Keep practice in order or OK to jump around?

I think you've answered your own question.
I just don't want the guitar to seem like "work".

Whatever will keep your interest is good.

However, a little structure is necessary to keep the training well rounded - it's not a lot of good being able to rip off a riff of 64th notes at 400bpm if you can't play a single chord - your playing has become lop-sided.

You know your excited .It happens , i was so excited when i fell on this site , that i printed lot of david's articles there and then.But later realized that most of them were for a bit matured beginner to say the least.As far as practice and lessons are concerned i will give you a fabulous link if you care to see it.(practice shedule included in it)

http://www.guitar.about.com/library/blguitarlessonarchive.htm

See it and enjoy. :wink:

I think you have to have days where you say "ok, today I'm going to work on this and this and this" .. and you do it in a very structured way.

Then I think you have to have days where you say "I'm going to work on this 'cause it's what I enjoy and it's fun, and I'll let everything else slide."

Then I think you have to have days where you say "Well, I hate this, but this one little thing is not working so I'm going to beat it into submission today."

What I think you can't do, however, is not have a practice plan. You have to know what your goals are and you have to structure your practices so that they support achieving the goals -- else you will never get where you want to be.

OK...I think I have something figured out...here is what I am doing at least for the summer months while I am off from work...

Instead of practicing 1-2 hours straight through I broke the time up into smaller chunks...usually 20-40 minutes in length...I practice some in the morning, midday, and early evening...this gives me a break in between...if practice is going well of course I will build on it and go a bit longer..

As for what I am practicing...I start with either a scale or riff as a warm-up, then I move to chords and chord progressions ( I am sticking with most of the open chords on Joe's site for now...), then I move to strumming patterns (I think I have the DDUD & DDUDUD working nicely but it's tough to know which stroke the emphasis is on..)...and then I I always like to end with a riff (I have been trying Day Tripper by the Beatles and Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple but the Deep Purple one is getting old...LOL)..

How does this sound for a beginning practice routine? I am hoping when summer ends I I head back to work in September I will have a good chunk of the basics down...For September I will only be able to practice in the evenings & weekends...

Now of course this schedule is fluid meaning I will add or subtract what needs to be...

Thanks

Everybody needs some time out when they're practicing or it goes stale. I regularly put down my classical, grab the LP, ramp up the Marshall and strike a Richie Blackmore pose or three.

Best,

A :-)