Practice Routines?

[Scrub206]

Post'em!

just curious how long and what people practice every day on various instruments.

what it all boils down too is what i can do every day with out a drum kit that can help me keep my chops up. other then the standard quater, 8ths and 16ths straight on hands and legs with a metronome

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/s/steve_vai/10-hour_guitar_workout_tab.htm

Steve Vai's 10 hour workout.  My favorite is the pattern in figure 2.  All four fingers, one consecutive fret each, 4 notes to a string.  The catch is that each group of 4 starts on a different finger.  When you get to the high E, it shifts up one fret.  You'll see how it works in the example.  Pay attention at the fret shift, as it can be a hair tricky.  Otherwise, a good warm up and fun to work up to a good speed.

[Ultimetalhead]

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/s/steve_vai/10-hour_guitar_workout_tab.htm

Well, I know what I'm doing all summer.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Hahaha.  Really a good bit to get your fingers moving that isn't the same "play all your major scales" routine.

[Aadish]

I like to practice guitar like this:

2 hours of alternate picking
2 hours of sweep pikcing
1 hour of chords and voicings
1 hour of different scales and arpeggios

And some additional time to learn new songs and stuff.

Takes some time everyday.. But I love it.  

And damn! I forgot to mention that I take 10 min break every 30 min of practice. It is really really REALLY fucking important to take breakes! Injuries = bitch.

[SnakeEyes]

I use a practice log that I made as a spreadsheet.  It's weekly and has different categories on the left, such as:  technique, songs, pieces, ear training, songwriting, recording/ videotaping, bands/ rehearsals.  I'm still considering adding some more categories, but those are the main ones.  On the right of the log, I have two categories:  "goals" and "weekly summary."

In the goals category, I decide a goal for each of the categories on the left.  For example, if I want to get my 16th notes up to 160 bpm, I'll type that in the goals category for technique and, if I follow along the screen from left to right, I can see what I did each day during the week (or didn't do) that helped me to achieve that goal.  If I want to learn a new Classical piece, I'll type the name of the piece in the "goal" box for "pieces" and, every day I work on that piece, I'll type it in and I can see, from left to right, how much I actually worked on that piece. 

At the end of the week, in the weekly summary box, I'll go through each "goal" and determine if I actually achieved the goal.  If I didn't reach the goal, but didn't spend much time on it, I'll be really hard on myself with sarcastic comments.  If I KNOW I worked hard and STILL didn't reach the goal, I'll encourage myself with, "almost!" and things like that.  For each goal (specifically the technical stuff and learning tunes/ pieces), I have a metronome marking in the goal category that I'm trying to reach and for each day I can see the progress that I have made in reaching the target tempo. 

If anyone wants a copy of the spreadsheet, let me know.  It's really cool because you can see everything really clearly.  If you have worked hard, you'll SEE it.  If you didn't, well, you'll SEE it.  LOL

[Scrub206]

BUMP !

UPDATE: im back home in NJ with my drum kit forever... and i really suck ive been drumming on a pillow when im not on my kit trying to build up chops again. feet are still absolutly horrendous.

halp?

[MetalMike06]

Honestly I stopped trying to do routines for a long time now. I still do some exercises here and there when I feel the necessity, but basically I just get out the guitar and jam for hours, and that's been working for me. 

[cthrubuoy]

*spreadsheet*

I'd be interested!

[Marvellous G]

Honestly I stopped trying to do routines for a long time now. I still do some exercises here and there when I feel the necessity, but basically I just get out the guitar and jam for hours, and that's been working for me. 

This. I'm not really interested in ever being able to play DT style difficulty songs, the most technical I really want to get it Metallica, Tool and some Slash solos. I'm okay at the technical stuff but it doesn't really interest me.

My guitar routine is basically pick up electric, put on clean, do a 10 minute fingerpicking funk intro to John Mayer's Vultures, and then jam on that for hours, or try and segueway SRV's Lenny into as many songs in E Major I can think of. It's more fun that way imo.

[setrataeso]

I generally run through a particular setlist, often a DT one, on drums.

This is what I'll be playing today:

Lines in the Sand
Burning My Soul
Voices
Under a Glass Moon
Hollow Years
Puppies on Acid
Innocence
Just Let Me Breathe
Peruvian Skies
Pull Me Under
Scarred
The Darkest of Winters
Ytse Jam
New Millennium
The Crimson Sunset
Metropolis

[Scrub206]

i do something along the lines of that but my feet are horrendously slow. so i take a lot of song out with doublebass. i just need to find a way to build up speed with my feet.

ive been playing a lot of simpler stuff to practice fills and what not too.

