Best way to practice... Through Exercises?

[Lost]

I'm a beginner who can only play couple of chords (not being able to switch between them too fast though...), but I've always get this questions about what should I practice... because from what I've heard from people who study guitar in schools, they have a way of practicing everyday... At least they have something to pratice, and improve in a way.
Anyone know if there's any excercise that I can follow? Or should I just keep on playing and learn new chords, and keep playing and practice the scales that are provided in cyberfret.com?
Any advices would be great!
Thanks

[kitara]

The best exercise to follow is: PLAY!
Play everything you like, wether chords, scales, little riffs, licks or songs - mix it. There is really wide range of tabulatures on the internet, starting from simple songs to difficult compositions. Play songs you like, especially those you have on CD, tape, ... . The "Play-Along" effect can help you, too. Choose something of which you think you are able to play it (or at least parts of it ... ), play some easy things to warm up or relax and something more difficult or new to learn and to improve.

Hope that's a little help.

[Jasper_e]

The best way to learn is just playing songs.
Start with easy ones like "come as you are - nirvana"
When you master this, try something like "californication - Red hot chili peppers" (try solo).

Also try chord-songs like "Lenny kravitz - Fly away"

:D>> Jasper <<:D

[GuitarHitman]

Just push yourself as hard as you can. Pick a song that looks a bit too hard for you and keep trying to you nail it. That's what I try to do but don't pick something really hard.

Also, learn scales and different chords. THe best way to speed up your chord playing is by using the lesson on www.cyberfret.com
I can;t remember the direct link though but it helps.

[mjamer]

I need to go against the grain a bit. Learning songs is great, but doesn't help you as much as you think it does. If I learn song X, then that's what I know. Wouldn't you want to have your technique down well enough to pretty much immediatly play any song you want?

Mastering your techniques will add much much more to your ability to play, than playing songs. When you're practicing set up your own schedule for things you know you don't know, or need work on. Say 15 mins for alternate-picking, 15 minutes for scales, or a singe scale, 15 mins for practicing relaxation and tension (something you should make yourself aware of in all of your practice segments).. just doing this gives your more awareness so when you are doing something else you recognize it. Spend a segment working on finger independency exercises that build strength, speed, and accuracy. If you're into finger picking, spend some more time doing some PIMA exercises.

If your time is limited per day, then pick one of those things per day to do.. whichever you feel weakest in. If it's finger movement, then try to do 5 minutes of that each day and use what little time you have left for scales or your next weakest area.

Playing songs is fun, and that's what we ultimately want to do anyway.. it's just that playing songs is (to me) just learning to play songs, and not learning to play the guitar.

For me, I start out doing jamey's touch exercises (resting your fingers lightly on the strings, and picking them up one by one without moving the others and letting them fall back down to the string..) this is great for me since I was initially unable to even budge my ring finger without the others moving, now I can pick up my ring.. point it out, move it around.. definitely a great exercise, next i move to this exercise (http://www.cyberfret.com/classic/tech_from_hell.htm), then I rest my hands for a few minutes shaking them out. Next I play through the major, minor, and pentatonic scales, every position, and every scale, while doing that I say the notes as I play them since I never learned the notes on the fretboard hehe, alot of the time I try to "sing" the note as I play it, since I like to sing it kills 2 birds with one stone :). After that I work on whatever floats my boat... be it a song, solo, or a riff :).

If you really spend the time practicing those things, when you want to learn a song, or a solo.. you will be amazed just how easy it is to learn a particular song.

hope this helps

mjamer

[Coffee]

I agree with Mjamer. Look at it this way. If someone needed a doctor, would you go to your uncle Bill (who whittles) and say, "UB, I need surgery. I know you're not a great doctor but you sure can whittle. Just keep cuttin' until you get it right." (I think some doctors do this).

Now some would say guitar playing isn't life and death (although I'd argue the life bit). Any structured learning system will move you forward much faster than just playing whatever you can manage to learn. The tendency without some kind of direction is to lay back and play what you can play, in effect letting the guitar play you rather than you playing the guitar restricted by your abilities and the dictates of what you have memorized. So pick something and start to learn.

Oh yeah, I do 1 hour of exercises a day which forces me to be constantly changing keys and positions and uses heavily altered chords and I play through 1 set per day. (I'm such a martyr). On top of this I write my own songs and hold down a fulltime job and have a wife, a dog (looks like a german shephard that had its legs chopped off) and three excellent kids, not to mention the canary that sings Buddy Guy tunes (my wife on the other hand sings the Original Star Trek Theme song opera style. Arggh!!!). I've played for (hmm) 30 years ish and in the last six months of studying theory, chord structures (oh, you get my drift) I have learned more than I ever knew before. I needed a swift kick in the butt that I never got 30 ish years ago. This didn't stop me from playing in lots of bands and having a great time and getting paid for it to boot, but I was short changing myself and short changing my audiences.

