5/5 Lesson

Since we couldn't meet f2f, here's what we would have worked on.

Organizing your practice time to reap the biggest reward:

I highly recommend you check out Justin's website. In particular his tips on practicing are very good.

• Play a little everyday. This is key. Your muscle memory will improve, your fingers will get tough and you will improve much faster.
• Always practice to a beat. If you figure out Band-in -a-box great. Playing with a metronome is a drag...
• Play slow and clean, get your fingers perpendicular to the frets and play the notes with your finger as close to the top of the fret as possible.
  

If you have 60 minutes: (set a timer or you will forget to switch, write down in your practice book what you did each session - it will keep you honest and will help you re-focus the next day)

First half

1. Finger Gym - 10 minutes
2. Pentatonics - 10 minutes - alternate forms 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5
3. Major Scales - 10 minutes - experiment, improvise, play melody lines

Second Half

1. Rhythm - 10 minutes - Work the right hand and get funky. Long train running, Strumming fast and smooth on simple chord changes. Its about the right hand!
2. Jam - 10 minutes - Fire up the blues tracks or play a song that you know the chords to and play along. Imitate the melody line, make up your own melody, have fun. This will begin to train your ear to listen for chord changes.
   
3. Work out and learn songs - 10 minutes. If there is a song you like and want to learn how to play, chart it out yourself. I recommend you get the lyrics online but figure our the chords yourself. Bear in mind that the guitarist might not be playing chord patterns all below the 3rd fret.
   

If you have 30 minutes:

1. Finger Gym - 10 minutes
2. Pentatonics - 5 minutes
3. Major Scales - 5 minutes
   
4. Rhythm - 5 minutes
5. Jam - Chart - 5 minutes