In one of the Nirvana documentaries, someone really close to the band mentions how Kurt Cobain couldn’t even point out an F sharp note on the G string.
He wasn’t much of a theory guy, and that’s apparent from his interviews. In a clip I recently came across, he says that grunge is about passion and making it sound good, even if you play sloppy.
The debate about music theory has always been intense. Imagine the chaos of a mosh pit at a Lamb of God concert, and you'll get a sense of it.
I won’t dictate how much theory is right for you, but from working with students, I’ve noticed a few trends that feel more like facts and might be helpful for a guitar enthusiast.
The majority of guitar instructors divide the learning process into three parts: finger exercises, technical work/theory, and performance.
Let’s break these down to evaluate what an ideal guitar practice routine might look like for you.
There's no arguing with biology.
Muscle memory in your fingers won’t develop without consistent, focused practice. Finger gym, although a hassle at first for many, transforms into a meditative experience.
Having a go-to exercise, no matter how basic, can help you pick up the guitar without procrastinating because you know exactly what to start with.
Finger exercises are a vast subject, including musical and non-musical ones, with a focus on various guitar skills: string skipping, alternate picking, speed boosting, etc.
It is also an amazing consistency check because whether or not you've got a song going, spending 10 minutes doing the workout could be a great habit to develop and it absolutely pays off.
To recollect myself, I'm hinting at sticking with something basic yet challenging for YOU and giving equal weightage to the consistency.
This is more of a part where I would rather not let my theory juices take over. This approach has helped me avoid that procrastination trail.
But,
The next section is where we come head-to-head with the theory conundrum expressed earlier.
You need an understanding of concepts to know what technical exercises to do. Practicing scales or arpeggios without context can be counterproductive, turning technical workouts back into mere finger exercises.
I followed Justin Sandercoe’s lessons on his website religiously while starting out. The site was super simplistic to understand and the guy poured his heart into it. It was just good stuff. I binged on his video lessons.
Learned a lot, no arguments there! That didn't come through in my playing though, there wasn't anything wrong with the lessons but rather me treating Justin's website as Netflix.
Since then I've come across my own students who have fallen for the same kind of thing where they went about watching some particular video series, over the course of a few months, later to be disappointed when they're faced with a practical situation to perform.
'Theory video binge pitfall' is a very likely one, we tend to approach guitar a lot like other subjects. Try looking up authoritative guitar books, they are composed of sight reading (music language) for the most part and not English!
Jamming with other people may give you a sense of what I'm blabbering about in case you can't relate. Playing with others allows you to see the broader picture.
What you're practicing at home in the room is giving you something in return but the returns are very different for playing outside the room. Again, playing with different people enables you differently, and furthermore playing in a studio or on some stage is yet another thing to be experienced and learned from.
So watching all of those videos didn't in a sense harm me, but I don't know if it was the need of the hour.
I guess it comes down to your involvement with the guitar. Well, I suppose if you have a considerably long practice routine, makes sense to have technical theory stuff in there.
But if rather you've got the least amount of time, well, yeah, then based on the priorities, I suppose you would rather play some songs and do some finger exercises because it's music, right?
Music is to be played, it is not to be worked.
At least at first?
So to summarize this second segment of an ideal, supposedly ideal guitar practice routine,
A student may bring in theory and technical workouts based on the duration of their guitar practice routine and their involvement with the music. Prioritize playing and not working/learning. If the only choice is between playing a melody on one string or learning about the history of the guitar - I'm biased toward playing.
Speaking of playing, now the third segment.
Last-minute gigs are not fiction, the converse might be true, whether you're a professional or an enthusiast. Imagine being asked to play something at a moment’s notice by relatives or coworkers.
The audience judges you by what you can perform spontaneously. It’s helpful to have a few songs polished and ready to go.
Performing is a unique skill, different from practicing alone.
There's so much to take care of.
An amazing fingerstyle guitarist with unearthly nuances performs unplugged beachside and yet receives confused looks.
Why? Because the waves were too loud. That's not an audience problem, by the way, it's the performer's responsibility to anticipate.
Maybe the only thing that works beachside is ramming your guitar loud with those strums and letting the other people sing Wonderwall.
This is a lesson learned the hard way and coming from personal experiences, except for that unearthly fingerstyle nuances part.
But I digress.
I advocate prioritizing performance in the practice routine and recording yourself.
There's a certain mindset far away from all the conversation theory talks that develops with you performing more and more.
For the longest time, I had the guilt of using Guitar tabs. As a result, I started lagging when it came to physically challenging songs. My performance skills were being limited by my ear.
The truth is ears do take years to develop. Felt like an unnecessary constraint and I made a change in my approach.
There's no arguing working out a great solo by ear is transcending. Your musicianship glows— does feel like levitation almost.
For now, play something simple even if it is on one string, and then move on to tunes with multiple strings, bring in some chords, get into riffs, and probably look into arrangements.
I've tried to talk about the ideal guitar practice routine while assessing three segments, finger gym, theory technical skills, and performance.
This is one way to look at it.
We looked at it based on how the majority of guitar instructors segment the 'guitar learning process' and pivoted towards a beginner-friendly approach.
Another perspective, relatively advanced, will involve five aspects of musicality.
These five aspects—improvisation, sight reading, ear training, theory, and performance—are crucial for any musician, not just guitarists. Ideally, you'd work on all of them, but it's unrealistic to be perfect at everything.
I'll talk about improvisation and sight reading because they didn't get covered in the previous section.
Improvisation is about playing over any set of chords and composing on the spot. It needs a deep understanding of the fretboard and harmony. At the same time, you could know the theory and still sound bad if you're not feeling it.
It's this absolute balance of theory and art, muscle memory and being prompt in the moment. This is something that tab-only guitarists often struggle with.
Improvisation is best tackled after you get into scale shapes, and it's definitely worth it. Experienced players cherish it, and it’s a favorite activity for many guitarists. Now,
Think of Tom and Jerry, with Tom playing the piano and a sheet music book in front of him—that’s sight reading. Usually, this reference works too well for some reason.
I got into it during my Trinity grades. Over time, my involvement has increased due to academic reasons (only). When I work on exercises from good guitar books, they often don't feature tabs. Also, sight-reading attracts music enthusiasts, deeming as the classy thing to do.
Won't it be soul-satisfying as you flip through those music sheets during your performance in some cozy jazz lounge harmonizing with the patter of rain outside? Well, sight reading asks for regular touch. I personally only bring it into the curriculum for intermediate and advanced students and the Random music sheet generator (website) has turned out to be immensely useful.
My bias - play music, don't work it, at least at first.
Say Bye!
Anubhav Kulshreshtha
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