Your practice routine?

[ROBERT B]

Greetings, newbie here with first post. I just found the site a few weeks ago and love the lessons. I’ve been struggling to stay focused when I practice. I’m sure that’s pretty common. I would finish and then realize I hadn’t accomplished a damn thing other than noodling around. So I’m committed to following a new simple routine.

My routine has these elements, not in any order. I allot about 10 minutes on each section. MY goal is to make sure I have hit all the sections beginning with whichever section I’m attracted to that day.

WEEK 1 SECTIONS
–Scales (solos over a backing track or with a metronome) Two scales each week, a major and a minor from same key. I’m into blues, so this week it’s A major and A minor pentatonic.
–Circle of 5ths, one chord family for the same key. A major and A minor. Rhythm with metronome. Learn all positions on the fretboard for that family.
— 2 Licks each week, more if I have nailed the first 2. Licks this week A major and A minor.
__ Choice- either strum along with a song or learn 1 new strum pattern. Rhythm with metronome.
— Song of the week.

So NO set order. Start with what section feels good that day, but complete all the sections. Practice is casual not boring. In other free time (retired), explore theory, etc… stuff you can do without a guitar.

At the beginning of each week, look back at what I’ve accomplished and forward to what I want to do next week.

After getting sucked down the YouTube rabbit hole of teachers, I’ve picked 3 guys that I can relate to and avoid the rest. Brian is my #1 guru.

What’s your routine or practice philosophy?

[sunjamr]

Welcome Robert. I would not blame you if you started to lose motivation after pursuing such a complex practice schedule. As a longtime AM member, I’ve seen many new members wanting to spend hours learning scales, CAGED patterns, Circle of 5ths, etc. It’s mind-numbing stuff, and I would love to point you more in the direction of just having fun, and learning by osmosis. Your brain will thank you.

The way Active Melody is designed to teach is more by example and immersion, rather than rote memorization. I consider myself to be an advanced level guitarist, not super advanced, but able to play pretty much anything I want to attempt. The way I got to this level is pretty much the way most AM members got where they are: Go to the Lessons page and listen to Brian’s intro for some of the lessons. Pick maybe 2 or 3 that you like, and dive into learning them as perfectly as you can. You can fine-tune your search by choosing one or more of the lesson topics from the list on the left of the page. Also, be aware that the older lessons are sometimes shorter and easier than the more recent lessons. One by one I’ll comment on your goals:

Scales – The only time I ever sat down and practiced scales was a couple of months after buying my first electric guitar. I saw the need to become familiar with all 5 pentatonic scale positions. If you know them in one key, you know them in all keys because they are transposable.

Circle of Fifths – I printed it out, hung it on my wall, and never looked at it again. I know how it works, but more importantly, I have learned from Brian’s lessons what chords work together and what ones don’t.

2 licks a week – Every lesson that Brian has posted has several good licks, and you will see those same licks appearing in several different lessons. If you learn the lesson, you have learned the licks, and with no strain on your brain, you will have absorbed them into your muscle memory. After you have learned a lesson, a good exercise is to try to tweak some of the licks just a little, maybe a note here or there, and that is you starting to learn improv.

Choice – It only takes about one day to learn every strum pattern there is, and it’s like riding a bike: Once learned, you will never forget how to do it. What most of us do is allow some practice time to just play along with a nice backing track. I started with simple stuff like 12-bar blues in E or A. Just turn on the jamtrack and start noodling around in 1st position minor or major pentatonic scale. Try to insert some of the licks from lessons you have learned.

Song of the week: It’s a personal choice, but I could count the popular rock or blues songs I’ve learned on the fingers of my two hands. Almost everything I have ever learned are either Brian’s lessons, or my own original creation. What good is it for me to learn the guitar part for Stairway to Heaven or Sultans of Swing? I can’t sing very well, and I never play with a band.

Sunjamr Steve

[ROBERT B]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. The method to my madness is really how to practice consistently, in topics that interest me. I’m fascinated with the math or music, thus the theory and circle of 5ths and the mysteries of the fretboard. Strumming to me is practicing rhythm and strumming to time. I’ve never practiced with a metronome until now and it’s an area I need to improve in. My song of the week is one of Brian’s songs. I agree that they are all great tunes. Like you, I cannot sing and will never play in a band. I was a DJ for 15 years back in the day and I’m so tired of classic rock (my era) because I played those records thousands of times. My interest is Blues and some Jazz. Cheers!

[Alan L]

Hey Robert welcome to the forum!

Your new routine looks fantastic and contains a lot of elements I would recommend. Things like different categories to cover in every session, grouping different scales into the same key, and having a system to set goals and review how things are going on a regular basis- all great! If you’re not keeping a physical journal to write things down, I’d add that too.

As for myself:
I’m trying to get at least 30 minutes a day, ideally 45-60. I’m playing almost exclusively AM content. (I play bass too, all my “song” learning is on the bass. But that doesn’t count towards my guitar time.)

I have a playbook of lessons I review, as well as a few new lessons I’m working up or testing out. I do some with backing tracks, some stand alone. I also work on improvising melodies and outlining chord changes. No set schedule for scales or chords, but I will explore when they come up in a lesson and I feel they need work.

Hope you check back in with how things are going. Let us know if there’s anything else we can help you with, and enjoy! 🙂

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