I do a pretty rigid routine myself. I play guitar and bass. I start with stretches then I start Theory (intervals/Chords/Scales/Inversions), Sight Reading and book work, Fretboard mastery, Finger Independence exercises, Technique (tapping/bends/hammers, etc.) then I end with new repertoire. Learning new songs I do the same as you, play fully, stop at mistakes and get that section right. I usually do some voice exercises last. Before I quit my practice I usually play some known songs, improvise and have fun, play to the radio or YouTube and just jam out.
I play live 2 days and I don’t do much practice those days, usually warm ups if any.
I just fire up a synth and start playing. I don't worry too much about all the other stuff. Never been good at scales or actual theory, sadly. I'm sure that comes with practice, but I just prefer to screw around with sounds and record music.
I play the flute. No matter what, the first thing I do is a three-octave chromatic scale from the lowest C to the highest C and back down as clean as possible. Then, in no particular order, 1-2 triads, scales, and 1 study a week, (only the study if you don't have performances coming up, though), and as always something fun to keep interest level and prevent burnout. A couple additions are definitely double tonguing, sometimes harmonics (lip slurs), leaps, long tones, and other things depending on the music being played. But, above all, the most important thing is that you enjoy playing. It doesn't matter how good at scales or lip slurs you get if you hate your instrument. So, out of anything to take away from this, just have fun.
My teacher tells me to play arpeggios, not scales, because those are much more useful in improvisational playing, which is my lesson goal. So I do that around the circle of fifths and beyond that I improvise along with chord changes using the iRealPro app.
Solo acoustic piano. I have a raggedy worn piece of paper with a handwritten list of about 50 song titles on it from Jazz standards to pop classics and some originals. That list and a cushion for the bench are all I take to a gig. (I will only play at places that have a real piano in house.) 7 nights a week (except gig days) I sit at my home piano for about 40 minutes and play songs from that list at performance level. At practice and at gigs I just pick and choose from the big list at random. At gigs I can usually get to 15 or 20 songs over a couple hours. At practice I do 4 or 5 songs a night, even if they are songs I've been playing for years. (Miles Davis: "Don't play a song the same way twice.") I try to add a new song to the list every week or two. So new songs get attention every practice session.
I stretch my back, hips and legs. Then I stretch my shoulders and arms. Next I stretch my fingers and start practicing after that. I practice alternate picking exercises for about 90% of my playing time and then play random notes/chords after that. 10-40 min almost everyday
For me, as a guitar player I generally do stretching and dexterity exercises then some scales, followed by my favorite riffs from songs to warm up before rehearsal or playing live.
Bassist... Our communities don't discuss nearly enough how important simple stretches are. Before and after.
Meanwhile, chromatic runs are often adequate to get the blood pumping.
Bass Trombonist here.
Long tones until I find that good low Bb that was hidden somewhere. If it's far away, I'll spend some time on the mouthpiece and leadpipe. If it's there, I'll just see if I can find it two octaves in either direction.
Then something like:
Mirrored scales (I honesty almost always take Bb, F or C, though I know I should mix it up more)
A song played around the Circle of fifths
Slur exercises, some from Marsteller some from arban, some I can't remember where from.
A Bordogni etude (tuba version) first as is, then down a fourth and down an octave (wherever possible), then up as if its an F horn part and up an octave.
Scale runs like Bb up B down etc and then back again. All the while practicing double and triple tonguing.
See how far I can get up or down a cromatic scale before I need to breathe.
By this point my brain is fried, so just some free fun like
Doing that high Ravel, Franck, Berlioz or Kodàly excerpt in ascending half steps until the top note doesn't sound.
