i read alot of these forums to get a better feel for the guitar and alot of you guys know a shit load of stuff..alot of times i dont know wtf language your speaking. im wondering how many years you guys been playing?? practice routines?? HRs a day ??? and did you go to guitar lessons to learn all that stuff.


as for my self i been playing only 4 months , about 2 hours aday, and as for routines i just practice tabs and try to make shit up with chords. and i dont got money to give to some old ass guy thats probly gonna teach me country/blues/or classical. ( nothing against that music, just not for me )

been playing bass for about 6 years, started guitar before that but didnt play it as intensively, but the last year I've been getting more into guitar again.

I have allways had a bass teacher, and I teach bass myself now, now I have a guitar teacher that also teaches me bass, once a week, 1 hour. I practise about an half an hour/hour a day, depending on how much time I have. in the weekends more and bandpractises. anyways, learning theory is also essential if you want more then only playing tabs.

been playin for a year now, decided to learn loads of thoery etc and i'm now gettin guitar lessons of this metalhead i know for pretty cheap £15 for aslong as i want which rocks. I usually practice for bout an hour a day but sometimes i get carried away and improvise for hours. When playin i usually play a couple of songs, play some scales/arpeggios and other random shit and then i'lll just end up improvising for a while.

My best tip would be to play for the first half of your practice sitting and the other half standing and then it'll help when playing live.

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I used to practice up to 11 hours a day. One time 14 hours

But now its normally about 4-5 hours. I practice new scales and mainly arpeggios. Then I try and write little melodies with what I've learned and play it in a voice recorder thing. And of course write it down so that I'll have it forever

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jezus, do you have any social life? 5 hours a day??

i have a few cans.....get some beats going and hammer away....i call it riff-o-rama cause its non stop rock till i drop...

i dont play other people songs....i just play my own shit and make it up as i go along....if i play a decent riff ill sit down and work on it tilli get it sounding good....then ill record and tab it....

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The way I learned to play good is reading a basic guitar book, and then following up with cover tunes. I started out with Old Metallica(Kill em all, ride the lightning,etc), Slayer, and Pantera. I learned everything but palm muting on my own. One guitarist showed me how to palm mute. I don't think you have to practice too much at one time, but practice at least 1-2 hours a day, and you'll be allright. Just take your time, you ain't going to learn overnite real quick. I have to admit that I didn't start getting good till after 3 years of playing. But it was worth it in the long run. No lessons, I just picked shit up as I was playing. Here and there, I'll pick up a guitar world mag just to see if anything new is in there. And usually there is. Guitar has so much to offer and probably still finding out new shit.
:[

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I can easily squeeze in 5 hours. I get home at 2:15, play guitar or go to guitar shops til 6 or 7 then go out. Nothing cool ever happens around here til night time anyways


but thats not everyday...sometimes I don't play guitar up to 2 days straight to let my mind catch up with what I've learn. Keep it fresh

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I usually practice about 1-2 hours a day i start on electric and run through some sweeps and scales then i'll play along with a few covers usually cannibal or morbid angel. I like coming up with my own shit but unfortunitly i usually forget them within a couple days or get bored of them, lol. Other than that later on i'll pick up the classical acoustic, start with simple finger picking exercises, run through some Bach, and even a little beethoven, This stuff is some of the best stuff to practise, it really improves technique & coordination, and definitely gets you firmiliar with the fret board and the capabilities of your instrument. Classical training will definitely help out any one interested in playing metal aswell.

i've started a pretty elaborate practice routine, it pretty much revolves around Excel and Powertab
i've put all the techniques and activities i wanna do into an excel sheet, and put a counter next to it in the row. to make sure i do i each activity, i don't do it again until i've done all the others.
i also went most of my cds, and also put them into an excel sheet (this doesn't take as long as it sounds), and ranked them by difficulty in random order (so i don't keep learning the same songs from the album in consecutive order; that would get a tad boring)
i've put alot of the exercises i practice into powertab files, (sort of how John Petrucci keeps a file cabinet filled with his exercises), and play along to the powertabs. powertabs are good, 'cause you can write your progress on them (bpm).

i have only have 2 hours on weekdays, so first i warm up for 20 min (doing Rock Discipline stretches, Right hand warmups)
on some days i permute 1234 in all 24 ways, and play that on each string at each position up to the 14th position. it's a nice LH warmup, it helps finger independence, and some day i'll add them to fast chromatic jazzy lines in songs to add variety and uh......chaos
then i pick 2 techniques from my technique list, and then one "activity", (which could be anything from just noodling around to tabbing out a song to writing a song) and do those things for 15-30 mins.

