{"id":883,"date":"2013-09-13T15:55:28","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T15:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ashleyjsaunders.com\/wp-blog\/?p=883"},"modified":"2022-08-19T19:47:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T19:47:17","slug":"unique-guitar-practice-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/unique-guitar-practice-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Unique Guitar Practice Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you don\u2019t have a guitar handy, but have time to kill and are near a ticking clock, here are 10 unique guitar practice ideas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All of these timing and rhythm exercises will enable you to develop your sense of time while strengthening your internal metronome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Again you don’t need a metronome present to work on any of these ideas – although I do recommend having one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My top suggestion is the Korg TM60BK Tuner Metronome<\/a>, which is cheap, reliable, and offers two functions. Once you have a metronome, you’ll soon won’t know how you lived without one! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OK, maybe not! But having one is highly useful.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How Does It Work?<\/h2>\n

The basis behind this timing working out:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A clock ticks 60 times a minute, once per second, in fact. This is the same as setting your metronome to 60 BPM.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can (at best) make a little noise either clapping or clicking your fingers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s get down to business!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#1: Simple – Quarter Notes<\/h2>\n

Time length: 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

Start by clapping (or clicking your fingers) once per click. Each clap is a quarter note. Try this for 5 minutes. That\u2019s 300 claps! Make sure you get each clap in time with each click. Also, ensure that each clap lasts the same length.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#2: Double – Eighth Notes<\/h2>\n

Time length: 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s try 8th<\/sup> notes. So that is two claps per tick. Again make each clap count, make it even and just as good as the last! Try 8th<\/sup> notes for 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#3: Division – Sixteenth Notes<\/h2>\n

Time length: 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How are we doing? Good. I hope!\u00a0 Next up is 16th<\/sup> or 4 claps per tick. At this point, you should be able to feel the timing. Continue clapping 16th<\/sup> for 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#4: Mix #1 – Quarter and Eighth Notes<\/h2>\n

Time length: 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Let’s mix things up a little. How about trying to clap, two bars of \u00bc notes followed by two bars of 8th<\/sup> notes, then repeat. You\u2019ll be doubling then halving every two bars! You might need to concentrate a little harder on this as it can be tricky. Again 5 minutes for this one!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#5: Mix #2 –\u00a0 Eighth and Sixteenth Notes<\/h2>\n

Time length: 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now try, 2 bars of 8th<\/sup> notes, then 2 bars of 16th<\/sup> notes, keep repeating this for 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#6: Hard Mix – Quarter, Eighth and Sixteenth Notes<\/h2>\n

Time length: 3 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Getting harder now, let\u2019s have a go at this: 2 bars of 1\/4 notes, 2 bars of 1\/8th<\/sup> notes, 2 bars of 16th<\/sup> notes, 2 bars of 1\/8th<\/sup> notes, keep repeating this pattern until you\u2019ve been doing it for 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#7: Harder Mix – Quarter, Eighth and Sixteenth Notes<\/h2>\n

Time length: 2 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of two bars, let\u2019s try the above just with single bars. Hard! Give it a go!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#8: Triplets<\/h2>\n

Time length: 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

Triplets are just three notes in the space of two. If we try to play 8th<\/sup> note triples over the tick, we will play three notes per tick. Make each clap even, equal, and just as good as the last one. Give it a go for 5 minutes!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#9: Shuffle<\/h2>\n

Time length: 5 minutes<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Got the 8th<\/sup> note triplets happening? Try to not play the second one. You\u2019ll be clapping a blues shuffle. Sound good huh? I do hope so!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#10: Advanced – Try If You Dare!<\/h2>\n

Time length: 2 minutes<\/h3>\n

Now for a really advanced exercise. Even I struggled at the start!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first tick is now beat 2, and the following tick is beat 4. So, you’ll need to find and feel where beats one and three are. Tough? You bet!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Start by counting out loud. Keep going until you start to feel the beat. As you gain more confidence, the number of mistakes will fall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next, try the rhythm presented in exercises 1 to 9. It will get harder and harder. However, when you return to 4 ticks, everything will be much easier and your timing will improve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Use These Unique Guitar Practice Ideas To Improve Your Playing
\n<\/b><\/h2>\n

By trying all of these unique guitar practice ideas, you’ll see your timing improve. This is a great way to practice without a guitar that will benefit you\u2019re playing noticeably.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth trying this as often as possible, even if you can only complete one or two of the exercises. Just a simple way to use dead time!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I came up with this in bed the other day; I woke up to hear my clock ticking and was struck by how I could use this common device to improve my timing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to practice but don’t have a guitar? Here are 10 unique guitar practice ideas which use a clock and are guaranteed to help you improve.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[390],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guitar-lessons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashleyjsaunders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}