Masochistic practicing.

[distressed_romeo]

Sounds kinky doesn't it?

By that I mean deliberately making your practice time difficult in order to force yourself to fine-tune a certain aspect of your playing.
For example...at the moment I'm doing all my practice late at night through headphones, and the tone predictably sucks, but it's really forced me to work at cutting out extraneous noise and maintaining an even attack with the pick.

I've heard of some people who practice with a matchstick, or something similar, under their strings at the nut to raise the action, the idea being to build left hand strength, but that sounds like a really dumb thing to do to me, as it'll just lead to bad intonation from pressing too hard when you take it out again.

Anyone else have similar ideas?

 

[Metal Ken]

One thing that helps you out, at least in my experience is practicing licks usually use a very light touch with on a high gain setting (tapping, string skipping, etc) on a slightly overdriven type tone.. cutting your distortion way back and getting the lick clean that way then playing it normally.. kinda makes you play it right, since you cant cover fuckups with gain.

 

[distressed_romeo]

Yeah, that's the kind of thing I mean. If you're really hardcore, try practicing shred licks on an acoustic with a set of elevens for a few weeks; it'll take your chops to a whole other level...

 

[Mastodon]

Hmmm, I switched to heavier strings because

A) I wanted to be able to tune to anything I wanted to and B) I figured it would make my fingers stronger.

Now I've found that I like the sound of thicker strings more and that they're a helluva lot comfortable to me then lighter gauges.


I also go down to the basement where it's really quiet to practice, and I put a clock down there and I don't allow my self to come up until at least 2 hours have passed.

My biggest distraction is my cat coming down to see what I'm doing and walking all over my legs, haha.

 

[Leon]

eh, i have fun with my playing. when it becomes work, it becomes work, and i drift to something else...

 

[Metal Ken]

Hmmm, I switched to heavier strings because

A) I wanted to be able to tune to anything I wanted to and B) I figured it would make my fingers stronger.

Now I've found that I like the sound of thicker strings more and that they're a helluva lot comfortable to me then lighter gauges.


I also go down to the basement where it's really quiet to practice, and I put a clock down there and I don't allow my self to come up until at least 2 hours have passed.

My biggest distraction is my cat coming down to see what I'm doing and walking all over my legs, haha.

I knew a guy online back in the day who said he'd practice in the basement with the windows covered and the lights out, so he wouldnt be able to 'cheat and look at the frets'

 

[distressed_romeo]

Setting yourself challenges can be fun though...

 

[Drew]

Yeah, that's the kind of thing I mean. If you're really hardcore, try practicing shred licks on an acoustic with a set of elevens for a few weeks; it'll take your chops to a whole other level...

You wuss. Never string an acoustic lighter than .12.

 

[Mastodon]

I knew a guy online back in the day who said he'd practice in the basement with the windows covered and the lights out, so he wouldnt be able to 'cheat and look at the frets'

Interesting, I'll try that tonight (since I was busy at 6 which is my normal practice time I'll have to play from 10 to 12.)

Hmmm, wow that will be a really interesting experience, pitch black with nothing but my fingers, the guitar, and the sound of my amp.

 

[lachrymose]

practice in the dark, guitar upside down and hanging behind your back

 

[distressed_romeo]

Another idea I heard that George Lynch does is to practice your three-note-per-string legato licks without using your index finger...

 

[Mastodon]

Another idea I heard that George Lynch does is to practice your three-note-per-string legato licks without using your index finger...

Son of a bitch that's hard to do.

I can hardly stretch my ring and finger apart.

 

[skattabrain]

i always thought trilling (using as many different fingerings) for minutes at a time until you fall over was always a brutal exercise.

 

[OzzyC]

right now just doing something like a 3 per string 1 octave minor scale (on the low strings) using only my middle ring and pinky fingers is pretty hard after a few mins....