Howdy,

What usually happens to me is I will hear a tune
or song or lick that I really really like and go nuts over it. Find the tab, find the lyrics, play it over and over like a bazillion times listening to the sounds. Then I try to get as close as I can on the guitar. Usually I end up adding my own bizarre twist to it in the form or shortcuts or lack of skill.

After you walk away from it for a day or 3, the next time you play it, it becomes 10 times easier. It is almost as if your muscles programmed it while you were sleeping and now its easier.

I try to pick up a little theory, study a little tab, try some ear learning. Jam clean, jam distorted, jam with my cakewalk software and lay down tracks, tons of variety. But the key thing is not to get bored, or too frustrated. Because then you will never quit.

I have seen several really really nice lessons on wholenote for breaking down the learning process into neat little chunks. Pick your chunk. Have patience.

cool, eh?

HAHA, I will NEVER be a singer though. *laugh*


Enjoy,

~Ort

thanks man that was good feedback, nice to hear what others do , when it comes to practising and learning

Hmmm.... Ok, when I first started playing, I took lessons for a while. Then, due to shortage of funds, I quit. Some friends & I put a band together & the lead player would show me what I needed to play for the Rythm part. That was NOT a good time. Wasn't developing at all.

I ran into a little guy named Jimmie Sogan that ran a barber shop next to our family business.He alos played guitar. He had the hots for my mom (widow). He figured if he spent time with me teaching me guitar stuff, it would allow him to hang out with her. Na! She liked bingo too much to hang out with him. Oops, I digress. Anyway, he taught me my chord progressions and some scales. Now THAT opened up a lot of new stuff.

Somehow I got into another band and I started taking lessons from a jazz player in town. (the barber was now out of the picture)I praticed a lot of the stuff he was teaching me. Standard notation, some theory. He also got me started learning songs by ear. Played in a few other bands(I also sing... that helped a lot!) for the next 5 years, then went into the sound industry.

Jump 25 years into the present..... I now practice at least once a week for an hour or so with "Mel Bay's Complete Method for Modern Guitar"
I am STILL trying to learn standard notation.
(1 hour)
Then I add a couple of hours a week trying to figure out new songs. I play for the church's worship team and we usually have chord charts, but I seem to remember the songs better if I force myself to listen to the tape or CD & figure the chords & leads out for myself.
(2-3 hrs)
And, I recently purchased "Fretboard Logic SE Vol. I & II" and I practice the stuff in there for an hour or so each week.
(4-4.5 hrs)

I usually play my guitar each evening, anywhere for one to two hours. Since I split up what I work on, the advancement is not as fast as I would like, but I am slowly learning standard notation, I am adding songs to my repertoire and my leads & fills are getting stronger & more confident.

Add to this a full time job that has irregular hours, coaching my sons baseball team in the spring & summer and helping with soccer in the fall AND trying to keep my wife happy with the stuff around the house.....well, you can bet that the guitar doesn't get top priority.

As I sit here, it is 11:45 pm. As soon as I get done here, I will practice for about an hour.

So, if you are single, have no attachments to anyone special and REALLY REALLY want to excel & improve on your ax, practice for about 4 or 5 hours minimum daily. You'll get good fast.