Guitar Players...Get a Balanced Guitar Practice Diet.

Balanced Diet RSS

Balanced Diet, Diet Foods, Instant Recipes

Diet Foods

Instant Pancake Mix

Balanced Diet Home

Eight Rules For A pH Balanced Diet

Balanced Diet Know More on Healthy and Nutritional Balanced Diet

The Spiritual Life is Only Lived by Eating a Balanced Diet Which Sometimes Includes Broccoli

Vegetarian Tips Make Your Vegetarian Diet A Balanced Diet

Balanced Diet amp Nutrition The Oriental Medicine Way

Balanced Diets for Natural Weight Control

Guitar Players Get a Balanced Practice Diet

What Makes Up A Healthy Balanced Diet Part 1

A Balanced Diet For Your Kids

What Is A Balanced Diet

What Makes Up A Healthy Balanced Diet Part Two

Dieting Cut Confusion and Go for a Balanced Meal

Vegetarian Diet Tips Make Your Vegetarian Diet A Balanced Diet

What is a balanced diet for losing weight and good health

Can A Vegetarian Diet Constitute A Healthy And Balanced Diet

Lose Weight Fast A Balanced and Simple Diet For All

Nutritional Supplements And A Balanced Diet

When it Comes to Good Health and Energy a Balanced Diet is Key

There is no substitute for a balanced diet

The Isometric Diet and Balanced Health

How's your practice diet?

Do you have a wide variety of things that you practice. Or do you like to binge? (You know...the type of player who practices sweep picking for a kazillion hours a day but only know three chords)!

Having a balanced practice routine is essential if you want to become a versatile guitarist. If you just practice one or two things, sure you'll get great at those things...but you'll be weak in other key areas.


In this lesson you'll learn how to create a practice routine that is well-balanced and will help you work towards your ultimate vision of how you would like to play.

I generally categorise what I practice into one of seven areas:
1. Technique.
2. Repertoire (Covers).
3. Composition.
4. Improvisation.
5. Ear Training.
6. Theory.
7. Music Reading.

Everything that you practice will fit into one or more of the above areas. For example,if you are learning a very challenging cover tune by transcribing it off the CD you are essentially working on your technique, repertoire and ear training at the same time. If you also write down the song in standard notation, you will also be developing your
music reading skills.

Now…do you have to practice things in all seven areas? I believe that you don't have
to if your vision doesn't require it. For example, if someone wants to become an
awesome classical guitarist and has no desire to improvise, then I believe that they don't need to practice things relating to improvisation. We all have limited time available for practice, so it's a waste of time working on things that don't specifically help you reach your goals.


Let's go through a few exercises…

Exercise One:

Think about the vision that you have for your playing for a few minutes.How would you like to play in ten years time. Make it exact!

Once you've done that, brainstorm as many things that you need to practice in order to play like your vision. What specific things do you need to learn, develop and practice? Write them down now.


Exercise Two:

Next to each of the things written down for Exercise One, write down a category next to it. For
example, if you wrote "I need to be able to play faster" then write technique next to it. If you feel that something you wrote belongs to more than one category, then write down all the categories it could belong to.


Exercise Three:

Look at your answers for the previous two exercises. Once you've done that prioritise
the categories shown below. For example, if you feel that technique is the most
important thing you need to work on to reach your vision then put a 1 next to it.

**Practice Area Priority Level (1-7)** [Note: 1 is the highest priority].

Technique
Repertoire (covers)
Composition
Improvisation
Ear Training
Theory
Music Reading

Now here's the important point. You should spend the most time practising your number one priority. I know it's pretty obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many people don't do this! I know a few guitar players who would like to be able to play incredibly fast, yet they don't do a lot of technical practice. Talk about setting yourself up to fail!


Exercise Four:

Decide how much time every day you will spend on each category. Write it down below.


**Practice Area Time Invested Daily**

Technique
Repertoire (covers)
Composition
Improvisation
Ear Training
Theory
Music Reading


All done? Great!

So what’s the next step?


The next step is to decide on a specific activity for each practice area.Make sure to write them down.

Here are a couple of examples of what someone might put down...

Technique: I will invest 10 minutes a day on alternate picking exercise one. I will
start with the metronome at 80 beats per minute (bpm) and increase it by 4 bpm daily
(as long as I can play it perfectly).

Ear Training: I will invest 10 minutes daily a day on A minor pentatonic ear training exercise one.

Got the idea? You would have one specific activity for every practice area. If you
have a lot of time to practice you could set more than one activity per practice area.


Give this method a try. I'll think you'll be more than happy with the results!
About the author:

Craig Bassett (The Guitar Solutions Expert) is a professional guitarist, guitar tutor and author who lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
To get a free high-quality guitar lesson e-mailed to you once a month, please go to: http://www.pentatonic-guitar-lessons.com





Written by: Craig Bassett

Dessert Recipes

Finger Millet Health Drinks

Can A Vegetarian Diet Constitute A Healthy And Balanced Diet?
Who is a vegetarian? People who do not eat meat products are called vegetarians and within vegetarians there are different categories depending mainly on what all a person abstains from eating. Some people turn vegetarians out of their compassion for animals others because they consider it healthy and yet more because of religious reasons. While there is one driving force or reason that converts a person into a vegetarian gradually they adopt the other reasons too. There are different types...Read more

Choosing Dog Food For A Balanced And Healthy Diet Needs More Careful Thought That You Might Think
Your dog needs a balanced diet of protein, carbohydrates and fats to maintain good general health, a healthy skin and coat, and plenty of energy. Broad guidelines are: 20-25% protein, 20-35% fat and 40-60% carbohydrate. Like humans, they need vitamins and minerals, though unlike us their need for Vitamin C is satisfied by their ability to synthesize it for themselves. Essential vitamin B1, however, is not stored by dogs, and can be lost in food processing. It may need to be supplied as a...Read more

The Isometric Diet and Balanced Health
The concept isometric has been a part of the health care vocabulary for decades. The most common application of the term, until now, has been with respect to physical exercise. Taken from the Greek root word Iso, meaning equal, the familiar term Isometric exercises involves applying equal weight to achieve strength goals. Fairly recently, health researchers have discovered another innovative application of the isometric concept in the health care field: nutrition. These researchers have...Read more

Vegetarian Diet Tips: Make Your Vegetarian Diet A Balanced Diet!
The world has opened eyes to the harmful side-effects of non-veg food like red meat and is now opening arms to Vegetarian Food. A very common myth found among common man is that vegetarian food doesnt provide you with necessary nutrients but a Vegetarian Diet, in no ways, is deprived of necessary nutrients, only if you have a balanced Vegetarian Diet. Make sure you eat a lot of fruits and dont follow particular monotonous meals. Some Nutrients you dont come across normally in Vegetarian Diets...Read more

What Makes Up A Healthy Balanced Diet? - Part 1
With all the information on health and diet out there, it can be hard to know which advice to follow. Still, when it comes to eating correctly and staying healthy, there are some things that are true for everyone. Knowing what can be called as pillars of good health will help you navigate the often-tricky waters of proper eating and dieting. Blood Sugar Control Most people think blood sugar control is only important to diabetics who need to watch out for high levels of blood sugar. The...Read more

Learn Home Improvement through Audio Video Tips