Best practice routines?

[Maddnotez]

I have taken a lot of breaks with music but looking to get to the next level of playing. Mostly trying to have an easier time with songwriting and better/faster scales. Neo classical I suppose if I had to pick.

I see tons of excellent players on Facebook selling their programs but I'm a cheap ass and trying to find something free. Anyone have a good source for stuff like this?

[Guitarbilly]

1- have a metronome or beat on every time you're practicing.

2- use the minimal amount of gain necessary to practice your style. If you're playing metal it doesn't make sense to do it clean, but don't overdo it either. Turn it down until it's uncomfortable then go 1 notch up from that.

3- there is no point in doing exercises that you will never apply to anything. Play scales/licks you actually like/will use.

4- be honest with yourself, if it's not played cleanly and correctly, start over until it is.

[greatmutah]

Find the PDF for Gambale’s chop builder and work through the first few rounds. Start slow. Use a metronome. Watch the YouTube video too. It’s cheesy but it works. Other things you can do: learn some solos note for note. Use a metronome or go slower. I found a free video of someone doing Holy Diver at 3/4s and that helped me immensely for that song.

What Billy recommended is also good but I like to do both unplugged and plugged in. It helped me with my attack and being able to do repetitions later at night without bothering anyone. When I would play plugged in I would then focus more on muting where needed for noise and open strings and the like.

[Maddnotez]

Find the PDF for Gambale’s chop builder and work through the first few rounds. Start slow. Use a metronome. Watch the YouTube video too. It’s cheesy but it works. Other things you can do: learn some solos note for note. Use a metronome or go slower. I found a free video of someone doing Holy Diver at 3/4s and that helped me immensely for that song.

What Billy recommended is also good but I like to do both unplugged and plugged in. It helped me with my attack and being able to do repetitions later at night without bothering anyone. When I would play plugged in I would then focus more on muting where needed for noise and open strings and the like.

Will try to find that thanks, I also play unplugged and plugged both. Also I've learned some scales that I would never use but take pieces from them, at the very least it broadens some knowledge.

That pdf sounds promising, one thing that really helped me a lot was a warm up routine from speed kills vol2

[maggotspawn]

I watch Youtube in the evening and email links to the videos, for practice during the day.
Lots of neoclassical stuff with tabs.

[broslinger]

1. There's no substitution for playing a LOT. Like hours every day. Even if you're playing the same thing all the time. Your mind will know where the notes are before you play them if you do it enough. Guys like Dimebag, SRV, Vai, etc., they played like 12 hours a day every day.

2. Record yourself playing. Listen to your own stuff. If it sounds awesome, keep doing it. If it sounds bad, stop doing it.

3. RE: writing. Psychedelics. Alternate tunings.

4. For neoclassical/shred/etc., do what Billy said as well. Metronome is a good idea if you want to play mad notes.

[Vladimir Putin]

What everyone else said. Put in the time, learn stuff cleanly, learn songs to get out of a rut, and just keep at it daily.

When I'm playing daily and putting effort in I notice not only do I play better, but my creativity comes out. When I half ass it and only ham out some garbage for 10 minutes every 2 weeks then it sounds real bad.

You're a Ferrari. Maintenance is everything.

[Guitarbilly]

During the pandemic I took online lessons with Paul Gilbert. I had the membership where I had access to all his video lessons plus once a month I had a zoom session with him where he would give feedback on my progress, assign more exercises etc

Anyway it was really cool and helpful but one of the most insightful things he told me was " what you're practicing is not as important as your practice habits, if you practice regularly, use the metronome, focus on cleaning up your technique etc pretty much any exercise will help you. If you don't have good practice habits, no exercise routine will do anything for you"

That was a bit of an eye opener for me in terms of focusing on developing good habits and consistency etc

[Vladimir Putin]

Dude you took zoom lessons with Paul Gilbert?? That's fucking cool!

[Guitarbilly]

Dude you took zoom lessons with Paul Gilbert?? That's fucking cool!

yeah he was offering them during the pandemic. Paul is a really cool guy, super humble and the lessons were great and I think they made a difference on my playing.