Good Practice Routine

That is a very hard question to answer considering you do have 2 years under your belt.
Concentrate on areas you are weak in of course.
You may consider taking a few lessons, a teacher will evaluate where you are now and where you want to go and head you in the right direction.
I always suggest to every guitarist that you get a copy of Pumping Nylon
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&isbn=0882849190
It has exercises that will help with just about any area you need. Well worth the investment.

My routine is as follows….

Warm up exercises = Random scales and the whole 1,2,3,4 across all the first four frets back and forth using all four fingers. Then riff's if I'm in the mood.

Songs I have down pat. Not all of them, just the ones I think I need more practice on or the ones I haven't practiced in a while.

I do that to build up confidence and to ensure accuracy………

Then I work on stuff I'm starting to learn.

For me, I like to build up my confidence and fingers and then move into the new stuff.

Thanks for the responses. At $9, I think I can handle that investment. I'll definitely check it out. I never warm up, so I am going to try to do the 1,2,3,4 everyday - was doing it already and fingers feel a little better.

If you go to my site Mike's Guitar Gallery and in the forum under lessons I have a few warm up/dexerity exercises. I do most of them everyday and they have DEFINITELY improved my playing...even after only 2 months of playing!

I guess I need to practice scales and arpeggios but how and what? Also how much time should be devoted to technique vs learning songs?

Scale and arpeggio practice is pretty much a three-step process:

1. Practice the scale/arpeggio up and down until you've memorized the fingering and notes used

2. Create melodic patterns, like 1-2-3-2-3-4-3-4-5... or 1-2-3-4-2-3-4-5... (these refer to the scale dregree numbers, not the fingers used) - your goal here is to develop dexterity and independence of the fingers, and to understand the relationship of the notes to each other when they're out of sequence. Use the patterns you create to extend the positions - you want to avoid 'box' playing... there's no reason to let the layout of the guitar limit what you can do melodically.

3. Apply the scale/arpeggio to chord changes... first using the patterns you've made, then more freely. That turns your learning into knowledge by making it practical.

As far as technique vs. songs in practice, I believe technique should always be 100% of your practice time. The amount of time devoted to songs/repertoire is going to vary... maybe you're doing 25% scales and drills and 75% songs - but it should still be 100% technique. When you're working on a song, maybe you get a chord change wrong, or the rhythm is off, or you're unhappy with the dynamics or accents - stop and fix it! Don't accept sloppy playing in your practice.

After all, practice doesn't make perfect... practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.

As far as technique vs. songs in practice, I believe technique should always be 100% of your practice time. The amount of time devoted to songs/repertoire is going to vary... maybe you're doing 25% scales and drills and 75% songs - but it should still be 100% technique. When you're working on a song, maybe you get a chord change wrong, or the rhythm is off, or you're unhappy with the dynamics or accents - stop and fix it! Don't accept sloppy playing in your practice.

After all, practice doesn't make perfect... practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.

I had to read this twice...at first I thought you were saying you couldn't learn technique from songs...after I re-read it then I got what you were saying. That is what I am doing now. Picking my favorite songs (not necessarily based on ease) and try them...not to complete the whole song in one setting but to learn the techniques used for that song. I have learned many "half-songs" or "intro-riffs" that now that I have more experience I can go back and add a few more measures to what I already know. Eventually I will complete the songs. This way I won't get bored with a song (I almost did with Stairway to Heaven but I left it for a while and now I occcassionally come back to it!)...

I still do "practice drills" like the one's I mentioned above on my site but the songs are what makes it enjoyable for me.

Now if I just can figure out this damn Music Theory (with the help of Tom's book!) I'll be all set! :( :( :lol: :lol:

Playing songs is always a good way to learn, but like what Noteboat said, you should try to play it correctly (being a fan of Metallica, Randy Rhodes and other fast and technical player, this can be REALLY frustrating), I personally think that you shouldn't ALWAYS practice scales because you can fall into traps when it comes to playing only notes in a scale when improvising, rather then playing licks or melodies, so that's why I would recommend playing songs along with scales and arpeggios. I can relate with what you're saying because i've been playing for a while now too (I got my first guitar almost 7 years ago) and I feel like i'm in a bit of a rut, but you've really got to analyse what you want to do in the long run and then figure out how you're going to get there: so if you want to learn how to solo then you should practice scales and arpeggios and along with that learn some solos and practice improvisation alot, that will cover all bases really.

One thing I want to say about scales, although learning modes and unorthodox scales are great (and essential if you're really into jazz or other sophisticated styles of music), I personally believe you should concentrate on the scales you need and want to use.

Thanks again for the repsonses. I should clarify - I fix the problems as I go - with the exceptoin of some days when I am really lazy. So I guess I do focus on technique when learning new songs. I focus a lot on playing cleanly but this is where I feel the problem arises, no matter how long I spend on a piece and much I practice it slowly, it never quite gets to where I want it to be or when I sit down to play it, I usually make mistakes (minor mistakes mostly). Or if I leave it for awhile and come back to it, I have to clean it up all over again. I just feel like if I devoted more time to consistently practicing basics, it would help get me to the next level of playing.

Noteboat - That is exactly what I needed to know about scales. I know the pentatonic and practice improvising in it for a bit but I guess I lose some of how to make it more practical. I never really knew 'how' to practice them.

Mike - I'll definitely check out your site.