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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink Practice Tips

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I was thinking with all the great guitar players on th is site, maybe we can come up with a list of really good practice tips that might help everyone improve as musicians. Be it guitar, Bass or Drums. What do you guys think?

i am by no means a "great musician", but i can suggest only running through a few songs each practice, instead of going through all of your songs.

play maybe 4 songs or so at practice, and play them each maybe 4 or 5 times, given you have the time for it, and then the next practice, work on 4 different songs.

my band doesnt really do this that often, but when we do, it helps.

good question though, i cant wait to see the answers.

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Okay, I will give one of my warming up tricks. I am no means even close to being as good as some of the guitarists here. But this has helped my playing.

I play scales along with a metronome, sometimes just a chromatic scale. I play different notes, sometimes quaters, triplets, eigthes, whatever it may be for each beat. I try to work at different tempos and up and down the neck. For a good 20 mins or more.

The most important tip is practice i believe haha..... I mean I haven't even been playing for a year; but I dedicate atleast 6 hours to playing my guitar a day.. I just start out throwin some jini hendrix or steve ray vaughan in and playin the licks and stuff.. mostly like penatonic scales and such some chrods get the blood runnin threw your hands also.. for me I turn the heater on in my room... when I start to get my hands and body nice in warm Smile

-Fly on little wing-

Couldn't Stand The Weather...

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...add me...

open the case and take the guitar out...

Two things I try to do is to spend about 30 minutes if possible each day sitting in front of the TV, guitar in hand doing nothing but straight double picking. Working first one string then back and forth between adjacent strings, then skipping from say, 6 directly to 4 and around etc. Over the last ten years I've noticed that I'm not as fast at double picking as I was then, but regular work outs help the "Old Dude" try to keep up (somewhat) with the "kids".

Also when ever possible, play through an amp sans reverb. This will sober you up real quick and force you quit slacking off. Reverb is kinda like distortion. It's an intoxicant that can give you a false sense of worth and accomplishment. We all love to hear that splash, but go back and listen to those early Ventures records, it's almost impossible to hear reverb or echo. Those were some pristeen guitar tones. If you sound great clean, you'll sound awesome once you slip in the E and R.

After 44 years of playing, I love it more now than I ever have. Reverbs to all (after a good workout), eddie k

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

You're right about that revrb tip, Eddie. I was playing today through my tank, and then I thought I'd just play straight through my amp with no effects. Now, I'm not that good with the reverb ON, and when I turned it off, I sounded like I had just picked up a guitar for the first time that very minute. I'm going to practice clean like that for awhile to try and improve.

SEE the notes and think about them when you´re playing, as opposed to just playing "shapes", and see how the notes relate to the chords in the song. I spent years NOT doing that, and talking to some pretty accomplished players later on found out it´s quite a common "disease" among guitar players.

http://www.myspace.com/cochabambas
http://gianninisupersonic.blogspot.com

One major thing that will help everyone's right hand is to work on fluctuating tempos while tremolo picking. I don't mean start out single picking and eventually build up to tremolo picking - I mean precise tremolo work, making sure you're giving each beat it's pre-determined amount of notes. You'd be surprised just how accurate of a picker this will make you.

Also, as a word of wisdom - stretch your fingers before you play. ALWAYS. Doesn't matter if you're just picking up a guitar for like 5 minutes to plunk around. It's like trying to run either a sprint or a marathon without stretching your legs first. I have a routine set of finger and forearm stretches I do before I play, which became almost a necessity after a span of poor technique.

~B~

I'm not even close to the average class, let alone the greats, but I have a couple of things that keeps me improving.

  1. Buy a guitar stand ( < $15.00 ), and put your guitar on it somewhere you can always see it. Mine is beside me now as I type this. Withen arms reach.

  2. Pick it up several times a day if nothing else to pick for a few minutes or practice a cord shape. You don't need the amp and all the other stuff out to just pick and strum to your self.

  3. never put it in the case until you are heading for a gig.

Joel

Do technical exercises for like an hour

ex 1
E-123423453456456756786789789 etc
get to 12 and go backwards. after thats done work the next string

ex 2
E-1234-----
A------1234
etc. keep going down each string, the go back up, then start with the next fret

image

-I would echo what Joelman said: Keep your guitar easily available. I had a friend that would pack his guitar and amp away everytime he used it and it was such a PITA to get it out that he never played it and he eventually gave up.
-Something I learned from playing classical is alternate picking. If you want to play clean, fast, precise, you must make it a habit to always alternate pick. Think of your hand as a machine and as a machine it will do the same picking pattern everytime, this will ensure that because you will play something the same time everytime you will be able to play it fast and clean (eventually).
-Another thing to do which sounds obvious is to practice stuff you don't know. That is, learn new scales, chords, modes, rythms, whatever, No matter how good you are there is always something you havent learned yet. I think it was George Harrison that said that The Beatles would write songs around new chords they learned in order to remember them. This is great for 2 reasons, 1 you get better at writing and 2 you will remember the chords.

