Practice Thoughts | 02: What To Practice
Added 2020-03-22 00:24:23 +0000 UTCWhere to Start • Lesson Archive • Recommended Lesson Plan • Book a Private Lesson
This is a little quick talk to help start thinking about what to practice more specifically - what you should practice depends heavily on what your goals are. Make a list!
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Comments
Oh weird. This video disappeared somehow?
Scott Paul Johnson
2025-08-14 18:00:12 +0000 UTCSometimes there is a glitch with Patreon - let me know if it still isn't working tomorrow? Usually they work it out within a day or so.
Scott Paul Johnson
2025-08-12 05:45:10 +0000 UTCI'm unable to load a video on my phone and on my computer. Is there something I have to do?
Isaac Romero
2025-08-12 04:06:31 +0000 UTCI can't play the video here for some reason? Both on my phone and laptop
kevin
2025-07-23 09:47:07 +0000 UTCit is working now. I'm using my laptop at the moment
Samir Boalleg
2024-06-19 00:46:45 +0000 UTCHmm... Still not working?
Scott Paul Johnson
2024-06-17 19:31:39 +0000 UTCI can't play that video for some reason. I can play first and third but not this one
Samir Boalleg
2024-06-17 02:20:30 +0000 UTCScott, Thanks for this talk. I was thinking about this after I watched PT 01. What's my knowledge gap? What's my skills gap? What do I want to tackle first? I like your thoughts about what type of guitarist do you want to be? and where do you see yourself in 2 years time? Good questions to think about.
Ot Ratsaphong
2022-02-14 22:07:35 +0000 UTCI'm not sure I can help you specifically with that exact thing, but the more you learn in general, the easier it will be to learn something specific like that.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-11-14 20:42:19 +0000 UTCHey Scott, I would like to learn more on the blues side to emulate the sounds of Billy Gibbons. is that something you can help me with?
John L
2021-11-14 04:13:35 +0000 UTCJust this video confirms why I think you’re the right teacher for me :)
Dom Tee
2021-07-21 14:32:38 +0000 UTCI am a very structured person and this helps while also challenges me. I love linear things, but I’m learning to be more fluid and creative. I really appreciated you saying that you have to practice writing music. My brain would normally say, perfect scales, chord transitions, strumming patterns, etc, and then eventually you can try writing music. So thanks for challenging me Scott!
Brian Haifley
2021-04-20 22:30:28 +0000 UTCHonestly, I've been pretty bad at warming up. I generally just sit down and play and I've been told by a few people now that it isn't good for your hands. So I'll have to think about what I would do for a warm up if that was a regular part of my practice. What you've mentioned sounds like an excellent warm up - getting each finger working and moving.
Scott Paul Johnson
2021-01-13 22:39:01 +0000 UTCMy two cents: OK, I totally see your point about tailoring practice towards your goals. So, different question then, how about a good 3-5 minute warm up routine for basically any guitar player? I've found myself doing chromatic scales just to make sure all four fingers on my left hand are properly warmed up and strecthed evenly (I'm looking at you, pinkie). What do you do for warmup, esp when time is a factor?
Shane
2021-01-13 16:58:19 +0000 UTCSure! Elaborate!
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-07-31 17:16:40 +0000 UTCHi Scott. I have a bit of a double feeling about your statements in this video. On the one hand, you are perfectly correct in that practice content will be highly dependent on personal goals. On the other hand, this seems to me like not good enough reason to avoid giving any advice altogether. Let me elaborate. First of all, I am sure many of us here (myself certainly included) have no specific goals yet. We are still to discover "our thing". We might know what style of music we enjoy most, though it may not necessarily be the style that we want to play. But that is it. I would expect that for complete beginners there should be some good advice how to establish a decent foundation, which would enable one to explore further and find "our thing". Let me know if you disagree, but I think that this kind of exploration is almost impossible without having the basics. You cannot go anywhere if you cannot walk. Second, while everyone's goals may be different, there should still be strong patterns of learning specific to broad genre types. For example, if I have a hunch that I'm attracted to blues, what should I put focus on? What are similarities in practice for playing rock? It might be interesting to dive into differences and similarities between practicing for these styles, but also others. Quite possibly there exists big domains of practice that are common to larger groups of students (i.e., not for everyone, but for a good chunk of your subscribers). Perhaps it would be possible to come up with some example learning plans, based on some common patterns? These could inspire your subscribers to pick out what's relevant for them.