Technique and Theory may not be the most fun part of playing but it is guaranteed to be the most productive and the most broadening and you will soon find you are saying 'aha' at every turn.

For the present, work on expanding your chord vocabulary and getting your changes smooth and gaining strength and dexterity but always remember, there's meaning behind every chord you play and you can break out of the box 99% of guitarists (and most other musicians for that matter) are in by gaining a greater understanding.

Hope I didn't come across too harsh guys. I'm preaching to myself. It's just my own stupid choices that can be to your benefit. And to anyone reading this post I hope it was a swift kick in the butt if you needed it.

[radiation]

Hey mjamer, I have been playing for just under 2 years and I think one of the biggest things I need to work on is my finger strength, accuracy and dexterity. I'm OK on strings 3, 4, 5 and 6 but when I try and solo on strings 1 and 2 my fingers are all over the place. My 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers seem to have a mind of their own!!! Can you please pass on more details on the excercises you refer to in your post ("...jamey's touch exercises (resting your fingers lightly on the strings, and picking them up one by one without moving the others and letting them fall back down to the string..)"? Do you have any other good excercises for building finger strength and accuracy. Everytime I see experienced players I am amazed at how effortlessy they move their fingers and how they are able to keep all their fingers so close to the strings all the time. That is what I would like to do!! Thanks!

[mjamer]

radiation,

the touch exercises are part of the Power Practicing (http://www.cyberfret.com/power-practicing/index.php) section here on cyberfret. Specifically the essay on The Secret of Speed: Finding the Incredible Lightness (http://www.cyberfret.com/power-practicing/secret-of-speed.htm), is the touch exercises I was refering too, I even told my wife to start doing it on piano and it has really helped her to "glide". All of the essays in the power practicing section are worth a read. Even better, check out Jamey's site at www.guitarprinciples.com (http://www.guitarprinciples.com), and consider purchasing his book, it comes with exercises, illustrations and essays that haven't been published to the web.

I recommend the Technique from Hell (http://www.cyberfret.com/classic/tech_from_hell.htm) exercises I mentioned above to cover the strength, accuracy and what have you.

Asside from that, take the essays above to heart and really, truely concentrate on relaxing, and controlling the tension in your fingers. Do this on the technique from hell exercises, when you're working on scales and the like. I also, do what I call "burn" exercises, these are simply me being silly doing something that feels like it's working heheh. I'll do hammer-ons and pull-offs until it burns. For example, I'll sit and hold down a string with my index finger and just hammer-on, over and over with my middle finger until it burns, rest for a minute or 2, then do the same only with index & ring.. rest, index and pinky.. rest, and start working on combo's.. like holding down a string with my index finger, hammering on with middle then pinky finger.. over and over, with various combinations. I pretty much the exact same thing only with pull-offs (even though you're doing some pulling off while working on hammer-ons, your mind is concentrating on hammer-on technique and i like to keep my mind sorted heheh, it's a veritible forest the way it is hehe). Also keep in mind, when doing these hammer-on/pull-off exercises, I still don't get lazy and be sloppy with it.. I only hammer-on and pull-off at a speed where I'm in absolute control over my fingers, and maintaining relaxation and stuff =)..

A sidenote to be fair, I don't know if my practicing of hammer-on's and pull-offs are "safe" or anything of the like, it's just something I started doing myself.. so maybe someone will jump in and say not to heheh. It hasn't hurt me any (other than muscles burning, but that's a good work out)... and it's helped me _alot_ when it comes to being fluid, and having control over my hammer-ons and pull-offs. Really, to make it fun.. and if you like ac/dc, you can incorporate the beginning of thunderstruck into your hammer-on/pull-off session. =)

hope some of this helped

mjamer

[radiation]

Helps a ton mjammer...thanks! I started practicing the Technique from Hell last night and it is very easy to see how consistant use of the technique will improve strentgh and accuracy. Another huge help was the link to the articles about proper left hand position. With one simple adjustment, making sure my left palm was parallel to the neck and that my pinkie was not further away from the neck than my 1st finger, has ALREADY made it easier for me to keep my fingers closer to the strings!!! Now I just can't wait to get the hell outta work and go home and practice!!!!!!