Practice techniques?

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pikingrin

pikingrin

what is this?
For you guitar players out there...

I've been playing for about 10 years, quit really working on technique when I joined a band, and have been out of that band for almost a year now and feeling a bit rusty. I got a promotion at work from production (hard work, very physically strenuous) to a desk job (sit on my ass, taking phone calls all day when I'm not travelling), and have since noticed that my weight has stayed relatively the same, but I have a gut now. :p My question here is this: does "physical strength" (having muscles that are in shape, in this case forearms, etc..) relate to playing better and maybe having more control? I play every day and it seems to me that most of the time my fingers kind of freak out and don't exactly do what I want them to.

Also, along these same lines, I really want to get that speed back that I used to have, are there any particular exercises to do as far as practicing that would "speed up" progress, and get my fingers more independant like they used to be as well? I have started practicing more on my acoustic because I heard that builds up finger strength quicker. Yay/nay?

Sorry for the long post, but this is starting to be a little bit aggrivating, and I find myself (at times) really losing my patience, but I can't quit - I don't want to quit.

Thanks in advance!
 
Sup! Interetsing post...honestly, I'd have to say that physical size matters very little other than the obvious things; I have small fingers and cant fret anything by going over the top of the neck with my thumb. What's far more important physically is posture, you can really mess up your back paying guitar if you are hunched over or even by the way you play standing up.

As for speed, best technique is probably a chromatic based alternate picking warm up using one finger per fret and alternating between upstrokes and downstrokes. Play like this up and down the neck on every string and try incorporating it into some riffs or other scales.
 
ime, good health promotes good playing. when doc says "eat right and exercise" he ain't bs'ing you. exercise is good for physical and mental health. if you feel good and have plenty of energy, you'll likely be better motivated to do the things you like to do.

my opinion on the speed thing. when i was younger i spent some time working thru exercises but not a lot of time actually playing. i plateaued and stayed there. after i started playing in bands more, i improved quite a bit. imo, if you don't use the potential you already have, you probably won't advance very quickly if at all. works the other way around too. if you always play within your safety zone and don't chisel away at the technique barriers, you'll likely stay put too. everyone's different i suppose but i can't imagine anyone even wanting to get their chops up with out making use of them as they come. i think some people can advance with a lot of practice and others with a lot of playing time. i think a good mix of both is probably best.

i'm sure you learned some right/left hand exercises back in the day. dig em up. find some people to play with.
 
Thanks you guys!

Telepaul, I just got a new metronome (upgraded from the old-school wooden pyramid looking one to a digital), so I have been doing the chromatic workouts and all that, really trying to challenge myself with different patterns up and down the fretboard. That's where I get frustrated. I usually start just by doing major scales up and down, then different scales or patterns, but when one finger drops out of line, it bugs me. Guess I just need a lesson in patience for that one. I'll keep on chuggin' along though. ;)

Travis, that's kinda what I was thinking, because ever since I quit working with my hands (for a living), my playing has seemed to just get eh... As far as finding someone to play with, I have tried that, but the people who contact me are all either screamo kids which wouldn't do me any good, don't really like that stuff too much, or country music people, which again, wouldn't do me any good because I can't get down with that. I started in a country band back in the day, so I've been there - done that. I guess I'll keep digging around and try to find someone with at least a similar goal in their music.
 
pikingrin said:
Thanks you guys!

Telepaul, I just got a new metronome (upgraded from the old-school wooden pyramid looking one to a digital), so I have been doing the chromatic workouts and all that, really trying to challenge myself with different patterns up and down the fretboard. That's where I get frustrated. I usually start just by doing major scales up and down, then different scales or patterns, but when one finger drops out of line, it bugs me. Guess I just need a lesson in patience for that one. I'll keep on chuggin' along though.
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You just described the reason why I don't practice picking sequences any more. I don't have the patience for that stuff and I don't think I ever really did. I think I forced myself to do that stuff, which probably wasn't all bad, but I didn't enjoy doing it. I think it's important to enjoy it. The two things that I think have pushed me the most are learning songs from recordings (or even just snagging licks) and playing with bands, both of which I enjoy doing (mostly any way). Band politics is a subject for another thread. :p
 
i found myself in a kinda similar rut, in that i really had stopped putting in the time practising rather than just playing to myself and this website was pretty handy to getting me back on track - click here
 
Weight Lifting

I recommend playing scales and arpeggios daily, even when you don't feel like it....no....especially when you don't feel like it. Playing scales and arpeggios is kindalike lifting weights. They build strength and control. If you workout your fingers and forearms enough, then everything that you play gets that much easier. The degree of difficulty counts too. Try to find scale forms and arpeggios that force you to think about what you're doing. This will build control by strengthening the links between your brain and your fingers. When you have mastered one form, find another one to pratice. You only need do this for a few minutes a day, before you start playing "actual music" You will soon find everything a whole lot easier. There is one danger though...you may find soon yourself bored with the band you've been gigging with, unless you were the weak link in the band.In that case you may find that the rest of the band is no longer bored with your playing.
 
chazba said:
There is one danger though...you may find soon yourself bored with the band you've been gigging with, unless you were the weak link in the band.In that case you may find that the rest of the band is no longer bored with your playing.
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Well that was the original problem I guess. I was so bored with the last band I was in, I was getting frustrated. :( If I ever tried to experiment with anything different, I was always chastised for it. I was definitely not the weak link there, I was the outcast because of the weak link(s). Sucked.
 