All great tips.

I always recommend playing with someone better than you or at least is into something differen that what you usually play. This will force you to adapt and build some of your improvisational skills.

When alone, I try to always work on my weakest skills. Which is changing gears into double picking. Having developed a recuring case on tendonitis in my right elbow. I struggle more now than ever. So, use lighter picks. It seems to take some of the tensoin out of the forearm muscles. Anyways, I spend time whenever I got a chance and run through chromatic, pentatonic and major scales using double picking. Slowly increasing tempo as I go along. My goal is be consistent. Some nights it magically flows, other nights it is like trying to shake clawing kittens from arm.

The Sans-effects is the bes tip so far. It is quite sobering when the icing is scraped off the cake.

-Redd Tyde

This is, sadly, a great tip. As I posted elsewhere, I just got my first tank, and IT IS FUN! Beyond fun, it actually makes my questionable playing sound a little like I know how to play, but with the guitar going through the amp clean, my weaknesses are right there.

And that's a good thing because it forces me to slow down and work on the rudiments which, eventually, will make me a better player (at least that's the plan).

I do a lot of scales, and I particularly enjoy an exercise posted somewhere here on the boards (strumming down on the numbers and up on the open string):

8-7-5-0 7-0 8-0 7-0 5-0 7-0 8-0 10-8-7-0 8-0 10-0 8-0 7-0 8-0 10-0 12-10-8-0 10-0 12-0 10-0 8-0 10-0 12(arpeggio!)

Do that on each string.

You'll definitely recognize the classical piece (though I can't remember the title/composer)

Question

don't panic!

I've played guitar for many years but just recently started learning surf. I got an theory book for Christmas (Fretboard Theory) to brush up on general skills (which I do need to do). Should I forget that book and focus on learning surf or do a combination of both?

Kevin

teaching others is a great way to examine (and improve) your own techniques.

i teach guitar every monday now...and it is really making me slow down a bit and be much more PRECISE in what I'm doing.

another tip I think is helpful is to practice with a metronome or drummachine (or a drummer if you are fortunate enough), to help improve tempo/timing/rhythm.

also play the music you like with friends, it makes practice much more enjoyable.

lastly, be sure to practice good posture everytime you play...be sure to mind your seated posture, sit straight, hand/arm/shoulder placement, thumb behind the neck etc... try to make good posture a habit...

was wandering if anyone had any tips, excercises, chord patterns to practice to increase a gremmie's surf chops. anything would help.

I would echo all of the above and my following two cents (which is about 1 english penny these days) worth:

  • when doing any excerice, if you find hands/fingers/forearms aching with tension or getting tired, STOP and have a think. It is more than likely poor technique to blame (unless of course you have tendonitis or similar - I don't ish to criticise Redd!); there is no real strength required to play all but the most extreme pieces. It could be the way you are holding the guitar, or you're just a bit tense for some reason.
    Try some finger stretchs, then try to come up with a more ergonomic way of playing.

  • I always find most excercies neglect the right hand - I go through everything from single picking to double picking to strumming open and damped, always starting slowly (to make sure the basic is right) before going as fast as I possibly can (but always in time). I also practice varying dynamics as I play - e.g. try fast and quiet getting louder and softer.

I find surf is the cruellest critic of poor technique- when your sound leads the band just getting the notes right is not enough you have to make each sound $mil Rock lion$ as well.

I always thought the best way to practice was to play along with the classics. With modern technology the CD is your best friend. Would have sucked doing that with records.

"as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"

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https://www.facebook.com/TheDragstripVipers/

BillAqua
I always thought the best way to practice was to play along with the classics. With modern technology the CD is your best friend. Would have sucked doing that with records.

I second this...by all means, "Play Guitar with The Venture"...and Dick Dale, The Lively Ones etceteras...

-dp

ps: I still play along with LPs occasionally...I have a turntable and the vinyl...spent many hours in the bedroom spinning the tunes as a young man in the 1980s...old habits sure do die hard!

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