What Should I Practice?

Here is a very common question I received recently:

What specifically should I practice, cords, scales or songs? I am feeling overwhelmed with lessons, books, methods, skills, & principles of practice. This is a common feeling that troubles many beginning guitar students, and can rear its head from time to time with advanced players as well. It is a paralyzing, immobilizing feeling, and so it very dangerous for our progress, and must be dealt with. If you are feeling this, it is a warning sign that you are NOT proceeding properly with your efforts to learn to play the guitar.

Getting down to the specifics of things is always the tough part. One of the things that makes it so difficult is the fact that when it really comes down to it, the only person who can GET down to those specifics, stick with them, review and revise them on a regular basis, and set goals and make sure they’re accomplished is YOU! Some people have just never really developed the skill to take that feeling of being overwhelmed, and getting past it by stopping, thinking, observing, analyzing, and coming up with a plan.

I always think of it like walking into your room, when it’s really messy, with things thrown all over the place, and it’s time to clean up. The very sight of it drains your energy, and makes you want to collapse in a heap. At least, that is the first reaction that comes up. But, the only way to get the job done and straighten out that room is to stop, focus, start somewhere, and only focus on what you are doing, one step at a time. As soon as you focus like this, you will begin to feel energized.

Of course, you need some idea of the over-all picture, some idea of the end result to be achieved, and how to get there, before focusing really helps. If you didn’t know where everything was supposed to be placed when you went to clean your room, your focusing wouldn’t help much. In that case, you would have to decide first where everything goes, and then put it there. The "deciding" part is the hard part for students, because they don’t know enough about the whole process of becoming a musician to make those decisions, as expressed by the writer of the question above. They don’t know what to practice first, what skills to master first, what goals to achieve first. So it is easy to get overwhelmed by all the materials out there. It is a lot easier to BUY books, than it is to USE them and learn from them.

Of course, laying out the proper course is supposed to be the job of the teacher, but many of you don’t have teachers, and many teachers don’t DO their job anyway! But in any case, the best attitude for you to have is self-reliance. Even a teacher doing their job cannot relieve you of your own responsibility to be aware, in control, and organized. The first thing to realize is that creating and maintaining your day to day working method is your responsibility. It takes effort. It takes writing things down, keeping schedules and routines. It takes trial and error. It takes regular review of results, and renewed effort based on those reviews and assessments.

In all my years of lessons, I never once had a teacher make any attempt to organize my practicing; I had to learn to do it myself. Not that I think this is a good thing, but I do think it is what happens for most guitar students, so I tell you what I tell you because you need to be aware of the ongoing effort you must make. Early on, I realized that without notebooks, schedules, goals and so forth, I would be swimming in a sea of confusion. Sure, in the beginning, you feel helpless, like you don’t know where to start and WHAT to even organize. But realize this: any plan is better than no plan, because you can revise and improve your plan once you begin it, but you can’t improve one you never begin.

I found as soon as I had something written down, I felt calmer and more in control. I remember complaining to my father once about all the "crap" I was learning in school that I wasn’t interested in. He said a great thing to me. He said, "the important thing is that you are learning how to learn". He was right, and that is one of the greatest skills a person can have. One of the first people to buy my book was a retired educator. When he later contacted me for some lessons, I found that he had taken my book apart, chapter by chapter, exercise by exercise, and made notes on everything, and re-organized things in different ways to help him make certain connections. that is an example of someone who knows how to learn.

Now, having said all that, and made my point about the necessary quality of self-reliance you must cultivate as a student, let me add another important point. Part of your approach to forming an effective working procedure is to go for outside help, to ask questions of people in a position to help you, as the writer of the above question has done. Notice that the educator I mentioned above, after giving it his best shot, came to me for help. That is wise. I have harped on the points made above because I have found that most people do not give it their best shot, they don’t use the materials in front of them, but stay stuck wallowing in feelings of helplessness.