Actually having a gut can stick your electric guitar just that little bit out in front of you and stop it digging into your ribs.... can make it a little more comfortable and easier to play... as long as it's not too big, of course...

If it's bothering you then you could deal with it in the age-old rock 'n' roll way by developing a smack habit.... junkies are always thin... and they get the best super models... :D
 
I have a hand exerciser in my car (the kind you squeeze - two handles and a spring). I do 40 reps on each hand while driving to work (boring highway trip). This has help my guitar playing a lot, since I also moved to a desk job, and my hands were getting weaker from doing nothing harder than typing and unscrewing an occasional computer case. I noticed improvement within a week of using the thing every day. I would suggest starting at 20 reps so you don't hurt yourself, and don't overdo it no matter what you do. This also helped my ability to play acoustic for longer periods of time (I was so bad at one point that just a couple songs with barred chords on acoustic would wear me out). Hope this helps.
 
From the advice you seem to be asking, I'd really suggest picking up a book;

Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar, by Troy Stetia (think I spelled the name right) It's not necessarily just about speed. Speed is a by product of finger independence and large amounts of muscle control. The book has really taught me a lot about how to practice, and how to target certain techniques. My playing has improved massive amounts since I started using it in my practice routine.

I own a silly amount of guitar books, and this is the only one I would suggest to people. Some of the exercises are a little "metal" for my taste, but the technique they reinforce isn't bound to any type of genre.
 
You can easily maintain your weight as a junky-- just eat corn dogs and Hagen Daz as your diet.


Worked for Jerry G. ;)
 
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even better than sitting around playing the same speedy riffs;

pick up a classical piece. gets you playing hard riffs, over a duration (cause the whole song is one 'Motion') and gets your HEAD THINKING!

some classical pieces are very confusing because alot of parts are similar, then you change it completeley, and i could go on forever.

some great beginner/intermediate pieces are
Beret in Em- aka Lute Suite in E minor i believe, by Bach.
Presto- also bach i think,
Invention No. 4- once again, Bach.

when i say these are beginner/intermediate, i'm saying as far as classical pieces go. it took me 2 or 3 months to learn beret a few months back. they are not easy to say the least. i'm working on invention 4 and i think 8 as well, and they are awesome songs. 4 isnt too bad, but its a nice piece.

get some good powertabs ;) :D
 
ez_willis said:
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Looks like Morgan Freeman, man, he's everywhere.

The best thing I did for my licks and speed was to buy a JamMan by Digitech.
It's a looper that will hold a bunch of songs and I lay down a couple loops and play with 'em, then lay 'em down a little faster, etc....
I also works great on the fly at a solo gig and has a built in metro.
 
Wow, out of town for a few days and I get more responses! :D

Darrvid, I actually have that book, but once again it almost the same thing that I'm doing now with my metronome and patterns up and down the fretboard. Thanks anyway though.

c7sus, that's a good thing because I love me some corn dogs. Not too big on the ice cream unless it's on something nice and tasty... like boobs or something... :D

Tragic, I have just started delving more into the classical pieces - good stuff there. When it comes to that genre I still have a long way to go, but I am putting in the hours on it though, we'll see where that goes.

BigKenny, I am also doing something similar, only through cubase. I started laying down a drum track and some bass / guitar backing tracks and just try and solo over it using different scales, etc. It helps quite a bit with the experimentation, but I usually find myself using the same old techniques that I have been... :o

Thanks for all your responses so far though! Much appreciated!
 
Surprised no one said it already, but you have to play more to pick up your speed. I find the more I play the better I get. I often will sit in front of the TV and say watch a football game with the volume down low and play almost the entire game. The other tip is the magnitude or guitar mags out there today with tab. Find the leads in the songs and just play them and play them again. Helpful if you know the song so you can hear what it sounded like originally. Start slow and get the basic structure of the licks/scales in the lead down and then work on building speed as you go along. Break the lead into sections and work on the first section before you go to the second section and so on. Once you know the structure of the lead you might be surprised how easily you can build up your speed. The more you play the faster you will get. Like anything in life the more you put into it the more you can expect to get out of it.
 
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