Like all men, I will make promises over breakfast and forget them come lunch. Worse, I’ll make promises over dinner and forget them by dessert. Not that I ever have dessert, but that’s not the point.

Like all men, I need women to keep me in line. My wife reminds me of my appointments, tells me not to pick my nose and to put the toilet seat down.

What she never tells me is to practice the guitar more often. I’ve been slacking. But fear not, my loyal subjects readers. Along comes Lori with a perfectly fine online way of reminding me that I suck slack. Check out her Shredtracker Guitar Practice Motivator  (G PRAM for short … huh huh huh). Promise yourself to practice in the morning and mention how much you will practice. Come back later and punish yourself if you haven’t met your own standards. It’s nifty. It’s practical. It’s Lori.

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I have never really practiced playing the guitar. Not in any of the years I played. I’ve been trying to, but never got around to it.

Lately, this has been hitting me in the face and the butt at the same time, resulting in some very precarious jerking around on stage and in the studio. So I decided to start a practice routine.

I’ve built a little metronome track in Cubase, which lasts for 5 minutes at 100 bpm. I’m planning to step it up a little every week. 10 bpm at a time. If I’m not comfortable, I take it back 5 bpm for that week.

Exercises include “advanced” techniques such as sweeping but it’s mainly focusing on two things: accuracy and precision. I’m learning my way around the fretboard again and I’m noticing that I’m even worse than I used to think I was. I’ve never had a single guitar lesson in my life and now I’m changing all that, with a little help from the internet.

For your convenience, I’ll post my daily routine. Adding to this, I also practice all of my melody lines each day.

I play each exercise for five minutes, relax, then continue to the next lesson. In all, this routine takes about one hour to finish. I also try to spell each note out loud as I play it, so as to deftly remember what note is where on sight instead of thinking about it. It’s helping already.

I’m also posting this because a lot of the exercises you find on the web these days are “advanced” lessons – not a whole lot of lessons that take you back to basics.

Any comments are appreciated.

t: thumb
4: index
3: middle
2: ring
1: pinky

v: strum down
^: strum up
/: slide up to next note
\: slide down to next note
h: hammer next note
p: pull-off to next note

Exercise 1:
- sweeping
- basic arpeggio

  1 2 4 3 1 3 4 2  1 2 4 3 1 3 4 2  1 2 4 3 1 3 4 2  1 2 4 3 1 3 4 2
  v v v v ^ v ^ ^  v v v v ^ v ^ ^  v v v v ^ v ^ ^  v v v v ^ v ^ ^
6|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
5|------3-5-3-----|------3-5-3-----|------3-5-3-----|------3-5-3-----|
4|----2-------2---|----2-------2---|----2-------2---|----2-------2---|
3|--4-----------4-|--4-----------4-|--4-----------4-|--4-----------4-|
2|5---------------|5---------------|5---------------|5---------------|
1|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|

Exercise 2:
- sweeping
- basic arpeggio

  1 2 4 3 1 3 4 2  1 2 4 3 1 3 4 2  1 2 4 3 1 3 4 2  1 2 4 3 1 3 4 2
  v v v v ^ v ^ ^  v v v v ^ v ^ ^  v v v v ^ v ^ ^  v v v v ^ v ^ ^
6|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
5|------3-5-3-----|------5-7-5-----|------7-9-7-----|------9-119-----|
4|----2-------2---|----4-------4---|----6-------6---|----8-------8---|
3|--4-----------4-|--6-----------6-|--8-----------8-|--10----------10|
2|5---------------|7---------------|9---------------|11--------------|
1|----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|

Exercise 3:
- sweeping
- basic arpeggio
- sliding

  1 2 4  4 2 1  1 2 4  4 2 1  1 2 4  4 2 1  1 2 4  4 2 1
  v v v /  ^ ^ /  v v /  ^ ^ /  v v /  ^ ^ /  v v /  ^ ^
6|------|------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
5|------|------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
4|----2-|4-----|----6-|8-----|----9-|11----|----13|14----|
3|--4---|--6---|--8---|--10--|--11--|--13--|--15--|--16--|
2|5-----|----7-|9-----|----11|12----|----14|16----|----17|
1|------|------|------|------|------|------|------|------|