Okay, I’ll stop sermonizing, and tell you something you can use! Yes, you must have certain goals to work toward as you begin learning guitar. While the specifics of those goals will change depending on what type of player you want to be (rock, classical, folk, blues) I will lay out for you some general achievements that I guide all my students toward, things I want them to be able to do, as soon as possible.

First, I want all students to know how to practice correctly. Without knowing that, there isn’t much point in me giving them things to practice! That of course, is why I wrote my book, and I begin each student’s training with the Foundation Exercises contained in it.

Second, it is essential that, right from the beginning, the student is beginning to cultivate, through proper practice, the awareness of sensations that lead to good and great playing instead of habits of tension that make playing difficult or impossible. These necessary physical sensations include The Light Finger, The Firm Finger, Heavy and Floating Arm, and in general, a growing awareness of the body and active playing muscles.

(Because of points One and Two, I advised the person asking the opening question to first of all concentrate on the exercises in my book as the first priority of his practice (since I knew he had just got my book). For those who don’ t have "The Principles", do the exercises in my essays "Discover Your Discomfort", and "The Secret of Speed", where you can begin to discover the correct physical sensations for playing).

Third, once students have begun to train their fingers properly, it is time to teach those trained fingers some of the basics of playing the guitar. I want all my students to know first position chords, beginning with G, C, and D. We work on getting those chords, changing those chords smoothly, and most importantly, applying them to a song. I do this as soon as possible, probably the second or third lesson.

It is most important to make music as soon as possible! I start this by the second or third lesson. I will keep a student on a simple song for 3 months if I have to, until they can play it through smoothly. This is building Vertical Growth, which is the first kind of growth that must be achieved. After that first song is mastered (something simple, like "This Land Is Your Land"), we do some Horizontal Growth, that is, more songs at the same level, building a repertoire.

Being able to strum through chord changes smoothly is priority number one. It’s the quickest route to making music for a guitar player, and is usually what people most want to do. However, for some people, being able to play a simple melody might be more rewarding, but it is technically more difficult in the beginning, (doing so with good form, that is).

I look for songs the student is emotionally connected to. I don’t care what it is, as long as they like it, and it is within reach of their ability. For instance, if it is a rock, electric student, I will use something like "Born To Be Wild", which has the basic open power chords. With this type of student, I will want them to master these chords before the traditional folk chords, because open power chords are what is needed to get them playing songs they are emotionally connected to. I will give them the larger, folk chord forms later.

So, the first few goals are:

1) Ability to Practice Correctly,
2) Beginning to Build the Correct Foundation (and the discovery of the proper physical sensations) with the Foundation Exercises,
3) Applying the developing abilities to music with simple chord changes and songs, until a few songs are well on the way to being mastered, and the student is not developing habits of tension in their playing.

Here is a very important understanding. Learning a complex skill like playing the guitar is not an entirely linear process. It is not a matter of "do this, accomplish that completely, then do that, and finish it, then that" and so forth. Learning the guitar is more a collection of simultaneous processes, occurring and maturing together to produce an end result. It’ like cooking. You start lots of dishes, each one at the right time so everything comes out right and ready at the end. You watch the potatoes, the chicken, the broccoli, and the rice. You give everything the proper attention, making sure nothing get burned. You don’t wait till the potatoes are done before you start the chicken. (Man, I’m getting hungry).

Okay, I’m back; I had to have a snack.

So my point is that at any given time, the actual details of our practice material is carefully arranged to produce that final result we desire. The exact details will be tailored to each person, and must be constantly reviewed and revised. It takes great energy and intelligence. Read all you can about learning the guitar, ask questions, and USE everything you learn to chart your own course.

After the things mentioned above, scale Playing will come next, but only after the fingers have been trained in the micro-details of proper movement. Many players suffer from the fact that scales were practiced and learned while the hands and fingers were still full of tension and not developed properly. So their scales are in horrible shape, and always a struggle to play. This is because scales are composed of extremely complex physical movements, which ust be minutely studied in their micro details before being assembled into the movements required for playing scales. Scales on guitar, for instance, are much more difficult than on most other instruments simply because every note is the result of the precise co-ordination of both hands, and the sound is not produced by just one finger, as in piano.

