PC-501 • Beginners Practice Routine

[irishalkies]

I've only been playing for about a week and a half but the shortest practice time I've had so far is about 2 hours, and the longest was 6... I practice everyday, but I've been wondering if I've been practicing too much. I noticed Justin said it is better to practice ten minutes every day than 1 hour on Saturday. But like I said, I've been practicing two hours everyday. Shoud I cut back or is this good?

I'd reckon what Justin is getting at is it's better to practice 10 mins every day rather than 1 hour on a Saturday only, thus getting the point across that daily practice is better than sporadic practice. What you're doing is fine. Only stop if you feel any pain.

[StreetDeacon]

I'm on stage 4 at the moment.  I was wondering if it's ok to practice "rhythm guitar basics" and "forcing the changes" at the same time.  Kill 2 birds with 1 stone kinda thing.  Or would that not be a good thing to do?

[jerronimo3000]

I'm on stage 4 at the moment.  I was wondering if it's ok to practice "rhythm guitar basics" and "forcing the changes" at the same time.  Kill 2 birds with 1 stone kinda thing.  Or would that not be a good thing to do?

i think it would probably be more beneficial to do them separately.  If either your rhythm or chord changes aren't there yet you'll probably end up focusing more on one than the other which is essentially doing them separately.  I guess they could be done together, but i think it would be best to practice them separately.  I think you'd progress faster that way.

[StreetDeacon]

I'm on stage 4 at the moment.  I was wondering if it's ok to practice "rhythm guitar basics" and "forcing the changes" at the same time.  Kill 2 birds with 1 stone kinda thing.  Or would that not be a good thing to do?

i think it would probably be more beneficial to do them separately.  If either your rhythm or chord changes aren't there yet you'll probably end up focusing more on one than the other which is essentially doing them separately.  I guess they could be done together, but i think it would be best to practice them separately.  I think you'd progress faster that way.

Thanks for the reply.  I'll probably do that.

One other thing I noticed was that even though he goes over "forcing the changes", he didn't put it in the lesson plan.

[Joe_Navy]

One other thing I noticed was that even though he goes over "forcing the changes", he didn't put it in the lesson plan.

I think what he wants is for that to be integrated with the one minute changes section. Set a nice steady tempo that you feel comfortable with and try and make the changes without changing your tempo. That's how I practiced it.

[Tortuga27]

Enjoyed reading all your posts.  My routine has fixed exercises and routines that change as I learn.

1  Finger strength, 4 finger runs up/down, then skip strings (6-4-2-1-3-5), real slow at first.  If I miss one, I start over.
2  Finger stretching, justin's exercise and the worm (3 and 4 finger).
3  Chord change, usually a change in a song I'm having trouble with.  Track # of perfect switches in a minute.

The above are daily, 10-15 minutes.  The following are also good beginner practice routines, but vary (for me anyway) with interest, need and time.  Need discipline.         

+  Scales & mode (patterns), +  Strumming patterns, +  Fretboard note recognition,  + 5 pentatonic shapes

More days than not...make that most days, after a short daily routine, I just PLAY.     

Finger strength and stretch are a daily must, pay big dividends over time.


 

   



 

   

[mdjpk]

Hi All,

I have created an Excel tool to monitor and focus practice.

The tool helps to:

Focuses your practice routine
Focuses your one minute change practice
Focuses your Justin training
Provides chord diagrams hyperlinked to Justin's lessons for each  

This really helps me stay on track. I hope it can do the same for you.

Please download and let me know what you think.  Any improvements/suggestions would be welcome.

You can download the file at:

http://www.largedocument.com/3/6788bcf3/Justin_Practice.xlsx

Thanks,

Mark  

[Mrc381]

Hey Justin,

thanks for your very cool lessons .. in my opinion I improve very fast.

I'm at stage 2 of the beginners course and worked with your recommended practice schedule.

Is it ok, if I try other things now and then? I'm playing an E-Guitar (Strat) and started today to work on Finger Tapping (RO 001). It was a lot of fun.