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here i posted it from my excel sheet

Technique:
Right Hand Speed (4-note-per-string)
Right Hand Speed (3-note-per-string)
Right Hand Speed (Down-Picking)
Legato
Tapping
Sweep Picking
Sweep and Economy Taps
String Skipping
Inside Picking

Writing songs:
Compose riffs on guitar and write the ideas down on notepad
Jam those Ideas Out onto a cassete recorder
Powertab cassette
Record song sections on Computer
Record a song on the fly to cassette
Randomly improvise licks in my head and figure em out on guitar

Covers:
Learn Song passages
Practice song passages
Record an exact cover
Powertab own cover
Practice own cover
Record own cover

Theory/Ear Training:
Jon Finn Book
Sightreading book
Book on Harmony
Powertab songs

Jam:
Noodle around
Play random songs that come into my head
Play along to powertabs
Jam with other cats

Miscellaneous: (these are books i have i just randomly practice from)
Wild stringdom
Rock Discipline
Steve Vai: Ultra Zone
Metallica: Ride The Lightning
Metallica: Load

i call this list, "34 things that atif does when he's bored"

i've started this just today, so i'll see how it goes.

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and if i ever need motivation to practice, i read Chapter 1 from John petrucci's book Wild Stringdom:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/076...004#reader-link

also, i take the motivation that William Forester gives to Jamal in the movie "Finding Forrester". i translate those ideas of writing into guitar.

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that a good book atif?

somebody definitely has rock discipline with that kind of practice schedule, heheh. i usually play 1-2 hours a day. i do so much stuff on john petrucci's rock discipline for a while (string skipping, alternate picking, sweeps), whenever i get bored of it, i just play songs that i know or learn a new one. i keep it simple and fun.

yeah it's pretty accurate, i haven't found any mistakes in it.
it even transcribes some of the non-guitar instruments, like the horns, munchkins in Lucky Charms, and the glock in Windows to The Soul.

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cool, gonna check it out, I heard vai books kick ass, now I'm sure

I have petruccis ''Rock Discipline'' too, its not bad

i have been playing for a year and a half and have recently surpased most of my friends some who have been playing for a few years. The best way to practice in my mind (and its very simple) is to play as much as you can working your way through tabs which should progressivly grow more difficult and while doing so incoperate techniques you learn into your own music. Then slowley introduce yourself to theory, its much more intresting when you can actualy improvise using modes and such. I usally practice about 4 hours a day, sometimes more sometimes less, and usaly not 4 hours straight its good to give yourself some breaks.

I have been playing guitar for 3 years now and have taken lessons for about 2. I was lucky enough to find a guitar teacher whos into metal, and has a band thats even sigend to metalblade.

I use to only go 4 hours a day on weekdays, but now I am trying to go for 5.

3 - 4: Homework ect.
4 - 5: Metronome
5 - 6: Sweeps/tapping/legato/anything new
6 - 7: Break/Jam/theory
7 - 8: practice solos and try to work on voice
8 - 10: Jam
10 - 11: Free time.

I try to fallow that pretty religiously but 20 min breaks are usually taken to eat, talk, masterbait. Heavy practicing can get pretty redundant and lonley but just remember that its all contributing to your future and will be very rewarding.

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I've been playing around 3 years, I used to play 4 hours a day, but life has been getting busy with school, band, and my girlfriend. So outside of band practice I only get like an hour a day, but I've never bieleved in a routine. I hate that type of schedule thing. I hate going to school and having everythign happen at the same time everyday. Doing this to something I love may make me get sick of it. I play whatever I feel like. If I just feel like playing some Slayer, or working on sweeps, or spending the whole hour working out a Bach piece, I play whatever I enjoy at that moment.

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What band? Maybe he can get you signed I spend most of my time trying to dial in that "Perfect Sound" , i never knew a 5150 was so versitial. I also seem to be fucking around with flanger alot. But ill atleast get 2 hrs of practice down a day STANDING UP. Its hard to sit with a V

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its very hard to sit with a V.....my mate has one and he plays standing up 95% of the time...but he doesnt complain causeits improved his playing..

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