For rock electric students who want to play blues/rock, the pentatonic scales are the first priority. We spend many months working on form, and speed. At the same time, we begin developing the basic rock licks, and learning how to bend strings. I give them a special set of solos I wrote that use those licks. Again the principle in teaching is to present new material, and then re-enforce by application. And do not leave the material until you gone a long way toward mastering it, at least being able to play it ithout error at a slow tempo. For the rock guitarist, or improvising guitarist in general, continuos study of the solos of great players is essential, as well as constant playing with other players and taped backgrounds, where licks and scales you have learned are used.

And for you beginner students, take this as a great caution: do not accumulate a bunch of songs that are never put together, and never played to a smooth beat! That is the sign of someone who doesn’t know how to practice. That is easy to do. Many such players have their collection of "One hundred bits and pieces of My Favorite Songs"! Do not jump from one thing to another, you will play them all badly! Do not let your teacher push you through either. Make them produce results with you, or find another teacher.

Now, if you cannot take all of this material and begin to create a useful practice routine, well, it’s your own fault!

Copyright 2005 Jamie Andreas. All rights reserved. GuitarPrinciples.com.

Comments

[Oswald]

Cant you write a article ABOUT the Pentatonics then?

[Slim16]

wat a load of rubbish! every1 has their own way of learning jus give them a few pointers and let let them get on wit it. actually i might even do my own....

Slim

[sjones]

Wow, I liked this article, it made me think about strenghtening my practice routine. Maybe you could PM me on the forums here or email me at: [e-mail]
T
o help me find a practice plan that's right for me.

[iMaiden]

[Many such players have their collection of "One hundred bits and pieces of My Favorite Songs"! Do not jump from one thing to another, you will play them all badly!]

[iMaiden]

think 90% of the ppl who start playing do this .. i do :P

[nibor]

can somebody show me wat a pentatonic scale is???

[Merlin]

Excellent advice Jamey. Most muscians should use this as a basis for their guitar eithics...and Stranger grow and act like an intelligent human being..you might actually be able to play the guitar one of these days.

[superdupergirl]

^
Erm...pretty important. No, um, really important.

[nit-wit]

what a load o' bull. this article should've been a paragraph long.

[Bastiaan]

NL Rocks. And this article helpt me....

[xombie13]

...well ..good ethics about music..one should follow all the points before picking up the guitar...beacuse with out hard work you aint getting no where dude...

[InsideR_D]

Pretty good article, it really helps out to 'know' where to point at when you are overwhelmed by this kind of stuff......BTW, stick to the topic people, and cut the muslim and intolerance shit.

[InsideR_D]

......come to think about it, maybe I posted this a bit too late........

[ltj_fender05]

k i kinda skimmed that! lol was a bit too long but from what i read it sounded helful?

[ltj_fender05]

meant helpppppppful. honest!

[ProudlySAfrican]

Ye...but I've heard most of this before, although it is good advice.

[Itsallgood_forn]

LONG..................very long....too long....good advice though

[Gr1m R34p3r]

good stuff

[IlikeMyNewShoes]

I gave the article a three. I play guitar cause its fun, this guy seems to think its a chore or something. I have never learned anything about "... growing awareness of the body and active playing muscles." I am pretty good at guitar and I dont kno scales and theory stuff. If I started learning that ,guitar would end up like school. I can play almost any tab put in front of me. The only practice I did was play songs that I like. Also playing everything in guitarworld helped a lot considering my fav band is Blink 182. Its good that the guy starts his students playing songs they like though, too bad most guitar teachers cant think of that, PLaying something the kid actully wants to play. see ya

[KBone384]

PLaying any tab someone puts in front of you doesn't make you a good guitarist by any means. Its a simple task of following a chart. If you want to make real music, you learn about the instrument you play. You should be aware of your body and muscles when you play; not to make it a chore but to make it so you actually play well. The type of ignorance that regards a guitar as a simple toy is stifling. You gotta realize when you hold that thing in your arms, you have the ability to have a great deal a fun while making alot of powerful statements. Learning how to play more than a power chord or 3 may make that more clear to you.

