im relativly new clearly im still learning chords and all that good stuff but i was wondering how anyone at my stage in learning should practice.. basicly im looking for a practice routine any advice would be a appreciated.. i am also thinkin about getting lessons 21$ a half hour they said! doesnt sound to bad i am wondering if lessons are with other people or you and the teacher! who knows oh well
JErm
For $21 an hour I would hope they are private lessons. As for practice schedule i'm sure that's something a teacher could help you with, but if you don't get a teacher i would continue practicing chords and try learning some songs, it doesn't have to be anything fancy.
Steve-0
Yea man. Make sure you take systematically approach to it. Don't just mess around.
Learn as many songs as you can, songs that interest you.
As far as lessons go, I use to take private lessons for 45 bucks an hour in San Francisco. So $21 per half an hour isnt so bad.
when i was new to guitar i always made a list of songs i liked and would like to learn. Songs with catchy riffs. Then i would go to 911tabs.com and search for the songs..
Now i don't know if you read tabs or if you read notes but either way i'm sure you can find the song in both forms on the internet somewhere.
Listen to the song and listen to how the strumming goes and once that's in your mind try it by yourself. Once you're slowly picking up the song try playing along with the song. If the song seems way too difficult for you, then try looking for something a little less complicated.
I don't know what kind of music you are into playing, but i think Nirvana songs are very easy beginners songs. Try "About a Girl". It's easy to play.
Also about the lesson, they can be usefully to some people, i actually taught myself to read tabs and play by ear, but that was just my own personal decision. I think Lessons at the right place can really help you progress in some ways teaching yourself might not be able to. But sooner or later you will figure a lot of stuff out one your own. Plus 21 for a half hour isnt too too bad.
If you keep working at it you'll be playing complicated stuff you never dreamed you could play in no time!
What you should try is to practice the chords you already know. strum them and change back and forth between. like say start with E then go to G then try to run through them all. spend maybe 5 minutes are so doing this, great for a warm up. then look for and try to learn new chords. but only do like one at a time. spend some time reading on the subjects. Do a finger exercise also like strike the string and fret the low E 1st fret with your index finger, hit the string again go to secound fret middle finger. then 3rd with your ring finger and 4th with your pinky. drop to the A string and do it again. go all the way to the high e string then slide up one fret and this time start at the 2nd fret and do the exercise again. go until you reach the 12th fret. what i do is different combinations. but you just start with this basic one first and get it down. what this will do is help you develope speed and acrucy (I know i spelled that wrong it's late and i'm tired so sorry)
Once you do that you should try to learn scales and run those everyday as well. learning songs is a good thing to do but you want to learn one song at a time and learn it from start to finish. if it takes you a few days then so be it. then what you can do is when you go to learn your next song you keep playing your first one at least once during your practice time. what i do is do my playing at the end.
I prefer the term pratice makes persistance (not Perfect). Practice something incorrectly then you will be perfect in your incorectness-- thus the persistant factor.
Practicing is more of a personal thing but you will see written and hear from Guitar teachers 30 minutes is common.
A rule of thumb when it comes to practice is quality vs. quantity. IMHO
You should "map out" what you are going to practice whether with or with out an instructor (usually an instructor will giveyou the guidelines). Once you have it mapped out you should focus on what you have or need to learn. Excersises are the most common when starting out. Though these can be boring they are designed to aid you in developing technique to play things easier and to take you to the next steps to learn-- Theory, Chord Voicings, Scales, Soloing etc. There is a method behind the madness.
After this focus section or time I would then reccomend playing, noodling, jamming, "farting" around with songs you want to learn, riffs, etc. etc. No time limit --HAVE FUN
Like in anything you do in life/work if you do it half ass it will be half ass.
