Practicing...

[TelePaul]

I think we'd all agree that the more practice the better. I think we'd probably all also agree that you're very impressive.

Nah, he meant 'Wah-Wah better than you.'

 

[DrewPeterson7]

I practice--but not as much as I should. And I'll admit I lack discipline and focus, so I fail at anything like a grand scheme or a year long master plan. Instead I'll identify one thing I want to learn or get better at and practice that like nuts. Since I get bored easily, I always stop and apply what I've learned on the way, just to keep motivated.

For example: I want to get better at arpeggios as lead devices. So I figure out a bunch of arpeggios who's root notes walk up the major scale in a given key (obviously I'm using arpeggios from the same key.)

I just bang on those arpeggios, slow, medium then faster. FWIW--on something like this I start w/an electric but unplugged in a quiet room. After I get better I'll have some fun and add the hi-gain!

Now here's the part that makes it work for me. Even before I'm a GOD of ARPEGGIOS (I mean I'm still just starting) I'll record a chord progression with maybe some drums and bass, and I'll start jamming w/what I'm learning. First I'll force myself to ONLY use arpeggios--not realistic, but that's great practice and they sound better over a backing track. Then I'll play a more realistic lead--a lot of my normal approach but with the new arpeggios mixed in.

Next up, plain old practice again. More patterns, same patterns faster, whatever. Then jam with that. And on and on...

The mix of practicing and applying it in my playing right away so I can hear the growth keeps me motivated.

Excellent advice here. In particular:

1.) Playing unplugged. My legato technique improved by leaps and bounds when I started practicing it not with heaps of gain (which covers a lot) and not clean (which for some reason always struck me as pretty forgiving too), but unplugged, just listening to the natural resonance of the guitar. If you can get clean note articulations with just an unplugged guitar, you're going to sound worlds better when you DO plug back in.

2.) Forcing yourself to improvise based around a single technique/idea. Really, it's the best way to internalize something. The added win is if you can take a single idea and still find a way to make it musically interesting, you'll grow as a musician. I've not done enough of this,s adly, but I've found starting by playing arpeggios as straight 8th notes, for example, and then once you're comfortable playing nothing but a stream of arpeggios trying to vary up your phrasing to make it interesting is the way to go - otherwise you can cover up limitations in thinking on your feet and your technique by "phrasing" around them.