[dixiegirl]

that was awesome advice! i have been having such problems with the books i've gotten and now i know why. they need to be taken apart! lol seriously, this gave me the boost i needed and it also enlightened me to the fact that this isn't going to be anything like piano and i really shouldn't have expected it to be but duh i'm blonde. lol

[zeroneCoder]

Iread this article but where is the advice??? i mean to me it looked like an advertisement of a book that is written by the auther? If there is a straight clear advice any of you got from this? plz mention it. Only thing i nticed was that the writer was hungry and writing this at night time and he went to get something to eat. ok i gonna go ba byee now, i am hungry
bye
and God bless you all

[mr bojangles]

to say this changed the way i practice is an understatement. take a bow mr andreas

[A Guitarist]

anyone that is willing to give me any advice in playing or practicing or improving pls email me at [e-mail] tq to those who do so

[Max_Backman]

You present the problem very well, but you barely touch the solution.

[boothy]

someone should clean out all the comments regularly because i just think it's really sad of some ppl who pointlessly post insulting others or saying stupid things, when the point of the comments is for feedback on a lesson which someone has spent their time doing.

and also, ppl who say "this lesson is sh*t"... why? give a reason, some constructive criticism, half the ppl who posted on here are ppl giving good feedback, then you get the immature idiots. cut it out.

[ahumdibibble]

Yeah, then you get the ones who waste their time posting about the immature idiots....
hehehehehe

[wezman2k]

why not just post a link to www.cyberfret.com ?

[Jet]

wow, the guy who wrote the article, you keep talking about these books.

are we supposed to go and buy them??

and please, give some examples

[Mvpete]

Thanks alot, that really helped, i started guitar not so long ago and i started learning all my favortie songs but then i felt lost and i didnt know what to do enxt.

[quarter_note]

actually, i'd say he's not even worthy to play a guitar or any other instrument coz music is played with passion and if he'snot mature enough to understand this... get outta here! Anyway Jamey, this is a great article...

[kdo]

take heed fellow 6 string wizards...this guy know his stuff...cheers dude..when i first begain i was self taught so i developed some silly habits..took me an age to sort them out..

[Virgoean Entity]

very wise dude but my brain still feels like it runs at 1% speed soon as the guitar touches my hand

[aieou24]

I am self taught as well there is no one where i live that can actually teach you anything about a guitar. I found this to be a great article, it really told me where to begin Thanks.

[quickquack]

Very useful article, has a lot of interesting stuff in it.

And I really pity these pathetic people who come on here and post pointless messages that have NOTHING TO DO with this article - they obviously have NOTHING TO DO with their lives.

Again, great article, thanks a lot.

boothy:
someone should clean out all the comments regularly because i just think it's really sad of some ppl who pointlessly post insulting others or saying stupid things, when the point of the comments is for feedback on a lesson which someone has spent their time doing.

Doing so?

spam deleted

[Newbie Rocker]

I am also self taught and I just jumped right into reading tabs and over time I conditioned my hands and It got me to where I am now which is not great but I am surely not in dissapointment or regret

[thesmartguy50]

I must say, you are the first person ive seen accomplish any form of help without tabs being involved. It's a break, and it works. sweet, man.

[Mace_37]

Wow, I tried reading this, but it is 90% spam. Cut out the filler and answer the question!

[aznsoljah]

Okay, your article helped me. I am a piano player and a drummer and i am trying to learn guitar. I am one of those ppl who can read the tabs and charts and play "bits and pieces of my favorite songs" I cant even begin to try and play a pentatonic scale. the only scales i play are sliding up and down one string. I understand music theory (i am a piano player) so i know where the scales are. but like u said, my fingers need to be developed before trying to play them. my question is: how do i develop my fingers to be able to start practicing scales and how do i know when they are ready?
- please reply to my message-

[the_lad]

waste of time, like the marketer said, this is general stuff u learn in high school. this is the worst pitch i've ever heard. far too long, can u imagine if this were a print ad? oh, my bad,it is...

