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  #1  
Old 12-12-2020, 09:22 AM
timschalom timschalom is offline
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Default Guitar Practice Routine

Hello everyone,

I've been playing the guitar for just over a year now, learned to play a couple of intermediate fingerstyle songs and beat slapping in this time.

I'm mostly satisfied with my progress **BUT** as I've been playing 1 - 2 hours nearly everyday, I'm asking myself if my practice could be more effective by comparing it to yours.

My routine:



** Warm Up**


* 10-15min playing the spiderwalk exercise to get my muscles warmed up

* playing 1-2 songs I already learned to get the right hand also in action


afterwards I go on to learn new songs


**New Songs**


* one playthrough of the song, even if it sounds terrible

* learn section of the song and training them for 5min then go on to another section and doing the same again

* after practicing sections, I then try to play the complete song again and check for improvement again


I do this for 2-3 new songs, starting with the most difficult first and spending about 20-30min with each of them.


**Old Songs**


* after this I may also play some songs I already learned, just to not not "unlearn" them with time.


And that's basically how I learned and am learning to play guitar.
For me it seems like it's a bit one-sided... that's why I've tried to transcripe songs from Youtube videos I've enjoyed (for example Justin Johnsons version of "Don't think twice it's alright"), but it's such a tiring process, cause you get little done in much time.


**1. What do you think of my routine?**
**2. What does your routine look like?**
**3. What would you recommend to me?**


I'm excited to hear your opinions and learn about your exercises.


Best
Tim
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  #2  
Old 12-12-2020, 11:29 AM
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Originally Posted by timschalom View Post


**New Songs**

* one playthrough of the song, even if it sounds terrible

* learn section of the song and training them for 5min then go on to another section and doing the same again

* after practicing sections, I then try to play the complete song again and check for improvement again
Tim,

The "one playthough of the song, even if it sounds terrible" is a mistake. You're just teaching your fingers the wrong muscle memory, but you might want to play through until you reach a bad spot, then mark the section that is bad in pencil, then go on with the song until the next "bad spot", mark it, etc. finding all the spots that are no good. Then go back to the first bad spot and practice it until it is right.
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Old 12-12-2020, 11:58 AM
timschalom timschalom is offline
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Hi Barry,

thank you for the tip, I def. take that into account!
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Old 12-12-2020, 12:37 PM
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Hi Barry,

thank you for the tip, I def. take that into account!
One more thing - when you practice those rough spots, practice them in slow motion. I use software on my computer called Transcribe! at times. You load the mp3 of the tune you want to learn and you can slow the playback of it to whatever degree you want. You can do loops with it so you're practicing the same spot over and over again until your fingers fall off

The key for my learning something new is to beat down my ego and resist the urge to play it too fast, too soon.
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Old 12-12-2020, 12:47 PM
timschalom timschalom is offline
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I will look nthis up aswell.

I've posted this type of thread on other forums aswell (Ultimate Guitar, Reddit) and there where people who recommended me to also use online lessons like Jam Play, Guitar Tricks etc.

As I do not have enough money to spend it on a weekly guitar teacher, I take this into consideration.

What is your opinion on such online programs and would you recommend something?
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Old 12-12-2020, 01:54 PM
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I will look nthis up aswell.

I've posted this type of thread on other forums aswell (Ultimate Guitar, Reddit) and there where people who recommended me to also use online lessons like Jam Play, Guitar Tricks etc.

As I do not have enough money to spend it on a weekly guitar teacher, I take this into consideration.

What is your opinion on such online programs and would you recommend something?
I'm basically self taught with finger style, but I do have a few of those online lessons in Truefire, which I worked on for a while and then stopped, but only because I'm doing a lot of Celtic music right now. I think the Truefire courses by Tommy Emmanuel are well done, but they aren't for beginners.
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Old 12-12-2020, 01:59 PM
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Very organized and structured practice routine. Do you enjoy your practices? What is the most enjoyable aspect? What is your goal with all of it?
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Old 12-12-2020, 03:29 PM
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I am a little over 4 months in and have been using Guitar Tricks. I love that there is a methodology to learning. It’s only $99 for a whole year of access, and the coupon to get that price is available now. It’s SAVE80.

