Apr 30 2009
Guitar Practice Routines
At the peak of my classical guitar studies I practiced for around 4 hours a day. Now it’s, er, less than that 
I reached a plateau where mostly I just needed to refresh the pieces in my playing schedule, and to keep my fingers in working order for playing. Also, with another job, practice time is far more limited, which often is the case for amateur players.
It’s all very well thinking, the more I practice, the better I’ll get. Not necessarily the case, with any instrument. You can even travel further than you should after taking a wrong turning….By that I mean, if you don’t do the right thing, you can do the wrong thing. Four hours is a lot of practice, exactly HOW best to fill up that time? So here are a few suggestions;
Avoid Burn Out.
It’s far better to practice in fits and starts. Particularly when learning a new piece. Take a break every five or ten minutes, to let what you’ve learned sink in. Even when playing scales or arpeggios, it’s important to let the hands relax, and not move under stress while fatigued. If you avoid this, your fingers will move far more efficiently afterwards.
Practice by a mirror.
It can be of benefit to actually view your hand positions by looking at yourself in a mirror while you are playing. Even better, if you are brave enough, video yourself playing. This will even get you more accustomed to playing under “observation”, and help keep performance anxiety to a minimum.
Warm up routines.
Work on a method for warming up to your playing. Often this can be simple exercises like chromatic scales, just to get your fingers moving freely.
Exercises and studies
Sor and Carcassi wrote some great studies, also Tarrega. Often it’s more value to work through a book of these than mindlessly whizzing up and down the fingerboard against the metronome, which you may grow tired of anyway, if practice is aimless.
Practice Goals.
I think nothing will tire your mind more than “aimless practice”, that is, without any direction or goal to set yourself. Even if you have no upcoming gig, imagine one, and prepare a few pieces to perform. It helps to keep a core repertoire of pieces on the back burner, which you can always perform, well within your technical ability. So that, if called on to play at short notice, you will always have something to perform.
So what kind of practice rituals help professional guitarists?
Julian Bream.
When in his late thirties, Julian Bream had to re-think his left hand technique, due to a paralysis of his left hand. The problem being, as self taught, he developed some muscles at the expense of others. So every morning, in front of a mirror, he played single notes on each string, making sure his fingers were in the correct position on the fingerboard.
Augstin Barrios.
Barrios was a hard taskmaster…He would practice a section of music, and each time he plaed it correct, he would place a pebble in a bag. When he made a mistake he would empty the bag and start over. He repeated this until he had a preset number of pebbles in the bag, sometimes 50 or a 100 stones needed to be in the bag! How’s that for playing under pressure…
David Russell.
A favourite tip of mine from David Russell is offering this advice on to play or not to play;
“To play or not to play a piece of music is a choice you must make with care.
Try to have a concert programme that shows what you can do well and not what you do badly. That way you will bring more musical pleasure to your audience.
It is better to listen to an easier piece played well than a difficult piece played badly. Never let your concert playing announce “Look what I can’t do!” Your audience will be grateful.”
If you have any practice tips you found helpful, I’d like to hear them..Most of all, enjoy your guitar :)
image by looking.at.life at flickr.