Maxim K
2020-07-31 17:06:02 +0000 UTCThank you Scott so far. I play in a bigband. I want to learn searching all the jazz chords that sounds nice. I want to learn where I can find the chords on the neck of the guitar so that i can play them in a logical sequense. I want to learn different ritmes en styles that are needed for playing in a bigband.
thea van Geleuken
2020-07-09 13:31:04 +0000 UTCwriting+ producing songs, improvisation, soloing, and playing in a band is what Im all about. luckily I got myself involved in all three areas already, but need way more understanding
Jonas Nm
2020-06-30 07:52:31 +0000 UTCI'll keep that in mind as I move ahead.
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-06-30 01:42:31 +0000 UTCMy focus is on music theory, but even more on songwriting. I would love to see practice routines or any tips that can be helpful for songwriters :)
Paul Böhm
2020-06-28 16:50:46 +0000 UTCLove this, I would say that my approach is very similar to @Mister B. I do focus more on music theory because I believe that knowing theory would allow you to understand not only the instrument, but song construction as well. My goal is to be versatile, as I listen to many different kinds of music. I base my short term goals of learning the guitar on songs, like I will practice songs that are higher in difficulty as well as songs that incorporate lots of new chords so that I can build my knowledge.
Shelley Francisco
2020-06-24 10:41:22 +0000 UTCGreat thoughts. So, here is my approach. My goals is to be a well-rounded guitarist that can play in a band that covers rock/blues/jazz styles and can improvise and jam with other musicians in the moment. Eventually, I'd like to be able to write songs that combine electronic music and guitar-- like jazzy lo-fi music. So, my focus and practice routine includes: - music theory (slow, deliberate exercises) - dexterity & alternate picking exercises with metronome, to build cleaner technique - scales practice (major & minor pentatonic, major scales & 7 modes) with metronome - jam track improvisation in different keys, both major and minor chord progressions - specific song "performance" practice (whatever song I'm currently trying to learn or improve on) I think my technique is "decent" for basic jamming or covering songs, but my ability to improvise is where I think I am lacking the most, so where I tend to spend more time lately.
Mister B
2020-05-28 21:16:53 +0000 UTCI want to be able to jam with friends. I really realized that I don't know enough when a friend that drums came to visit. I rented a rehearsal space to surprise him, and we jammed with him and my son on the bass. We just played whatever we felt like. I could play some cool chord progressions, but had no idea what to do when it came time to move to a chorus or bridge in even just a jamming situation. Help!!!
Rick Hammel
2020-05-13 01:24:25 +0000 UTCMy definite goal is to write music and songs, and perform them, be that in a band or by myself. But as I see it this doesn't mean I only need to concentrate on songwriting, I still need all the essential guitar playing skills, including good technique and soloing, since I want to perform the music I want to write. And this is where things get complicated again :D How do I split that little time that I have between all the things that I need to master? I can't just concentrate on polishing technique, because then I won't be training my songwriting mussels until I feel like I'm ready (which probably won't happen ever as it happens with this kind of things). So my feeling is that I still need to practice both (technique and songwriting) in "parallel", and just jump back and forth. What do you think? Really really hope you'll continue making songwriting videos and this whole thing won't shift towards soloing :) Stay safe!
Alexander
2020-04-12 16:04:41 +0000 UTCWorking on it! I just got started a couple weeks ago
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-04-09 18:00:28 +0000 UTCCheers! Thanks for being here.
Scott Paul Johnson
2020-04-07 00:50:14 +0000 UTC"I really don't believe in a linear music education" - and I know I'm at the right place. Very well said, thanks Scott and looking forward learning from you. Cheers!
Einoras Bružas
2020-04-06 19:23:23 +0000 UTCPost more please. Regular content would make this all worthwhile for everyone. Its a good thing that your categorizing things in broad buckets. Keep that up. Thank you
Greybeard
2020-03-23 00:10:22 +0000 UTCPost all the time! I’m looking forward to music theory monday!
Stuart Gilmour
2020-03-22 23:35:55 +0000 UTCDown the line, if you can build up to learning songs by ear (circle of fourths, fifths, different kinds of scales, identifying the key etc.). Just throwing some ideas. And in technique, I struggle with fatigue - muscle tension- related to posture (even though I use a footrest and try to sit straight) and strumming hand shoulder pain - looking into it on youtube next week.
Armel Chiza
2020-03-22 17:37:58 +0000 UTCIt answers my question, thanks.
Armel Chiza
2020-03-22 17:33:37 +0000 UTCThank you, super helpful, as usual!
Tasha McManus
2020-03-22 04:01:35 +0000 UTC