Thx for the answer in advance.

Marc

[vhudkins]

First of all, hello to Justin and everyone here.  I'm a mid-50s guy that's had a number of false starts in the past and never really got much past the beginner stage with guitar.  Part of that's been due to other commitments in life somehow always getting in the way, and part of that's due to never finding a teacher and/or method that could break it down simple enough, yet keep it interesting enough for me.  Now I've got some time and in looking over Justin's lessons structures and milestones, I think I've found a guitar learning course that meets the important goals of breaking it down simple enough while keeping it relevant and interesting.  So, thanks in advance, Justin, for your hard work in putting these well thought out lessons together.

That said, I've got a couple of questions on the very beginning of the Beginners Course, quoted here:

Stage 1
To start off with you just need to get some basic chords under your fingers. I usually start with the chords E, A and D. That is it! So I start with this:

5 mins - Chord Practice (strum, pick notes one at a time, strum)
5 mins - One minute Changes (changing chords as fast as you can in one minute, five combinations)
5 mins - Some easy 3 chord songs, just to get playing something...

1.  Chord Practice - should I be doing strum, pick, strum on, for example the E once, then once for the A, then once for the D, then rinse & repeat for the entire 5 minutes?  Or should I do a minute of the E only, a minute of the A only, a minute of the D only, etc?  Or should I be doing something else pattern wise for those 5 minutes?

2.  One minute changes - the questions I had on this were answered nicely elsewhere in this thread.

3.  Some easy 3 chord songs - well, I already forgot what I was going to ask here, so I guess I'll post again if I think of what it was.

Thanks!

[Bobke]

First of all, hello to Justin and everyone here.  I'm a mid-50s guy that's had a number of false starts in the past and never really got much past the beginner stage with guitar.... 
That said, I've got a couple of questions on the very beginning of the Beginners Course, quoted here:

2.  One minute changes - the questions I had on this were answered nicely elsewhere in this thread.

3.  Some easy 3 chord songs - well, I already forgot what I was going to ask here, so I guess I'll post again if I think of what it was.

Thanks!

Ha ha ha, nice ones, these questions! 
A bit early, when you posted them? 
Grtz from one mid-fiftier to another 

[misterg]

1.  Chord Practice - should I be doing strum, pick, strum on, for example the E once, then once for the A, then once for the D, then rinse & repeat for the entire 5 minutes?  Or should I do a minute of the E only, a minute of the A only, a minute of the D only, etc?  Or should I be doing something else pattern wise for those 5 minutes?

Do a few of each, taking your left hand off each time. Do more of the ones you find difficult.

Andy

[JDM1]

Hey, I am a guy who just got a guitar and will start to play. Right now, all the resources I have are this website and A Modern Guitar Method by William Levitt, volume 1, 2 and 3. And also I have the DVD for the first book. Will all these be sufficient for me to develop the basics and pursue the learning of this instrument?

[jacksroadhouse]

Actually you could stick with the first (Justin's website) for that. The beginner's and the intermediate course take you through all the basics, and you can take it from there.

Just the theory is a bit thin (quite deliberately), maybe you can find more about that in your books (don't know them myself). Justin also has an ebook on the website called "Practical Music Theory", that will do the trick as well. If you're serious about learning guitar, then you sould also learn the theory imho, it will help you a great deal and it will make the more practical things easier to learn.

[Drubbing]

Hi All,

I have created an Excel tool to monitor and focus practice.

The tool helps to:

Focuses your practice routine
Focuses your one minute change practice
Focuses your Justin training
Provides chord diagrams hyperlinked to Justin's lessons for each   

This really helps me stay on track. I hope it can do the same for you.

Please download and let me know what you think.  Any improvements/suggestions would be welcome.

You can download the file at:

http://www.largedocument.com/3/6788bcf3/Justin_Practice.xlsx

Thanks,

Mark 

Damn, that's good. Sorry I missed it. I try and put together useful spreadsheets and they're ok, but that's excellent. Hyperlinks to lessons too. Wow. How's that done?