They have a whole section on how to practice.
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Old 12-12-2020, 03:35 PM
timschalom timschalom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman View Post
I'm basically self taught with finger style, but I do have a few of those online lessons in Truefire, which I worked on for a while and then stopped, but only because I'm doing a lot of Celtic music right now. I think the Truefire courses by Tommy Emmanuel are well done, but they aren't for beginners.
Thank you for your opinion.

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Very organized and structured practice routine. Do you enjoy your practices? What is the most enjoyable aspect? What is your goal with all of it?
I mostly enjoy my practice. I do not like the warm up, cause sometimes my fingers hurt, because I've been doing these exercises for just 1 month now... but they are needed to build/keep strength.

The most enjoyable aspect is the progress you notice. I start learning a song it and I can play some of it already, because of different songs I learned already. Then it comes down to the parts I can't play. I try and try again... play this little progression over and over again until I get tired or my fingers cant play anymore. So I move on to the next bit or song.

When I get through the warm up the next day and play the new song again and notice, that I can play this tricky part better ... man it's just an awesome feeling!

Not speaking of the joy that's unleashed when you are casually playing the song again and notice that you've just played it like you've always wanted to!

... and then you start with the next song ...

My goal is to just get better with it. To write own fingerstyle arrangements to what I hear on the radio. Of course that practice routine doesnt cover that (yet), but I need to get the technique and playing down first, do work with full potential later.

Please note I'm just a beginner without most of theoretical music knowledge ...
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Old 12-12-2020, 03:58 PM
timschalom timschalom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CarolD View Post
I am a little over 4 months in and have been using Guitar Tricks. I love that there is a methodology to learning. It’s only $99 for a whole year of access, and the coupon to get that price is available now. It’s SAVE80.

They have a whole section on how to practice.
Sadly this code is expired.
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  #11  
Old 12-12-2020, 04:20 PM
rmp rmp is offline
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I think you're doing a fine job setting up the routine.

And Barry is 100% right, pay attention to the problem spots in songs you are working on.

drill down, clean up and smooth out the rough spots, slow the tempo down and be deliberate. Slowly increase your tempo, you will eventually own it, and be able to play thru the entire song at performance levels.
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Old 12-12-2020, 09:04 PM
Su_H. Su_H. is offline
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What do I think of your routine? I think you'll go far.

My routine: My right hand is the weakest of all my abilities and so my practice centers around that....
1. 15 mintues of right hand arpeggios with variations.
2.Followed by playing through less demanding repertoire.

I then take a break.

3. 10 minutes of right hand arpeggios but different variations.
4. Work on a long term project, Austurias, for 15 minutes.

Break

5. Work on polishing problem areas on two pieces.
6. sight read new material

My recommendation: Try not to do 2 hours in one sitting. I played for hours on end in high school and as a music major in college. That didn't take me very far. Focused practice is the key and try to have multiple short practice sessions instead of one long session.

Good luck.
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Old 12-13-2020, 12:33 AM
Psychopasta Psychopasta is offline
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+1 for both GuitarTricks and TrueFire. GuitarTricks is more song focused, TrueFire more technique and “how the genre works “ based. Both great.
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Old 12-13-2020, 04:36 AM
CarolD CarolD is offline
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Originally Posted by timschalom View Post
Sadly this code is expired.
Ah, that’s too bad, but it does come around quite frequently, so I will post it again when I see it!
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Old 12-13-2020, 10:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Su_H. View Post

My recommendation: Try not to do 2 hours in one sitting. I played for hours on end in high school and as a music major in college. That didn't take me very far. Focused practice is the key and try to have multiple short practice sessions instead of one long session.

Good luck.
I do two-a-days. In the morning I'm pretty focused and structured. Afternoon more random, lots of just playing songs and less structure. The best of both worlds I guess.
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Last edited by rllink; 12-13-2020 at 10:39 AM.
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