Justin Guitar 1 Hour Workout

 THE 1 HOUR INTERMEDIATE PRACTICE ROUTINE(from JustinGuitar.com)

Have you heard of the Steve Vai 10 hour workout? Well, this is a slightly more realistic 1 hour workout. I plan it as being 6 days a week. If you can do 2 hours then double all the times. If you can do more than that you are getting serious and should consult a pro teacher to help guide you, or use your own logic and base it on what is presented here for ideas.

TECHNIQUE (15 MINS)

As I have mentioned elsewhere on this site I think it is important to develop your technique further than where you want to play. If you want to be an athlete then you MUST go to the gym and work out, but even if you don't want to be an athlete it is very beneficial to go to the gym and work out, keep fit... and so we should also for our hands. Perhaps I should try and make it to the gym more often... Please read the notes on the technique section of this site for more information on general technique development. The three exercises I would recommend for most players would be:

• 5 minutes - Finger Gym
• 5 minutes - Spider Exercise
• 5 minutes - Scale Picking

This will give you left-hand strength and independence (Finger Gym), a serious alternate picking workout (The Spider) and some coordination work, combined with speed picking (Scale Picking).

If you are learning more techniques you might consider doing an A/B routine where you do the above exercises on day 1 (A) and 3 new ones on day 2 (B) and alternate them.

Other possible suggestions for a Technique B routine would be:

String Bending - Legato Technique - Minimum Movement - Finger Tapping - Fingerstyle - Pinch Harmonics - Tapped Harmonics - Rolling - Sweep Picking - Harp Picking - MORE...

There is probably loads I have forgotten, but that's a start. I don't recommend ever losing the initial 3 exercises though - keep them there, but just do them every 2nd day. They are your basics and will really give you a lot of benefits if you follow them properly and do them regularly.

TRANSCRIBING (15 MINS)

If you have read much stuff on here you have probably noticed that i really rate transcribing. I REALLY THINK IT IS IMPORTANT. If you have not read about it please start here and check it all out. It could make the difference between you sounding ok and great. It will make you listen to yourself better. it will teach you to use your ears. It will teach you licks. Please Read This.

You could also incorporate some Aural Training into this section, but I think transcribing is generally more beneficial - but it depends on the individual.

This is the one area that may be better used in one block of 1 and a half hours. Up to you. It seems a lot of effort to get everything ready for a good transcribing session and then only stay at it for 15 minutes, but that is your call.

REPERTOIRE (15 MINS)

This area is an often neglected but very important one. Learning songs. It's no good having great technique and lots of knowledge but not being able to play a song. I recommend getting yourself a book that becomes your repertoire book. Songs that you can play go in the front, songs that you are trying to play go in the back. You then try to work on getting the songs from the back to the front.

BBQ Songs
These are the kind of simple songs you might play at a BBQ or party, that you can play after a few beers, for that moment when a guitar ends up in your lap and you have to play for a group of people. If this happens it is better to play a sing-along song and get others involved than just to show off some flashy guitar widdle. Check out the Songs page for some examples, but try and find songs that you like that you think your friends and social circle will like and might sing along to. There are plenty of sites around that offer reasonable chords for songs, from my limited experience www.chordie.com seems very good (I transcribe my own stuff, and don't use such sites).

Solo Songs
The songs that fit into this category sound good on their own - without the need for accompaniment or vocals. Things like my Solo Blues 1, or any nice chord melody arrangement would be great. Unfortunately, good ones can be hard to find. I plan to put some more here on this site soon...

Band Songs
These are songs that you should learn to play along with the actual track all the way through. Some songs don't sound so good by themselves and need to be played with a band. These songs are for this section. Do make sure that you play them all the way through. Don't leave any bits out - learn the whole thing. Work on each song until you can play along with the track. Be realistic and choose achievable songs, work up to very hard stuff over time.

Advanced Songs
Once your skills are better developed and you are keen on learning guitar songs (Joe Pass, Satriani and any other guitar gods) - this area will replace BBQ songs - you should have plenty of them sorted by the time you get to this. If you have not - go back and get some easy songs down NOW!

Either work one one song in each section for 5 minutes each, or choose a new tune to work on and focus on that for the whole 15 mins.

KNOWLEDGE (15 MINS)

This area is the most difficult to plan - and the one that I advise my students the most with. For certain it should contain:

• 5 minutes - Music Theory - either the recommended one, my book or your own study.
• 5 minutes - Scales or chords depending on what you need to work on.
• 5 minutes - < something else of your choice >

Some ideas for that spare secion would be:

Knowing where the notes are - Understanding Harmonics - Jazz Harmony - II V I licks - Blues Licks -