[setrataeso]

i do something along the lines of that but my feet are horrendously slow. so i take a lot of song out with doublebass. i just need to find a way to build up speed with my feet.

ive been playing a lot of simpler stuff to practice fills and what not too.

Yeah, double bass takes a lot of time.
I'm no master, but after 2 years of doing double bass, I'm pretty competent in most foot patterns.
Just keep practicing over and over again.

[Birch Boy]

i do something along the lines of that but my feet are horrendously slow. so i take a lot of song out with doublebass. i just need to find a way to build up speed with my feet.

ive been playing a lot of simpler stuff to practice fills and what not too.

Yeah, double bass takes a lot of time.
I'm no master, but after 2 years of doing double bass, I'm pretty competent in most foot patterns.
Just keep practicing over and over again.

This, pretty much exactly. I have about one and a half years of double bass and I'm good with most patterns (although due to house conditions I haven't played my own kit in two months... been goin' to friend's houses to play.

[Isolde]

i play the piano and something that works for me is Hanons excersises.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises


no i don't do it as fast as that audio clip but even just doing the excersise gets your fingers moving and really builds muscle and agility

[Scrub206]

i do something along the lines of that but my feet are horrendously slow. so i take a lot of song out with doublebass. i just need to find a way to build up speed with my feet.

ive been playing a lot of simpler stuff to practice fills and what not too.

Yeah, double bass takes a lot of time.
I'm no master, but after 2 years of doing double bass, I'm pretty competent in most foot patterns.
Just keep practicing over and over again.

do you ever do like any kind of excersizes? like doubles on each foot? or just jam to songs and build it up that way?

[Jamesman42]

I've been bad about practicing lately. I haven't had much reason to practice lately (except for the occasional bass solo at church or playing keyboards). I usually just warm up for 10 minutes on stage using some of Petrucci's exercises, but on the bass. Works well for me for now.

When I get my own instruments fixed up (my guitar AND bass need new strings ), I'm going to work through Petrucci Wild Stringdom book again. It works wonders even for acoustic and bass guitar.

[Birch Boy]

i do something along the lines of that but my feet are horrendously slow. so i take a lot of song out with doublebass. i just need to find a way to build up speed with my feet.

ive been playing a lot of simpler stuff to practice fills and what not too.

Yeah, double bass takes a lot of time.
I'm no master, but after 2 years of doing double bass, I'm pretty competent in most foot patterns.
Just keep practicing over and over again.

do you ever do like any kind of excersizes? like doubles on each foot? or just jam to songs and build it up that way?

Though you weren't asking me, to get to be able to play 16th notes consistently at old-Metallica speed, I used to power through "Dyers Eve", struggling, trying to keep up, pushing myself on, everyday, and after a month, I could do it. Maybe a bit painful and not the best way, but that's how I got fast.

[setrataeso]

i do something along the lines of that but my feet are horrendously slow. so i take a lot of song out with doublebass. i just need to find a way to build up speed with my feet.

ive been playing a lot of simpler stuff to practice fills and what not too.

Yeah, double bass takes a lot of time.
I'm no master, but after 2 years of doing double bass, I'm pretty competent in most foot patterns.
Just keep practicing over and over again.

do you ever do like any kind of excersizes? like doubles on each foot? or just jam to songs and build it up that way?

Both. I do foot patterns both on and off the drums.
I'm pretty OCD, and am constantly fidgeting, so I make use of that and practice foot patterns when I'm sitting down pretty much anywhere.
Also, playing Dream Theater is pretty helpful to get double-bass patterns down. Songs like Under a Glass Moon, Pull Me Under, and Voices, while not overly fast or difficult are good places to start because they're still somewhat tricky, yet quite doable.

[In The Name Of Rudess]

i play the piano and something that works for me is Hanons excersises.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises


no i don't do it as fast as that audio clip but even just doing the excersise gets your fingers moving and really builds muscle and agility

You really shouldn't play Hanon exercises. Not even for warming up. The exercises are a complete waste of time. It's explained in further detail here:
https://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.III.7.8

[Isolde]

i play the piano and something that works for me is Hanons excersises.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises


no i don't do it as fast as that audio clip but even just doing the excersise gets your fingers moving and really builds muscle and agility

You really shouldn't play Hanon exercises. Not even for warming up. The exercises are a complete waste of time. It's explained in further detail here:
https://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.III.7.8

okay. one thing that article said is totally ridiculous. Hanons excersize the weak fingers that you may have - you just need to figure what they are and do the excersizes the work those fingers. and point number 3 in that article is just utterly ridiculous 'Hanons allow NO time for resting your tired fingers which cause stress and injury' IF you feel that much pain STOP - take a break. I've played piano for 6 years now and hanons are great for strengthening your fingers