[ibanezrocks]

how many hours does a person need at least to get good. i mean for the average working person time is critical. how much time is needed on every subject like scales, power chords, soloing techniques,etc.i want to get good.

[animesh kundaji]

hey ug guys...this is a great site...anyway i have a prob...i wanna know what songs i can practice as a beginner....if any1 can help me it wud be great....and how do u hold a pick...do u hold it at the tip or at the thicker end??/

[guitarshredder1]

look you guys, a correct practice isnt stupid ass scales or arpeggios over and over, i mean you know malmsteen? all he did was jam, he didnt obses over scales like most guitar freeks who suk, to get goodyou have to break barriers and tell urself nothings impossible, also dont compare urself to other guitarist,

[doobie11]

the_lad wrote:

waste of time, like the marketer said, this is general stuff u learn in high school. this is the worst pitch i've ever heard. far too long, can u imagine if this were a print ad? oh, my bad,it is...

some of us didn't learn in high school.....that's why we are reading these "beginners lessons"!!!

[gitarakista]

go straight to the point ok.

[les_paul_01]

great article! i recently discovered that organised practice really does make a difference, and this just confirms what i was thinking.

and to all the people whining about how long it is, 5 minutes of reading is nothing compared to how far your guitar playing will go if you take heed of the advice here.

[limson8]

well done man !
and

animesh kundaji wrote:

hey ug guys...this is a great site...anyway i have a prob...i wanna know what songs i can practice as a beginner....if any1 can help me it wud be great....and how do u hold a pick...do u hold it at the tip or at the thicker end??/

"here comes your man" from pixies is a easy song and hummm,hold pick at the tip is better i think

[Slash·Slash]

I really think this article stunk, how bout u show us some of the stuff to play? that would actually b helpful, not this loada shit

[Talentless]

Pay attention to this article ive been palying on and off for a few years now but i was self taught and did so by playing bits and pieces of ym favourite songs, and now i find myself stuck and not improving because i havent the right technique, now ive had to backtrack and learn proper picking techniques and had to change the way i hold my guitar even, now i have to get used to all these "new" things that i shouhld of learnt in the beginning. Thanks for a great article.

[Charley73]

I have enjoyed and learned alot from all the lesson articles on the site, especially this one. I dont mind learning my chords and the practicing but if anyone can recomend a few songs that are very simple for me to play around with to keep the rest from getting boring please PM me with them.

[thegreatbigmout]

the author has a point, beginning guitar or bass players dont know where to start, then they see all these lessons about chords, scales, picking, harmonics, etc, its overwhelming, and i wouldnt be surprised if some were so overwhelmied that they decided to drop learning to play a guiatr, altogether, you have to start somewhere, anywhere, as long as you start, and be persistent enough to finish what you started, that way, you know, that you're one step closer to being a great musician, no one ever stops learning, you learn new things everyth single day, sometimes without you knowing it, but you learn everyday, and there's always something new to learn, a new scale, a different pattern, always something new, so just pick something and start from there, rather than not start at all.

[seniorcruz]

thank dude. very very helpfull.

[seniorcruz]

thank dude. very very helpfull. =)

[MsOsRsEiLcLkO]

Check out this site for all scales chords and progressions http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/
Its Great for Pentonics and it shows you the varieties for each chord great site. Enjoy

[old beginner]

I appreciate your article. It has helped me rethink about how I've been going about learning the instrument. Thank you. It is so practical the way you've shown me how to get my practicing more focused.

[Handparty]

Great commonsense advice -by the way, the writer is a woman. If you think this advice isn't useful you might end up being stuck for years at the same level, maybe impressing chicks or your Mum, learning new songs but not actually improving as a guitarist. Don't kid yourself- we can all learn more, even Clapton

[Raziel2p]

Seems to me like three pages which can be summarized to "It's important to practice correctly". Nothing about how to actually practice correctly...

