Background: There are usually 4 Ways to Practice Guitar that people tend to lean on when it comes to developing their musical skills and expertise... These 4 ways goes as follows:
- Technique Practice: Meticulous Skill Building
- How do you improve what you can play?
- How are improving what you need to get better at?
- Learn Some Songs: Play & Analyze a song
- Learn the melody, learn the harmony, learn the style!
- What are the shapes and patterns associated with this song?
- Learn Some Theory: Music Concepts that makes learning music easier.
- What music concepts do you know?
- Do you know how to “Connect the Dots” of various music concepts?
- Experiment: Go with the flow.
- Play Jam Songs, improvisation, open a looper, create a new riff.
Challenge: Rank these by level of importance to you!
For Me I tend to lean (highest) 4-1-3-2 (lowest).
All Four of these ways to practice are important! But when I pick up the guitar:
The first thing I do is (#4) play an impromptu riff that I hear in my head.
If/when I get bored with jamming I start working on (#1) my technical skills or do a warm up of some sort…
I like to think focusing on “how music makes sense” is essentially the definition of music theory. If I were practicing my inversions and I focus my attention on the scale degrees while I’m doing that, I wouldn’t consider that “Technique Practice” but instead (#3) “Learning Some Theory”. This will help me build my technique in the long run but my intentions are focused on the “how” not the “what”.
Then comes (#2) I’m only learning songs for a gig or for a student. I find that learning songs comes a little easy to me so I don’t feel like I’m “practicing” or working hard as I’m learning songs.
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