What's the best practice method?

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:40 pm

I feel like I've hit an impasse in my now 6 month venture into learning guitar, I really haven't made any progress in the last month and a half. my finger work remains sloppy and slow and I've lately been getting so infuriated with the process that I've had to put the guitar down and walk away from it for fear of smashing it.

I assume all guitarists hit such rough patches in the learning process, but I'd like to know what your guys practice routines look like. How much time do you, did you, spend daily. Did you work on songs or just chords and scales, or a combo? How did you divy your practice time up?

Sorry for how noobish this all is, but please remember I am a very much still a guitar noob.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:10 pm

endsjustifymeans wrote:How did you divy your practice time up?

3 hours finger tapping, 30 mins pinch harmonics, 1 hour gurning per day.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:14 pm

stewart wrote:
endsjustifymeans wrote:How did you divy your practice time up?
3 hours finger tapping, 30 mins pinch harmonics, 1 hour gurning per day.

how do you find time to practice your rock face with that schedule?

Do you suggest I keep my neon spandex on for the whole practice routine?

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:17 pm

my best advice is to just keep going. i'm not a fucking brilliant guitarist at all, but what skill i have develped over the past 15 years or so has come from just playing. a lot. they did some study once that showed that human beings that go on to do GREAT things, whether with a guitar, paint-brush, law degree, medical degree, require something like 10,000 hours of study with their craft...and it's kind of cool how that number really does play in with all the greats of their skill...so yeah, go getcher 10,000 hours...i personally play like i need another 7,000 or so...hah ha ha.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:19 pm

endsjustifymeans wrote:
stewart wrote:
endsjustifymeans wrote:How did you divy your practice time up?
3 hours finger tapping, 30 mins pinch harmonics, 1 hour gurning per day.
how do you find time to practice your rock face with that schedule?

Do you suggest I keep my neon spandex on for the whole practice routine?

hmm, that's a toughie. the crotch areas tend to perish, from my experience. you might want to keep your underwear on.

i'm in no position to advise anyone, my playing hit a peak about 2 years ago and has been getting steadily worse ever since.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:19 pm

St. Jimmy wrote:my best advice is to just keep going. i'm not a fucking brilliant guitarist at all, but what skill i have develped over the past 15 years or so has come from just playing. a lot. they did some study once that showed that human beings that go on to do GREAT things, whether with a guitar, paint-brush, law degree, medical degree, require something like 10,000 hours of study with their craft...and it's kind of cool how that number really does play in with all the greats of their skill...so yeah, go getcher 10,000 hours...i personally play like i need another 7,000 or so...hah ha ha.

I have every intention to keep going, I'm just worried I'm doing something wrong practice wise. It felt like I was going 100 MPH with months 1-4, and then on month 5 I hit a brick wall.

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:30 pm

endsjustifymeans wrote:
St. Jimmy wrote:my best advice is to just keep going. i'm not a fucking brilliant guitarist at all, but what skill i have develped over the past 15 years or so has come from just playing. a lot. they did some study once that showed that human beings that go on to do GREAT things, whether with a guitar, paint-brush, law degree, medical degree, require something like 10,000 hours of study with their craft...and it's kind of cool how that number really does play in with all the greats of their skill...so yeah, go getcher 10,000 hours...i personally play like i need another 7,000 or so...hah ha ha.
I have every intention to keep going, I'm just worried I'm doing something wrong practice wise. It felt like I was going 100 MPH with months 1-4, and then on month 5 I hit a brick wall.

i think that's true of any "skill" we learn in life though...the initial few months or whatever you're going purely on the excitement of learning something new that you're really into all of a sudden. then you get through the first few weeks months and the real "WORK" kicks in...you'll be fine man...you clearly have a passion for it...so you'll keep going with it...just gotta be okay with however long it takes you to get as proficient as you want to be. no one can force you to go faster/slower or be any kind of guitarist you don't want to be...

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:33 pm

Play while you're doing other stuff. I pretended to like Futurama for like, 3 years, just to clear everyone out of the living room for half hours at a time.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:41 pm

I reckon learn a few cock-rock riffs. It might sound boring and trite but I would say playing classic rock or blues stuff might give you the gratifcation and fresh wind you may need once you're over the honeymoon period.

Also don't overwork it. If you're getting really pissed off and tired with it, go back to it when you're aching to play again.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:51 pm

GeorgeF wrote:I reckon learn a few cock-rock riffs. It might sound boring and trite but I would say playing classic rock or blues stuff might give you the gratifcation and fresh wind you may need once you're over the honeymoon period.

Also don't overwork it. If you're getting really pissed off and tired with it, go back to it when you're aching to play again.

I've been learning some AC/DC and Black Sabbath riffs lately. I'm piss poor at some of them, but I totally see what you're saying.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:07 pm

Yeah there's just something about 60s and 70s rock for me. When I was first starting out I found jamming along to bands like Zeppelin and Cream in particular was great. Their songs cover all skill levels, nice chuggy easy riffs to get started with and when you're ready you can have a dabble at the solos if you're feeling brave.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:22 pm

You don't believe.

How can you ever rock if you don't believe?

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:24 pm

Mike wrote:You don't believe.

How can you ever rock if you don't believe?

FRACK!

I need my old mike quote about step one to becoming a great guitarist is believing you are a great guitarist...
That's when everything went wrong, when I changed that sig. I've lost me faith. lol

Post by **Mike** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:26 pm

It's my world famous two step plan:

1. Believe you are fucking awesome
2. Actually, like, getting better and that

I'm at stage 1. You can be too for Â£14.99 a month.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:28 pm

Pshaw... I'm pirating your plan. I'll just tape this to my amp.

Mike wrote: 1. Believe you are fucking awesome
2. Actually, like, getting better and that

George · Post by **George** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:39 pm

Cheque's in the post.

kim · Post by **kim** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:40 pm

hm... playing guitar/music with other people works best, if there's a drummer, i don't get bored so easily then but also getting an acoustic that is sort of tough to play, it's something you can pick up and play any time of the day, playing guitar by yourself for two hours is so boring i think so it works picking it up, playing, if you're not feeling it and you irritate yourself playing put it down , pick it up again later with new motivation etc.

jam along to songs playing on your stereo, that's fun too, even if it's not exactly how the song is played, if it sounds ok you can come up with new ideas and push yourself a bit more. i'm not a fan of memorizing scales and all stupid crap then playing stuff as fast as you can, it's not really heartfelt, and something that isn't heartfelt but just memorized doesn't last i think. buddy holly was such a shit guitarist technically compared to steve vai, but steve vai songs don't mean shit, buddy wrote some amazing songs. so don't go stress yourself if you can't do teh vaiz or satrianiz, it's not important. if you can play guitar and feel relieved afterwards i think that's most important to playing guitar or any instrument, not showing off.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:44 pm

I may be trying to rush myself.

You see I've got a band ready to go waiting for me to learn guitar well enough to start writing some songs. We're all best friends and all so their in no rush, but I wanna get up to speed asap and it's been frustrating.

kim · Post by **kim** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:55 pm

just play power chords with fuzz and reverb on it, can't fail.

do they tell you you should learn to play better ? if they do just say fuck you, don't be the ego guitarist not knowing when to stop soloing etc

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:57 pm

kim wrote:just play power chords with fuzz and reverb on it, can't fail.

do they tell you you should learn to play better ? if they do just say fuck you, don't be the ego guitarist not knowing when to stop soloing etc

lol, no. It's more out of embarrassment of my skills I haven't played with them yet. Once my EC thunder gets here, I may take your advice and just hide lack of skill behind a wall of noise.

What's the best practice method?

What's the best practice method?

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