[BennyStruggle]

"Here is a very important understanding. Learning a complex skill like playing the guitar is not an entirely linear process. It is not a matter of "do this, accomplish that completely, then do that, and finish it, then that" and so forth. Learning the guitar is more a collection of simultaneous processes, occurring and maturing together to produce an end result. It’ like cooking. You start lots of dishes, each one at the right time so everything comes out right and ready at the end. You watch the potatoes, the chicken, the broccoli, and the rice. You give everything the proper attention, making sure nothing get burned. You don’t wait till the potatoes are done before you start the chicken. (Man, I’m getting hungry).

Okay, I’m back; I had to have a snack."

@ the Lesson author:
You make a good writer, you are interesting to read but come on man, this is so not a "how to practice lesson", its like one of those late night infomercials where you learn nothing, but it makes you interested in "what" to do, or "where" to order it from. I think this "lesson" would fit more in a textbook as an introduction with all the proper patterns,scales etc following this afterwards.

[pryt0601]

I think it's funny that all of the people that try to put this article down don't know how to spell...

Slim16 :
wat a load of rubbish! every1 has their own way of learning jus give them a few pointers and let let them get on wit it. actually i might even do my own....

[FrettnFretMan]

Great advice putting it all into perspective.....Learn your scales, chords, and the main thing have fun jamming, but dont forget the structure of the music. I found that learning the basic major scales was a great start, then I learned every note on the fretboard. After I learned that than I easily found many differend posistions on the neck. Like the aurthor said, just practice and have fun.

[Spider hunter]

this is a pretty good article but it just seems a little bit too long. The ending affected me the most, about how many players have like a 100 pieces from their fave songs and thats all they practise. I shall begin to organize all my stuff beginin now

[bryar1212]

I shall begin to organize all my stuff beginin now

I am so inspired by this article right now, i am going to do the same thing right now. for the past few month's all ive been practicing is the intro to crazy train, eruption and a few other licks i like, and i got really bored with it. im going to get organized. 10/10 dude, thanks alot.

[ENZO_]

This guy didn't really help at all, he just said make up a plan, uhmm dude if I just started and I don't know any exercises or what are good exercises for beginners or how I know when I need to do another exercise or when to jump from 1 exercise to the other... how do I make my own plan up? I was expecting like, 1. when you first begin do some simple 1234 chromatics for so and so, then go to such and such, but he didn't he was just telling u to make up a plan wtf does that even mean? make up a plan? how would I even know what a good plan is? I'm pretty sure that if Joe Satriani was teaching me how to play, he would teach me his approach on how to practice, like he would for example be like, ok everyday begin your practice with some stretching exercises up and down the fret board for 10 minutes and then do this, and so and so... he wouldn't just be like OK UHMMMM JUST MAKE UP UR OWN PLAN WTF DUDE? ok I get it, he didn't say any of that because he wants us to buy his book... but if it took u this long just to tell me to practice right, and not give me any reeeaal advice... then your book must be like 5 million pages long.

[S.D.M.F.]

Man no offence but that was a load of rubbish. i've learnt nothing from that.

[08L1V10N]

If you are feeling this, it is a warning sign that you are NOT proceeding properly with your efforts to learn to play the guitar.

OH NOES

[videogamecrazed]

Great Advice. I myself have purchased books (about 3 or 4 of them) and have gotten lost with my practice and misdirected. This has helped me to know how to organize some basics that will help me to develop my practice for now and the future. I have only been playing about 2 weeks now so for all of you that bash this article then please don't comment and just pass up on it instead.

[buni_rabit]

hey im a newbi and would reali appreciate hep so if any one is willing to help me set up a practice routine my email is [e-mail] or pm me

[simo030595]

great lesson man, i have been playing for 3 years and this has help alot.

[thirddayguy]

needs pictures! lol

[funkybeats1024]

Here is an article about iPractice for iPhones

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10344761-27.htm l