Exercise 4:
- alternate picking
- D Aeolian scale boxes: C D E F G A A#

1st shape

  F G A A#C D E F  G A A#C D E F G  A G F E D C A#A  G F E D C A#A G
  4 2 1 4 2 1 3 2  1 3 2 4 2 1 4 2  1 2 4 1 2 4 1 3  1 2 3 1 2 4 1 2
  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^
6|----------------|------------1-3-|5-3-1-----------|----------------|
5|----------------|------1-3-5-----|------5-3-1-----|----------------|
4|----------------|--2-3-----------|------------3-2-|----------------|
3|------------2-3-|5---------------|----------------|5-3-2-----------|
2|------1-3-5-----|----------------|----------------|------5-3-1-----|
1|1-3-5-----------|----------------|----------------|------------5-3-|

2nd shape

  G A A#C D E F G  A A#C D E F G A  A#A G F E D C A# A G F E D C A#A
  4 2 1 4 2 1 4 2  1 4 2 4 2 1 4 2  1 2 4 1 2 4 2 4  1 2 4 1 2 4 1 2
  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^
6|----------------|------------3-5-|6-5-3-----------|----------------|
5|----------------|------3-5-6-----|------6-5-3-----|----------------|
4|----------------|--3-5-----------|------------5-3-|----------------|
3|------------3-5-|7---------------|----------------|7-5-3-----------|
2|------3-5-7-----|----------------|----------------|------7-5-3-----|
1|3-5-6-----------|----------------|----------------|------------6-5-|

  A A#C D E F G A  A#C D E F G A A# C A#A G F E D C  A#A G F E D C A#
  4 3 1 4 2 1 4 2  1 4 2 4 3 1 4 3  1 3 4 1 3 4 2 4  1 2 4 1 2 4 1 2
  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^
6|----------------|------------5-6-|8-6-5-----------|----------------|
5|----------------|------5-6-8-----|------8-6-5-----|----------------|
4|----------------|--5-7-----------|------------7-5-|----------------|
3|------------5-7-|8---------------|----------------|8-7-5-----------|
2|------5-7-8-----|----------------|----------------|------8-7-5-----|
1|5-6-8-----------|----------------|----------------|------------8-6-|

3rd shape

  A#C D E F G A A# C D E F G A A#C  D C A#A G F E D C  A#A G F E D C
  4 2 1 3 2 1 3 2  1 3 1 4 2 1 4 2  1 2 4 1 2 4 3 1  1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2
  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^
6|----------------|------------6-8-|108-6-----------|----------------|
5|----------------|------6-8-10----|------108-6-----|----------------|
4|----------------|--7-9-----------|------------9-7-|----------------|
3|------------7-8-|10--------------|----------------|108-7-----------|
2|------7-8-10----|----------------|----------------|------108-7-----|
1|6-8-10----------|----------------|----------------|------------108-|

4th shape

  C D E F G A A#C  D E F G A A#C  D E D C A#A G F E  D C A#A G F E D
  4 2 1 4 2 1 4 2  1 3 2 4 2 1 4 2  1 2 4 1 2 4 2 3  1 2 4 1 2 4 1 2
  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^
6|----------------|------------8-10|12108-----------|----------------|
5|----------------|------8-1011----|------11108-----|----------------|
4|----------------|--9-10----------|------------109-|----------------|
3|------------8-10|12--------------|----------------|12108-----------|
2|------8-1012----|----------------|----------------|------12108-----|
1|8-1012----------|----------------|----------------|------------1210|

5th shape

  D E F G A A#C D  E F G A A#C D E  F E D C A#A G F  E D C A#A G F E
  4 2 1 4 2 1 4 2  1 4 2 4 3 1 4 3  1 3 4 1 3 4 2 4  1 2 4 1 2 4 1 2
  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^
6|----------------|------------1012|131210----------|----------------|
5|----------------|------101113----|------131110----|----------------|
4|----------------|--1012----------|------------1210|----------------|
3|------------1012|14--------------|----------------|141210----------|
2|------101213----|----------------|----------------|------131210----|
1|101213----------|----------------|----------------|------------1312|

6th shape

  E F G A A#C D  E F G A A#C D E F  G F E D C A#A G  F E D C A#A G F
  4 3 1 4 3 1 4 2  1 4 2 1 3 1 4 3  1 3 4 1 3 1 2 4  1 2 4 1 3 4 1 3
  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^  v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^
6|----------------|------------1213|151312----------|----------------|
5|----------------|--------1315----|------1513------|----------------|
4|----------------|--121415--------|----------151412|----------------|
3|------------1214|15--------------|----------------|151412----------|
2|------121315----|----------------|----------------|------151312----|
1|121315----------|----------------|----------------|------------1513|

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