Small doubts in practice plan routine

General Music Discussion
#1

I have a practice plan but im always in doubt if im working with too much stuff. I practice an electric guitar etude, do some technique, have a 5 min break, then i practice jazz (jazz blues to be specific, voice leading exercises, transcribing and improvisation). Do you think this is too much workout for one session? Do you practice the same stuff daily or you have different topics on different days?

Thanks for your answers folks :slight_smile:

Pd: i was in a Scott Henderson masterclass and i asked him what did he practice, he said to me that he was the wrong person to answer that question because he is very desorganized and he only play what he wants in different days. I’ve heard the same from Oz Noy. Maybe there’s some hidden and intuitive deliberate practice in their approaches?

#2

I don’t think it’s too much as long as you aren’t in danger of overuse injuries.

Have you seen the Noa Kageyama interviews in MiM? He has some interesting things to say about practice and effective practice. It’s a really good watch.

I’m sure routines vary but it’s good to hear what everyone does.

Right now I have spaced repetition flash cards to help memorize keys and modes and some stuff like all the major and minor triads and inversion shapes. I do that daily, adding in as I need to learn more. This only takes around 5 minutes, plus any time to make new flash cards.

Then I do about 15 minutes worth of 1234 exercises up and down the fretboard. Each day I do a different fingering, there are 24 in total (1234, 1243, 1324,1342, etc). With metronome at slow, moderate, and too fast speeds.

Then I choose a single note for the day (a new one each day) and review all of that note’s spots on the fretboard. And practice triads off those notes. I do this for about 15 minutes.

Then I run a basic box scale on that note and run through each mode with that note as the tonic. This is mostly to get familiar with the sound of each mode. But I also make sure to name each note as I go through it, and rely less on the memorization of the pattern. I spend about 5 minutes on each mode.

Next I work on a lick from Guitar Aerobics, and then a rhythm exercise from Rhythm 365. About 15 minutes each there.

Then I do some exercises from CtC. Right now I like the Ardeshir Farah 6s and 8s. I try and focus on speed while maintaining good tone while working on my primary motion. Again another 15 minutes.

After that if I still have time I tool around with a piece. Right now I’m learning Slash’s Obsession Confession.

My practice time varies, but I always try and do the fretboard work and flash cards each day. Right now I range about 1 - 3 hours a day.

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#3

Great, seems like you have a clear path on what you’re doing and i like it. I read some Noa’s papers and he have a cool approach to practice. Also i discover recently a guy named Gregg Goodheart, he also is a learning coach and he have a very interesting pdf that is called Cracking The Talent Code (lol), i recomend it a lot, he also cover many things that you need to know to start a perfect practice session.

Thanks for your answer!

#4

Do you use physical flash cards or an app?

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#5

I definitely don’t have a plan, other than to try and play daily. Some days are more methodical than others, but only if I have a desire to push. I find that if I legitimately don’t feel like practicing something difficult, let alone play guitar, then I just won’t. I’ll switch gears to something peripheral like tone hunting, writing, recording, or maybe even just mixing.

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#6

The question I always want to ask myself is “Why am I practicing this?”

Am I going to apply it somewhere? Will I ever actually use it?

I don’t want my effort to end up like the two years I spent learning French in school. That is:

A complete waste of time with effectively zero long term impact.

To me “Why?” is the best question and “Because I want to know.” works for an answer. Conversely, reasoning such as “I’m supposed to…” or “that’s what others say…” aren’t valid reasons (to me).

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#7

I use the app Anki. So it handles the spaced repetition part with it’s algorithm. So I just have to focus on what cards I make and when and let the app handle the timing.

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