I am asking out of straight curiosity to hear your input, but also thinking of doing something along these lines in these next 2 months I have off. (I am a teacher with summer off). I am learning theory and trying to get my playing past intermediate.
It would be great to use this free time to set up my own guitar “summer camp” for myself, but with a schedule of how much time I spend on each thing. I focus better with concrete schedule/ Things like warmup, technique practice, learning new techniques, backing track jam session, studying theory, etc.
Has anyone done something like this before? What would your schedule look like?
Haha I welcome the feedback. I was thinking more spread through out the day. Using a timer for each session I guess I was more interested in what one might work on for each session in the day.
First hour, start with metronome work, picking open strings, then scales.
Second hour, chords & chord changes that bedevil you, still using metronome.
Third hour, strumming practice playing songs.
Fourth hour, study theory.
Fifth hour, practice songs.
Sixth hour, practice songs.
9am - Coffee, Warm up, Scales, Finger Exercises
9.30am - Song Repertoire Revision
10am - More Coffee
10.05am - Surf JustinGuitar Community
11am - Learn a new song from a lesson
12pm - Lunch
12.30pm - Watch Youtube of insanely good people wondering if you will ever be that good
12.55pm - Feel depressed
1pm - Even more coffee, scale revision, practice songs you’ve learned recently that aren’t up to full speed/smoothness
2pm - Beer
2.05pm - Play loudly in the backyard while drinking beer
2.10pm - More beer and more playing, repeat. Sing loudly, make aggressive noises at the neighbours if they tell you to be quiet.
3pm - Put the guitar down
3.15pm - More JustinGuitar Community and beer
You need to be honest with yourself and write down what you know and where you want to be. I wise man once said “You practice what you don’t know.” So start with the things you think you know but really don’t. This is where being honest with yourself comes in. Until you know where you’re at you can’t start the journey forward.
Don’t forget to use what you learn to make music, so spend about 1/4 of you time playing your guitar just for fun. Preferably with another musician. Nothing help your playing more than doing it with other musicians.
reading this was a good start into the day!
List will be continued:
3.20 - Can’t stop thinking about guitars while drinking beer
3.30 - Websearch for new gear
4.00 - Fighting against a serious GAS attack
4.30 - Finally lost this fight, ordered a new guitar and amp
4.45 - Open another beer to get some “liquid courage” to tell your wife about
All depends what sort of level you are playing wise. 6 hours seems a lot but if spread across the day it’s doable. Assuming you know the basics and speaking purely from my point of view I would do it that way:
2 hours of songs playing, 2-3 for a warmup I know well and one song I am working on playing dilligently.
2 hours of theory learning and applying it through practice - impros, triads, playing over BT etc.
2 hours extra to spread between the two above depending on which area you are missing out on. If you learn basics and are just starting I would allocate this 2 hour slot for learning basics and solidifying foundations.
Singing practice and that involves all the same things as guitar practice already mentioned Learning some more about using a DAW. Especially using fx and mixing. My new fx is EziDrummer2 and it’s taking time to get my head around. Learning more about using my amp and ToneStudio. Spending more time getting to know what my electric can do. Working on a current recording Learning how to use OBS Work on or start a new original Prepare for my next OM
There are endless ways the time could be spent, and I’d say that an equally valid question is how would you practice? Lots of great ideas from people already but two things I’d highlight would be one, the importance of listening actively and analytically to a piece or pieces of music you’ve sent as a focus for that day and two, reflecting on each stage of your practice and performances.
Whatever goals you’ve set yourself, and ideally they should be S.M.A.R.T. goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound) , take the time to reflect on them; in what areas did you exceed or make expected progress and what areas did you not meet your goals and for both, how will this impact your next practice session?
I have a very simple answer to this, Go with your heart; you need to keep the interest and passion going with that amount of time on your hands, also make that time flexible, there are going to be peaks and troughs due to circumstances at the time. The most important thing is to not let it become a chore, that doesn’t work!
I would follow the same practice routines I do now (I have two routines that I rotate day-to-day), just repeating them multiple times per day and adding more new songs to learn.
My practice routines are about 40 minutes long and contain a mix of technique, theory, reportoire revision, and new song learning.
Here’s my current routines:
Routine #1
1 Repertoire Revision - 5 mins
2 Notes On The Neck - 5 mins
3 Feel Good Strumming - 5 mins
4 E minor Pentatonic - Alt. Picking - 5 mins
5 A minor Pentatonic - Alt. Picking - 5 mins
6 D Shape Explorer - 5 mins
7 LaGrange Riff - 5 mins
8 Major Improv (Re-ACTIVE) - 5 mins
Routine #2
1 Repertoire Revision - 5 mins
2 Hammer-On Exercise - 5 mins
3 G Major Scale - Pattern 1 (E Shape) - 5 mins
4 C Major Scale - Pattern 1 (E Shape) - 5 mins
5 Link Chords Using Scales - 5 mins
6 One Minute Changes: Am to F - 1 mins
7 One Minute Changes: G to A - 1 mins
8 One Minute Changes: G to Dm - 1 mins
9 Power Chord Sliding & String Shifts - 5 mins
10 Pentatonic Improv (Re-ACTIVE) - 5 mins
I do have more than 6 hours / day to practice, but I don’t think my wrist would like that. So i keep it at 2 - 3 hours a day, sometimes its about 3 hours a day!
As of this moment my practice routine has the following structure:
Bare Chord position training, index finger bares, the rest moves up & down in patterns.
Warmup using the G Major scale from open position to position #12 and memo the root.
Learning how-to play the song I’m currently learning.
for now learning about the caged system and memorizing the 3th and 5th of each chord in each starting position.
Practice a complicated solo
G Major scale position #2 using a metronome
Chord changes/strumming with metronome
and twice a day i try to memorize all the Major scales.
I guess I was more interested in what one might work on for each session in the day.
reading this was a good start into the day!
Singing practice and that involves all the same things as guitar practice already mentioned