Post subject: Practicing Habits... Posted: Jul 12, 2004 - 01:41 AM
Joined: Mar 25, 2004
Posts: 18
Location: VA
Status: Offline
Hey. Around how many hours a day do you guys practice? And is it mostly runs and riffs, or improvising/songwriting or playing full songs (not likely w/o backup).
Personally, I tend to practice 2-3 hours a day. On a good day (like on a weekend) I can get in 5 hours, which is great!
Usually the first thing I do on my guitar is play the Alternate Picking ex.1 over an Em chord to start things off, then it's scales, scales, scales.
I play C major all over the neck, then G major, then A, tune down to Drop-D and riff some (gotta have some fun!), then I do some major scales really fast starting on the g string and ending on high e.
G Dorian over several different chord types. Then what I like to do is to play some fluid, flowing, expressive classical stuff. Like mostly Am riffs, and the Paganini Caprice excerpt(up to speed-no, playable-yeah!)
Then I usually play all the songs I have written, then I write a little. And finally, I just close my eyes and play. Sometimes it sounds like a car horn underwater w/ a dog choking on a bone, but sometimes it sounds like I know what I'm doing (not really)
Well? How about you guys? What are your practice habits?
bhuether
Post subject:Posted: Jul 13, 2004 - 03:26 AM
Joined: Mar 09, 2003
Posts: 229
Status: Offline
I start by stretching my hands as I wait for my amp to warm up (have to do that with tube amps). Then I turn on my metronome and play 3-note-per-string scales up and down the neck in some given key (i.e. the key of the song I am working on at a given moment). Then I look at a watch or something and do legato til my hands can no longer move. Then I go back to scales. I do 3 and 3 and a half octave scales, etc. I also go through arpeggio exercises in the same key (7th arpeggios, triads, etc). I also do the same scale exercises, but play them in what I call the Harmonic Minor and Jazz Melodic Minor "neighbor keys"). So if I am doing G Major, then I will also play all the modes of E Harmonic Minor and E Jazz Melodic Minor. Then I go back to legato and repeat the cycle. When I can sustain very fast and fluid legato non-stop for 3 minutes, then I consider myself warmed up. I also do chord exercises. I play chord scales in a given key. For instance, I will play all the 7th chords in G major, then I will play them in E harmonic Minor, etc. Then I usually play to my songs (I have all my backing tracks in a Cubase project which is convenient). This is just an example. I don't do it this way every time.
later,
brian
hellishome
Post subject:Posted: Aug 01, 2005 - 10:31 PM
Joined: Aug 01, 2005
Posts: 1
Location: Sweden
Status: Offline
I start with some blues-licks, I think it's really good for a warm-up. Then I improvise some. Then, I get serious. And play some arpeggios, like "Arpeggios From Hell" by Yngwie Malmsteen or "Speed Kills" by Micheal Angelo (Can't go as fast as he does though, he's like the fastest dude on earth). I kind of play all the time, when I'm cooking, when I'm waiting for the laundry to get ready and yeah, almost all the time. Some times even in school, but the teachers donät really like that. But that's not really practice, it's more like fooling around Very fun though.
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(not really)
Some times even in school, but the teachers donät really like that. But that's not really practice, it's more like fooling around 
