THE GUITAR PRACTICE REGIMEN

By Michael Fairbrother
THREE QUALITIES

There are three qualities that you need in order to make the most of your
practice sessions:

[1] - WILLINGNESS

[2] - DISCIPLINE

[3] - FOCUS

WILLINGNESS

You have to want to practice. If you do not, then your practice time will be
tedious and unproductive. If you take the mental attitude that practice is
boring and uneventful then you might as well give up the instrument because
you are not going to get anywhere.

I have met many great guitarists that say they do not practice or have never
practiced to get to their level of skill. Do not be fooled by those that say they
never practice. Yes they do... in some way, shape, or form they have
practiced to get where they are.

You have to learn to enjoy the art of practicing guitar itself. You should get
excited about your practice sessions. If you get into it and it makes you feel
good knowing that you are accomplishing something worthwhile, then you
will look forward to it next time. Get addicted.

Willingness is your mental level of enthusiasm towards practice. Basically,

if you believe it will be boring, then it will be. If you believe it will be fun
and productive, then it will be. If you believe you posess the willingness to
practice, then read on.
DISCIPLINE

Anyone that knows me knows that I am big on discipline. No, not the
punishment aspect of it, but the training aspect as it relates to learning
something. If you already show the willingness to practice guitar, then
disciplining yourself to practice will be easy.

This is the militaristic part of the process and something that most people
want to avoid. However, you must set yourself apart from the rest and prove
to yourself that you have what it takes. There are three main aspects to
discipline as it relates to practice:

•First, you have to be able to set aside the time every day to practice, no
exceptions. It should be scheduled the same time every day and for
the same duration. Make it set in stone. If you only have an hour to
spare, fine, just make sure you practice intelligently for that one hour.
It should be a time of day when you will not be interupted and you are
most alert. Be there and do not skip a practice session.

•Second, your practice must be correct. Do not practice something

sloppy... you will only get sloppy results. If you can only play it at a
real slow tempo, fine, start with that. Do not think that practicing
something anything less than perfect will get you good results. Make
sure that whatever you are practicing is controlled and correctly
executed.

•Third, the key ingredient to discipline is repetition. Perfect repetition to

be exact (refer to the last paragraph). Repeating something perfectly
over and over and over ad nauseam is the only way to properly
develop it. However, once you have it, you have it. It will become
ingrained in your muscle memory and will be easily retrievable.

Discipline is not something you can do without if you want to be a great

guitarist. Just remember, you have to stay commited and work diligently at
what you are currently practicing. It is the only way to achieve greatness on
the instrument.
FOCUS

If there is one thing I am bigger on than discipline, it is focus. You must be

able to zone in and follow through with every minute part of your practice
session. This is the zen part of the process:

•Pay attention to detail.

•Concentrate.

•Do not waver.

•Do not let your mind wander.

•Stay in the present moment.

•Get in the zone and focus on the task at hand.

Keep an open mind about everything that you learn as it pertains to the
guitar, but really zero in on the things that are important to you.

For example, you may really want to develop a particular technique, yet are
having a difficult time getting the hang of it, so you let your mind wander
during the execution of it. You have to bring yourself back into the "now" of
the exercise and pay attention to what is going on as it unfolds.

Certain aspects of practice may be more enjoyable than others and you may
tend to lose interest on the less enjoyable things. Yet, you must apply an
equal amount of concentration to each thing you are practicing. Make the
best use of your time by dialing in on what you are currently doing.

Develop the skills you need to play the music you want and follow through
on everything.
SAMPLE ROUTINES

The following two practice routines are examples of what I used to do.
Routine #1 is something I followed in my twenties. Routine #2 is an example
of a plan I used in my teen years of practice. These are only suggestions and
I am including them as guides to help you build your own.

ROUTINE #1

• 5:30 AM
(WARM-UP)

(60 min.) - Guitar Workout: Studies, Etudes, etc.

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• 1:30 PM
(RECORDING)

(90 min.) - Recording Session: Originals, Covers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• 4:00 PM
(TECHNICAL)

(30 min.) - Technique Study: Triads, Sequencing, etc.

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• 4:30AM
(THEORETICAL)

(30 min.) - Theory Study: Circle Of 5ths, Fretboard, etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• 5:00AM
(COMPOSITIONAL)

(30 min.) - Composing: Songwriting, Transcribing, etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• 5:30 PM
(PERFORMANCE)

(30 min.) - Performance Study: Showmanship, Visualization, etc.

=====================================================

ROUTINE #2

FIRST HOUR (7PM)

1. Warm-up (15 Minutes)

- Chordal Exercises
- Scalar Exercises

2. Chromatics (15 Minutes)

- 3-Octave Chromatic Scale
- Various Exercises

3. Right-Hand Development (15 Minutes)

- Palm-Muting/Damping
- Alternate Picking/Tremolo
- String Skipping
- Strumming

4. Left-Hand Dexterity (15 Minutes)

- Atonal Complex Exercises
=====================================================

SECOND HOUR (8PM)

5. Sweeping (20 Minutes)

- Sweeping Etudes (stuff I compiled on diskette)

6. Tapping (20 Minutes)

- Two-Hand Tapping Exercises (stuff I compiled on diskette)
- My Own Etudes

7. Harmonics (10 Minutes)

- Natural Harmonics Exercises
- Artificial/Pinch Harmonics

8. Speed (10 Minutes)

- Virtuoso Lessons (stuff I compiled on diskette)
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 THIRD HOUR (9PM)

9. Theory (10 minutes)

- Various Guitar Magazine Theory Articles

10. Ear Training (10 Minutes)

- Ear Power Program

11. Sight Reading (20 Minutes)

- Metodo De Guitarra (Dionisio Aguado)

12. Improvisation (20 Minutes)

- Rock Jam Trax
- Jazz Jam Trax
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FOURTH HOUR (10PM)

13. Scale/Mode Studies (30 Minutes) - MON./THURS.

- Various Books

14. Classical/Fingerstyle (30 Minutes) - TUES./FRI./SUN.

- 120 Right-Hand Studies (Giuliani)
- Classical Guitar & Fingerpicking Book

15. Blues Study (30 Minutes) - WED./SAT.

- Various Guitar Magazine Blues Articles

16. Composition (30 Minutes) - EVERY DAY

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Michael Fairbrother
www.michaelfairbrother.com

Copyright 2010 Michael Fairbrother