how to practice the guitar...
 

so i've had a guitar for oh... i don't know, 8 years now... been an off and on player. didn't really touch it much the first two years i had it. didn't know where to start.

now, i'm a decent player. better than i'd need to be to play in a punk band, and barely good enough to play non-punk. my problem is that for the most part, i'd learn a little bit, practice taht a lot, screw around with songs (just the chords and singing it) but not really making much good use of my time, not learning nearly as much as i could.

i want to really start improving... i've got books that cover a lot of what i need to know, but i'm not sure necessarily where to start, how much time i should be spending on different things when i only have so much time a day/week, etc.

for example, i know i need to start working on scales... i'm going to start with the major and minor pentatonic, then move to the major, blues and minor (both) scales.

i've got a book called 'guitar fitness' that i plan on going over a bit of every day... it's for left/right hand coordination, string skipping, etc.

i want to work on rhythm and theory, but don't really know where to look for resources on those (online).

i'd like to spend time working on songs, but i'd rather set an hour aside a day for the technical stuff if i can and then work on songs i like when i have extra time, i think that'll be thebetter way for me in the long run.

what am i missing? where do you think i should start with these things? if i have only an hour a day to use, how should i break up my time between these starting out? am i forgetting anything? any tips or hints?

thanks!!!

I am completely self taught. I learned everything I know from a guitar poster, a scale book, and downloading chord and tab files for hundreds of songs off of sites like www.olga.net. I found the best way to learn guitar is to learn songs, then figure out what the songwriters were doing

If you want to become really good, taking lessons is probably the easiest way to do it. Especially something like classical guitar lessons.

You can't go wrong sorting out some basic scales like you've done, and doing them every day. A good thing to do is to pick a bunch of songs which use these scales, work out what the artists were aiming for, why they used that scale/riff/lick and what effect they acheived. Especially if that effect happened to be "totally kicking ass". Anyway, I was trying to make a point when I started typing this, and I'm pretty sure that point was - "it's all well and good to be able to whip out these scales, but one should know how and why to use them to create an effective piece". You probably already knew this. This pretty much sums up my philosophy of guitar playing.

I've been playing guitar for 15 years and I've taught guitar lessons for 8 years almost now and here's what I'll suggest.

If you're willing to invest an hour a day into your guitar playing My suggestion is to break it in half between technique and practical.

If you are just starting to learn scale forms then I suggestion spend a half an hour working on building your speed with these ideas and then spend a half hour learning new songs/chords or applying those scales into improvising.

I would suggest you find someone to help you hands on. A teacher, well that depends on if you want to invest money into a teacher (I would say sure, go for it) or just find a friend who is a good player to help guide you through the ropes of becoming a better player.

I would say do not rely on Tab sites. Most of the tabs you find on the internet are not correct, have complete mistakes or written by people who do not know what they are doing. Learn to pick songs off the CD's yourself, by ear. It's far more rewarding to lift a song yourself rather then seeing a tab ont he web that happens to have been mashed together by a kid who doesn't know the difference between a G and C chord.

Books are a good way to learn however I never use them in my studio. A book is a 1 way street and cannot answer your direct questions. Hence why I urge you to find a mentor (teacher or friend or other) to help you out.

Jake gives good advice about ANY hobby that involves a skill or talent: Be willing to put the time in on it, with some instruction, or be willing to settle for just knocking about at it. Doesn't matter if it's golf, guitar playing, typing or whatever, devoting the time and (if necessary) money to it.

Jake gives good advice about ANY hobby that involves a skill or talent: Be willing to put the time in on it, with some instruction, or be willing to settle for just knocking about at it. Doesn't matter if it's golf, guitar playing, typing or whatever, devoting the time and (if necessary) money to it.

As a guy that started playing guitar in 1972 and can just barely bash out the basis chords (forget lead guitar playing!) and playing golf in 1980 and has trouble beating 100 at times, you can take it from me--it takes devotion that some aren't able or willing to give to be great (as compared to the general populace). I'm happy enough with what I can do, and don't feel the need to do more, but if I did. . .

When I was a guitar man, I would play guitar in front of the tv all day...especially during the summer-it's about familiarizing yourself with the instrument, and just making lots of crazy shifts up and down the neck that when the time comes, are as easy as anything else you do on guitar. It's part of technique, really, to have VERY easy access to all parts of the neck.
Also, the thing I tell most people is get to know the names of the notes on the neck, everywhere. Then learn what notes are in what scales and you'll never be totally lost again. Finally, as they say in jazz, the perfect note is always only a half-step away.

harry:
when you say that you are screwing around with songs, what do you mean?
are you making songs or working them out by ear, etc.?

one advantage of focussing on an instrument when you are older is that you can adapt from a wide range of approaches depending upon what you wnat to do. when you are a kid, there tends to be more emphaiss on the idea of "correct" ways to play--which perhaps explains why so many musical forms become boring so quickly.

Maybe not the best, but very fun is to load up a beat on your PC, keyboard, drum machine, etc. and keep in time with this. This helps with the creative side of things. Just start playing and experimenting with different chords, etc.

Good Luck!

by screwing around with songs i mean i'm basically just looking at the chord/tab files on internet and then trying to play them. nothing seroius, usually just strumming it and singing it.



thanks for the input, guys!

ok--i think that other comrades have given good information if that is your aim with this. good luck and keep going.

http://www.guitarbasics.com/

Check out the crash course in guitar theory. I've been readin that site over the past week or so.

Pretty good stuff.

There's no way but the best, which is to just fuck around and make something that sounds good. That's the best way to learn guitar and you'll have a style all your own. Anyone can strum a chord. Only the best guitarists have their own style.

I think the only reason I got good at playing my guitar is that I would blindfold myself and had to learn all the cords blind and had to learn what everything felt like. It was hard but paid off in the end. But as Draconis said above, it's all about a style of your own. I got rid of my electric and I just exclusively play acoustic. I mostly just try to play soulful songs. And that is my style.... so just have fun and try to go in whatever direction you want to.

Yes! This is the best (and probably most obvious) advice you can ever get as a musician, use your ear! I'm not a very technical player or improvisor but through the years I've been able to keep up with far better players than me just through developing my ear. Learn, by practicing scales, the note names and every position at which they exist on the neck. Listen to how a chord feels rather than by memorizing the notes, some guys I've played with can't even tell by ear the difference between basic major and minor chords. Try to learn songs by ear and try to tune your guitar by ear using a piano or pitch pipes.

Some basic ear training in the beginning helps out immensely in the long run.