Your practice routines!

Quattroste

Is there a particular forum for this sort of thread. Maybe a Guitar Technique forum or something? Is it OK to post here?

Anyway I was just wondering if you have particular routine for practising/learning the guitar. I have young kids and a job and that sort of crap so I don't get to play as often as I would like. To practise I usually play and sing a bit on the acoustic to warm up the fingers and then try to play lead on the electric. I am only learning this so I have books and websites and exercises for finger movements and the whole CAGED thing and so on. I've never had lessons and I am seriously thinking of it just to have someone to show me something new, first hand, rather than from a book etc. I have been playing for over 10 years on and off but you wouldn't know it .
I really want to learn blues lead so I can get pretty wasted and... well ye know, just let it all out

feylya

It's grand here.

Generally, I just pick up the guitar and play random things, come up with riffs, try and come up with little lead lines, jam with songs, crap like that. I've no structured practice routine. That could probably explain a lot...

Mystic Fibrosis

Yeah, practice is pretty alien to me. That said, I play every day if I can for an hour or more but I've never done anything involving exercises etc.

-=al=-

i drew up a routine a good while back, most of it is from vai's 30 hr work out and i use examples from it.... i just fixed it up for me, Its not everyday i do it, but i try to do some a day as proper practice not just noodling around..... but u can use it or take it as a guideline if u want

here it is....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/-=Slash=-/side1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/-=Slash=-/side2.jpg

feylya

And here's Vai's 10 hour workout in PTB format.

http://members.boards.ie/feylya/vai_steve-steve_vais_10-hour_guitar_workout.zip

kennier

I was getting lessons for a while from Tom Brunkard which were deadly but junior arrived so I had to give that up for a bit. Now I'm stuck in a never ending spiral of E pentatonics. Regardless of the riff, it's always with the E pentatonics at the end. Playing the lead bit from lynyrd skynyrd's Free Bird last night and, yep, the bloody pentatonic slipped in there somehow It's like when someone says 'hear that squeak' and you say 'what squeek? Oh yeah' and you go slowly mad.....

Quattroste

"Yeah, practice is pretty alien to me."

You had to start somewhere?

Quattroste

It's like when someone says 'hear that squeak' and you say 'what squeek? Oh yeah' and you go slowly mad

Excellent! Smithers, buy that man a ham!

John

I turn on the amp and let inspiration take me. That and scales, fumbling, all thumbs scales.

Mr. CooL ICE

Ive gotten really bad lately with practise often only practising 4/5 days per week. Last year, i never progressed, because i had my bass in college, and went home at the weekends and didnt practise, but since then, i bring my bass home with me, so there is a massive improvement in my finger speed and endurance. But for practising, i usually play a bit of everything, mainly my bands original material, because its pretty fast (16th notes at 180bpm), but i play songs that have good basslines, like The Immigrant Song, Cowboys From Hell, Paradise City, etc. I play them because i need to improve on my sync between hands, which sounds strange, but i got very bad for a while.

shnaek

feylya wrote:

And here's Vai's 10 hour workout in PTB format.

http://members.boards.ie/feylya/vai_steve-steve_vais_10-hour_guitar_workout.zip

Cheers for that powertab! I practice mainly just learning new songs and playing them - but that Vai tab is a handy one.

Karl Hungus

I have no real routine. Sometime I play 2 or 3 hours a day, sometimes I've been known to play for about 6 hours. Not sure how much of that is genuine practice, and how much is just jamming around though.

Quattroste

6 hours a day :eek:

Where do you find that much time in any day. I'd have to be practising in my sleep. This week so far I have had about a 2 hours in total Just can't find the time. Kinda pisses me off. :mad:

feylya

In the past 2 weeks or so, I've had maybe 3 hours practice altogether. Which would be grand if I was busy but I don't even work

BossArky

Don't quote me exactly on this but the other day someone was telling me that Joe Satriani took Kirk Hammett for a marathon practice session back in the days when he was teaching him, nothing but coffee and cigarettes for either 16 or 30 hours. Satriani was demonstrating that if practice for 16 or 30 hours solid you won't forget what you've been playing.

-=al=-

I dont work either so i just play my guitar alot! If im not practicing or just playing, im probably recording for a few hours at least, I badly need some new recording equipment though, i have crappy stuff but it gets the job done eventually....

Giblet

I work on creating crazy sounds and riffs these days. I practice some rock hard classical stuff just to get ideas aswell, I have no real interest in playing it though.

jcoote

i'd sit there for hours tryin new things...i usually end up stickin the pink floyd ping pong sound on and playin it til it gets dark...i suppose 2 to 3 hours a day on average (and i'm still crap:p)