[pogoowner]

i play the piano and something that works for me is Hanons excersises.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises


no i don't do it as fast as that audio clip but even just doing the excersise gets your fingers moving and really builds muscle and agility

You really shouldn't play Hanon exercises. Not even for warming up. The exercises are a complete waste of time. It's explained in further detail here:
https://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.III.7.8

okay. one thing that article said is totally ridiculous. Hanons excersize the weak fingers that you may have - you just need to figure what they are and do the excersizes the work those fingers. and point number 3 in that article is just utterly ridiculous 'Hanons allow NO time for resting your tired fingers which cause stress and injury' IF you feel that much pain STOP - take a break. I've played piano for 6 years now and hanons are great for strengthening your fingers

Agreed. The Hanon exercises are fine. Just know what they're for and how to use them.

[Scard]

I usually grab my bass and play Metropolis...then I'm warmed up...then some scales, some other Zeppelin tunes or something to work on blues improv, some sabbath..I dunno..some time to just solo and go with the flow

Rush too..recently I was working on remembering the little solo fast bits in La Villa Strangiato!

[Elsydeon]

I've been bad about practicing lately. I haven't had much reason to practice lately (except for the occasional bass solo at church or playing keyboards). I usually just warm up for 10 minutes on stage using some of Petrucci's exercises, but on the bass. Works well for me for now.

When I get my own instruments fixed up (my guitar AND bass need new strings ), I'm going to work through Petrucci Wild Stringdom book again. It works wonders even for acoustic and bass guitar.

Wild Stringdom is an awesome awesome book. I usually focus on each section in there for an hour or so. I still can't play any of the DT solos he tabs out in it, but the book definitely helps out ALOT with technique, speed, chords and it's also inspiring to me.

[rumborak]

To each their own, but I've never seen much value in practice routines. I find that trying to learn something (original or cover song) is practice enough.

rumborak

[Manolito Mystiq]

@SnakeEyes: I'm also interested in your sheet.

Mano

[BRGM]

I do not really do anything special...just learn/play along to songs I like for example, Neal morse, Dream Theater, Steve vai, transatlantic, and so and so!

[kiwiclapton]

I've been bad about practicing lately. I haven't had much reason to practice lately (except for the occasional bass solo at church or playing keyboards). I usually just warm up for 10 minutes on stage using some of Petrucci's exercises, but on the bass. Works well for me for now.

When I get my own instruments fixed up (my guitar AND bass need new strings ), I'm going to work through Petrucci Wild Stringdom book again. It works wonders even for acoustic and bass guitar.

Wild Stringdom is an awesome awesome book. I usually focus on each section in there for an hour or so. I still can't play any of the DT solos he tabs out in it, but the book definitely helps out ALOT with technique, speed, chords and it's also inspiring to me.

Thanks, for the example.

[robwebster]

Yeah, I just play songs until my fingers fall off. Then I carry on for another half hour before crying 'cause I can't press the off switch on the amp.

Self-taught on both of my instruments... been playing bass for - fuck, seven years?! - now, and I've learnt my way around the fretboard by stubbornly bashing my head against Erotomania until it worked. Been teaching myself piano for just over a year, and again, I've found that forcing myself to learn from sheet music (even though I can't read the stuff for the life of me) has helped me familiarise myself with all the chords veeeeery quickly.

Does mean that I tend to linger around chord progressions and scales that I'm already familiar with from other songs, but I think I'm a pretty convincing pianist seeing as I've only been playing the bugger for fifteen months or so. Just keep bashing it till something comes out.

[jsem]

Usually several hours a day. I try to get as much as possible. A lot of the time I fiddle around, that's how I come up with good stuff...

On the sax, if I want something difficult I'll pick out a tune from the realbook and try to play without having heard the tune, just sheet. Then I listen to it and try to play again. Charlie Parker tunes are perfect for dexterity and speed.

Once I get summer break though, I'm going to be putting like 2-3hrs a day practicing scales so I become 100% fluent in ALL keys. This goes for my piano playing as well. On the guitar though, it's just the same shapes - so I just have to practice the different shapes and then I can transfer them to all keys.

I should be more structured in my practicing though. Especially since I want to build a high register for sax, I'm going to have to practice overtones and stuff a LOT.

[brakkum]

I really don't practice on my own all too often, though I have been picking it up again more recently. I'm so busy learning tunes for gigs, recitals, and various other stuff at my school that I get plenty of time playing my instrument every day. When I get home I just like to relax and watch a movie.