Hey fellow guitarpeople. Do you have any tips when it comes to getting a good workout routine? Like what to practice. I love the material on this site bit my knowledge seems to be very scattered and i dont know what to focus on to evolve. Also i try new concepts on the site but when i play alone and practice i always end up playing the same old am aeolian. Especially when improvising.
I dont know how to think when i practice. Hope it make since.
Have a nice day.
It does make sense, there is so much information, I learned primarily off of You Tube and some music classes way back one before the Ice Age lol, I decided to start again with Foundations 1 somethings yes I done but there was many holes in my development. Mr. Fujita suggest to also use the Musically Theory program along side the Foundation , that's what I am doing,
Oh write things down I do , its reminds of my college days
Alright ye, maybe i need to humble myself and really dive into those holes. My biggest issue i think is that i have always played with tabs. Which is good to get a start but it doesnt help you understand your instrument.
Thanks for the reply
Alexander ström
Tabs put your finger and there, but understanding why , understanding what note what chord etc and most importantly technique, exactly you can't understand the instrument just by tabs,
I am personally taking my time with Guitar Wisdom , I am getting many light bulbs moments, but I suggest recording your practices which I do , I have a video of when I started to play guitar , it's important because when you feel your not getting anywhere have look a back to when you started and have a look where you are now; even the slightest improvement means something.
But most importantly have fun take your time, enjoy the journey
Cheers
Alexander ström
Here is Tomo's comment:
"Thanks so much for subscribing to my Guitar Wisdom, and for starting a conversation that will be fun for a lot of subscribers."
I have also tried to add more structure to Tomo's methodology. I got a little breakthrough when I went deep into his triad exercises. This made me realize I need to learn the notes on the fretboard and need to recognize the intervals and be able to find the inversions when I play chords. As has been said here, start slow, recognize what you need to practice and make a plan to accomplish each new skill. For me it is a mixture of chord patterns which we by nature seem to learn first and then being able to recognize the R 3rd 5th dom7 ect. in the pattern. I have struggled with modes in the past and his D Dorian example was very helpful for me. I never considered looking at D Dorian mode as D major with minor 3rd, flat 7, I always looked at it as C major with emphasis on the D. He no doubt is teaching at a higher level than many of us are ready for so we have to break it down into smaller chunks. I know it probably goes against his methodology but I wish he would write a book and include more basic examples. Like good methods for learning the notes of the fretboard ect.
Alexander ström
I know this is basic but it got me. I was trying to do the lessons in order and I failed to realize the lessons do not wrap a round on the screen. You have to use the right most arrow to get the later lessons. I was thinking that Tomo was very disorganized Ha. Sorry Tomo.
Hi! Where is the right arrow??
Better yet: Click on the Title of the section e.g. "Beginner Series" and then all the lessons in that block come up and they do wraparound so you see them all.
Still finding some navigational quirks to the layout of Tomo and George's web site. The TITLE like "Beginner Series" is actually a button that will take you to all the videos in that series. It is not highlighted as a button or link in standard web format but Tomo does explain to click on the title in his intro video. Hope this helps someone else save some time.
Ahh okej! Thanks!
I have been doing Tomo's videos combined with a practice method from JustinGuitar.
As Tomo recommends I got a small notebook, on the left page I write down the 3-4 things I want to work on for the next few days to a week. For example this week it says: C scale on each string, C major triads, Left Hand technique at speed, Songs (Little Wing).
On the right page I write down a day by day summary of what I practiced.
Every day I try to do at least 15 minutes of technique work, 15 minutes working on Foundations, 15 minutes of song work.
I try to have a mix of "hard work" and "fun" to keep my motivation up. E.g. learning Rage Against the Machine songs that I love, while also working on blues.
For technique, I have been following Tomo's "Do this everyday to get shredded" chromatic exercises:
as well as JustinGuitar "spider" and "finger gym" exercises. I can see significant improvement working on these. I use a combination of no-tempo practice and metronome practice at very slow tempo - at quarter note, eighth note, and 16th note rhythms.
Here is the JustinGuitar page where he discusses practice routines: https://www.justinguitar.com/modules/effective-practice
I am not trying to promote other sites, sorry if there is any rule against this.