What is the best way to approach exercises when developing finger dexterity and speed?
Let me give an example. I have a booklet with several exercises for developing speed. The instructions are quite simple: "Start with a tempo of 40 or 60 bpm and slowly increase to 120 bpm. Pay attention to accuracy rather than speed. If you find yourself making mistakes, slow down." Simple enough, right?
My question is this... the exercises are not written progressively i.e. they don't build on each other. Each exercises has a different intention. The first strengthens the 3rd and 4th fingers, the second practices string skipping, etc.
Do I start with a single exercise and practice it religiously until I can achieve 120 bpm even if that's the only thing I practice for 4 days? Do I practice an exercise one day and a different the next regardless of how fast I can play it? Do I practice multiple exercises simultaneously? Do I practice exercises a bit, then practice some scales, then maybe a song riff or two? Do I practice only exercises until I can do all the exercises?
See where I'm having problems? The order of things is confusing the crap out of me. I get bored easily, so I tend to jump around... exercise, song, scale, song, song, song, exercise.... I never really stop or go back to perfect what I was learning (with the exception of Dire Strait's "Sultans of Swing" which I can play beginning to end because I was threatened to be forced on stage at an open mic. night).
Just wondering what thoughts you guys might have.
"Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded." - Jimi Hendrix
Set a practice routine. This depends on how long you can practice in a day.
Work on your scales for “x†amount of minutes. Work on your finger dexterity/speed exercises for “x†amount of minutes. Work on your songs for “x†amount of minutes etc….. Which I might add, they are correct saying work on note perfection NOT speed. Speed WILL come with time but, for now work on hitting ALL the notes correctly. It's called good practice habits.
If you want to work on your songs first, by all means do but, remember what order you are going to put them in. If you feel more comfortable working on your songs first, GREAT that means you will be loosened up for your exercises and vise versa.
My point is, do it all within a certain time frame and have a formula set up so you don't get side tracked with something because you are not interested in what you are trying to do. If you can't fit them all in, then you might be overwhelming yourself.
As always, good luck and most importantly, have fun!
I agree with having a practice routine. It's very important that you have a tim e frame in which you'll focus on one thing at a time.
The other aspect to this is to set your standards very high. If you can only do an excercise correctly at 60 bpm and your goal is 120 bpm, maybe you practice at it 65 bpm until you can nail it, then move to 70 bpm, etc.
If you accept slop in your practicd, then you'll accpet slop in your performance, and that's not good!
If something is just bugging you because you know you can do it, it's ok to toss your schedule out the window for a day or two. But don't do that all the time. For the most part, your schedule is the divine rule, it's only broken for very special, unique reasons.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
Try this: might help with everything including guitar:
-Sit back and write down *what* you want to learn.
-Write down how you would like to archieve that.
-Try it.
-If it works, get yourself a beer and be happy.
-If it doesn't work, get yourself a beer and think of another way.
In this case: you could do one excercise for one whole week and do another one. or you could do each simultanously for a month. Both might work, or maybe just one or neither. Try the one that seems most fun and just see where it gets you. You know yourself best. And if this won't work for you (like a practice regime would make me stop playing the guitar in about twelve seconds!) try freestyle without all the forced rules. We might have the same goals, but we all need to walk different roads.
Thanks, guys. I think I'm realizing where my biggest problem is... practice time. I have never been devoted to practice, so I've just been a very mediocre guitar player. Hopefully, I can muster the motivation to change that.
To this point, I've been lucky to practice for an hour a week (spread out over days). I have scheduled out some time and convinced my wife to grant me at least 30 minutes each day. Now, hopefully, I use that 30 minutes for practice, but only I can discipline myself to that extent.
It sounds like what I really need is practice time, a schedule, some minor variation though nothing drastic through the practice time, and some beer. I know I can manage at least the last part!
I have divided my 30 minutes up as follows:
5 minutes - Stretching/Strength training
15 minutes - Picking exercises
10 minutes - Scales
Once I get some scales mastered and can pick rather well, I will adjust this schedule to include some technique practice (bends, slides, sweeping, etc.). I've never devoted time before, so hopefully I will see some improvement if I start now.
"Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded." - Jimi Hendrix
Axe,
The best advice I can give you is to run through them each and everyday even if you only do a few runs of each.
It's the same with scales just keep running through them everyday.
I feel somewhat like you do, although I practice every day, I get bored easy and tend to want to jump around and usually just want to work on the current song I'm trying to learn.
The result is that I am a little weak on my scales. I have taken my own advice and make sure I run through my scales everyday now and in just a couple weeks there is a marked improvement.
You don't need to spend large amounts of time on each(although the more the better) just make sure you do them everyday.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
also, instead of following the same exact exercise on the same frets, move the exercise around the neck to get different sounds and to practice all around the guitar
I gotta tell you guys... I've been practicing with this new technique for 2 days and already I can see an improvement.
Two days ago, I had an exercise that I was "comfortable" playing in 16ths at 60 bpm. At 65 I messed up left and right. I implemented my new practice routine yesterday (30 minutes as outlined above). Last night, I was going through the exercise at 70 bpm with no mistakes repeatedly. Tonight, I was playing comfortably and smooth at 80 bpm.
Two days ago, the only scale I knew was one position of the Pentatonic Major scale... pretty limiting. Yesterday and today, I practiced the A Pentatonic Major scale. I can now play every position of the A Pentatonic Major scale in 24 frets.
I know 2 days isn't a lot to gloat over, but I had to tell you and everyone else... there's a lot to be said for finding time to practice than just sitting down an plucking here and there. I'm sure these rapid improvements are just part of the steep learning curve and will taper off some, I'll have bad days and good days.
Right now, my goal is not to be the best player I can be. It's to be better than I was yesterday.
Okay, I'm off my soap box now. Thanks, guys!
"Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded." - Jimi Hendrix
