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i practice only by free improvisation, sometimes i listen to a couple of songs on repeat beforehand to try and inject harmonic patterns into my head for inspiration, i get burned out trying to learn things by ear (agree that it's a very very beneficial skill though) so i just kind make things up based on half-remembered ideas and other things i stumble across. scales and other patterns don't work at all for me but i have to admit my technique probably wouldn't be where it is if i hadn't initially learned guitar by doing really controlled practice with scale exercises, warm-ups etc.

what i love about improvisation in general is that to improve at it you don't need to avoid mistakes, you just need to keep doing it again and again until it feels comfortable, like your fingers aren't inhibiting what you really want to do. i think that's the best way to find your own voice. it can be kind of crushing realizing what you naturally do isn't just like your favorite players but i think that's something that should be overcome.

but yeah, to answer the question i'd practice by listening to a song i like but don't entirely understand rhythmically, harmonically etc. then sitting down (unplugged) and try to recreate it but embrace that fact that you obviously have no idea what you're doing and see where it takes you.

rustywire wrote:

rfurtkamp wrote:Same as I do now.

Just play.

Not other people's material, not generic scales.

Let the instrument take you where it takes you.

4L

yeah, that has been my approach for most of my guitaring and self-teaching/learning thereof,
but every so often I got the feeling that it takes me round in circles. In babysteps.
Sometimes it would lead me to an obstacle and I would isolate that and try to make up an exercise to overcome that,
othertimes I would seek out a technical exercise to inject something new, open another door...
I remember a song that came from a string skipping warm up...

I totally stand by the inside-out approach,
but sometimes you gotta throw something fresh in the mix

backwardsvoyager wrote:
but yeah, to answer the question i'd practice by listening to a song i like but don't entirely understand rhythmically, harmonically etc. then sitting down (unplugged) and try to recreate it but embrace that fact that you obviously have no idea what you're doing and see where it takes you.

So I totally dig this suggestion, which ties in with the 'listening' and 'learning by ear'
Only a bit more loosely, not trying to copy verbatim, but going
"Oooh I like that! Wanna do something like it just in my own style....

Yea, the 'overcome a block' is more a specific thing than an 'everyday' practice, which is why I went with "go with where the music takes you" as a daily routine.

I don't really practice, just play.
But I wish I was better at practicing playing my pedalsteel and playing tight weird time signatures.

Weird time signatures+tight: play with a delay pedal set to them.

Let it run the show.

Alternate chord voicings, chord substitutions, and other generally interesting things to do with chords.

ProCarsteNation wrote:... what would that be?


At some point I put the 5 positions of the minor pentatonic up on my wall for monday to friday


What exercises/tricks/concepts do you guys have up your sleeves?
What would you consider "most bang for buck" when it comes to exercises/pratice time?

You should do that; but you should rethink "5 positions of minor pentatonic." I think of it this way ... the minor pentatonic is the 5th degree of the major pentatonic. So you have:

Major Pentatonic
Dorian Pentatonic
Phrygirian Pentatonic
Mixolydian Pentatonic
Minor Pentatonic

I believe thinking of it this way is more fruitful.

ChetMagongalo wrote:I think only practicing one thing is fucking stupid, but for the sake of the thought experiment I would practice ear training; the best way to practice this is jamming along to songs or learning them by ear

If you are deficient in one area focusing on that one area at length is not a bad thing ...

I don't disagree, the way the OP post read to me made it seem as if this one thing would be practiced exclusively, which I'm sure he wasn't actually inferring completely or at least doesn't intend on doing as such.

I practice finger combination/picking techniques and warmup drills. The guitar is physical so you need to keep you fingers in shape.

sex.

ChetMagongalo wrote:I don't disagree, the way the OP post read to me made it seem as if this one thing would be practiced exclusively, which I'm sure he wasn't actually inferring completely or at least doesn't intend on doing as such.

Same, which is why i thought and still do think that chords are a major part of my practice. I can do single notes lines well, but shifting from one chord to another pattern is part of daily routine.

In the end, I want to be the best rhythm guitarist in the world.