

Myself, I think it is OK to have input/lessons from more than one source at a time as long as they do not conflict or contradict each other.
I am currently taking paid one on one lessons from an instructor.
But also going through the bluegrass lessons on Jamplay.com and song lessons from Totallyguitars.com
You might consider taking the online courses from justinguitar.com (very highly recommended here).
He is funny, friendly, structured, and songs oriented, free with donations optional.
I took his beginner, most of his intermediate and some of his fingerstyle.

[SFCRetired]

Looks like you really want to learn those scales and I can't disagree with that approach. I would do the scales for 30 minutes and then 30 minutes of play time learning songs. You will learn a lot by learning songs.

personally I have never been good at setting time limits. I always approached it by practicing for the amount of time I have whether that be 30 minutes or 3 hours.

[kevets]

My advice on scales is to not just blindly drill the pattern, but to name the note and/or scale degree. Then play different patterns and rhythms.

Some possible patterns of the C Major scale
Straight: C D E F G A B C
Thirds: C E D F E G F A G B A C etc.
Up 4 notes: CDEF, DEFG, EFGA, etc

Rhythms, so slow-fast alterations, or fast-slow or triplets

While they aren't the smoothest to play fast, I like the scales in the little book Building The Better Guitar Scale. These have a few rules that are easily memorized and then you can play any major scale from and scale degree start.

[Jockster]

Thanks for all the help and hints much appreciated cheers, si