Guitar practise - unsure as to where I should go next
by Anonymous
Question: I've been playing for three years and take theory and practise seriously. I understand intervals, chord construction, and the pentatonic scales (Maj, Min, Blues) as well as chord tones. My practise sessions consist of the following:
20 minutes metronome (single note exercises - scales, chromatic, string skipping, stretching techniques)
30 minutes backing tracks (chord tones or lead)
30 minutes working on a song
20 minutes creating my own songs
20 minutes theory
2hrs - almost daily.
What do you think the next best steps would be? I know the circle of fifths and am working on inversions, movable inversion chords, as well as chord substitutions. I feel as though I have a one way strum (rock) and nothing else. I would like to work on this but wonder if I should just stick with what I'm practicing and fully perfect it or move out a little more.
Answer
It looks like you've got a solid, balanced practise regime there, so well done for sticking with it. Don't abandon it by any means.
Take a step back and look at what you have been neglecting. You mentioned your strumming isn't very diverse (if I read correctly), so perhaps now it's time to spend a few hours per week on that and other rhythm guitar elements.
I'm still in the process of expanding the rhythm section, but here's some ideas of what to work on...
- More complex chord changes using your knowledge of chord construction
- Strumming
- Flat picking
- Finger picking
- Palm muting
- Chord phrasing (using hammer-ons and pull-offs in chords etc.)
The great thing is that, because you've already spent a lot of time on theory, you'll apply this naturally to your rhythm playing. Chord phrasing plays a large part in this combination of understanding chord tones and using rhythm playing to phrase your chord progressions more intricately.
It's also worth pointing out that a "next step" is only necessary if you truly feel you can't improve any more in the practise areas you mentioned. This will be unlikely, since even the most advanced guitarists would never claim they have reached a point where they can no longer improve.
The question you need to ask yourself is "if I continue the way I am, how do I expect my playing to have improved in a years time?"
Keep up the good work. You have a great practise regime there.