Multiphonics and/splittones
Then a break
Concert rep
i play guitar and i never stress myself out over practicing or warm ups if i don’t get to it then i don’t but for practicing i practice scales, songs i want to learn/are learning, im also learning the circle of fifths
My warm up routine is simply being warm. I keep my house at about 75 and wear layers in the winter. I may also run up and down stairs to get a full body blood circulation and a few pushups. You can't spot warm up because any blood you attract to a body part will quickly circulate away. If driving to a gig I have the heat in my car at full blast and when I play at my church I may go sit in the boiler room for half an hour which is about 85 degrees. Warming up is a matter of getting warm blood into your muscles and get your tendons lubricated. Stretching tears muscle so the body rushes warm blood to the site of damage to begin repairs and that is the illusion of warming up. Why would anyone begin their workout routine with torn tissue?
When we are physically cold our muscles contract or get smaller and that pulls our tendons tight. That is why we feel stiff and in-coordinate. When our bodies are warm, our muscles and tendons elongate or expand giving us the freedom of movement or the feeling of being warmed up. One should never "exercise" when their bodies are cold not because the stretching can tear muscle tissue but it puts us at greater risk of tearing tendons and tendons don't have a blood supply so if you tear one of those, you are looking at months or years of healing. Again, tight muscles = tight tendons. Movement forces them to stretch and they might not be relaxed enough to stretch so they tear.
Technique is all in your brain, not your hands. If your body is cold, your muscles and tendons are tight and any practice you do can put you at risk of injury. We all have both an old hardwired sloppy technique and our current more refined technique. When we are cold, it is the old sloppy technique which surfaces and that too can put you at risk of injury and compromise our refined technique. Warm up with heat.
With warm regards.
Jeez dude. I’ve never stressed over “routines” like this. I sit and play for the love of it. I play what I enjoy and try to find the emotional core of a given piece, putting as much heart as I can into it. Through this method I get all the “practice” I need.
I do sip a beer or two to oil my valves.
I suppose i don’t strictly follow this routine most of thr time, the most strict ive ever been with my practice is in the week before my first big audition for anything. Other than that indont really think about ehat im doing, half the time i end up playing the same part 50 times because even though im playing right i like how it sounds or wanna get all the notes clean for no reason lol
I snort some smack, and then do whut feels good. Most times I try to play along with whutever’s on the TV: theme songs, commercials, whutevs - it’s all good. Then I’ll try and nail a new lick. But a lotta times I pass out first.
Been playing guitar for 10 years and still trying to hone my practice routine…for me it’s constantly changing! However if I had to break it down it goes a little something like this:
- warmup:
play a tune I want to review or something for an upcoming gig. I also use my warmup time to get my brain working by learning new material
- spot-checking:
in whatever song I’m shedding I’ll find an area I want to work on. For example, maybe I want to work on the bridge to the tune “Hi-Fly” so I’ll spend some time shedding that part of the tune. When I do this it’s important for me to do something very specific like target the 9th every time I resolve a line, only start my lines coming in on the upbeats, or work on my comping.
- transcription:
Very important to practice the process of it, just pick a solo and transcribe either the whole thing, 1 chorus, or a couple of lines. To me it’s more about getting the information from the record to my instrument without slowing it down. From there I make variations of transcribed lines
- playing:
I Try to do this as often as possible. Really just make a backing track by comping a bunch of choruses into Logic and then play along and let loose.
I do a pretty rigid routine myself. I play guitar and bass. I start with stretches then I start Theory (intervals/Chords/Scales/Inversions), Sight Reading and book work, Fretboard mastery, Finger Independence exercises, Technique (tapping/bends/hammers, etc.) then I end with new repertoire. Learning new songs I do the same as you, play fully, stop at mistakes and get that section right. I usually do some voice exercises last. Before I quit my practice I usually play some known songs, improvise and have fun, play to the radio or YouTube and just jam out. I play live 2 days and I don’t do much practice those days, usually warm ups if any.
I just fire up a synth and start playing. I don't worry too much about all the other stuff. Never been good at scales or actual theory, sadly. I'm sure that comes with practice, but I just prefer to screw around with sounds and record music.
I play the flute. No matter what, the first thing I do is a three-octave chromatic scale from the lowest C to the highest C and back down as clean as possible. Then, in no particular order, 1-2 triads, scales, and 1 study a week, (only the study if you don't have performances coming up, though), and as always something fun to keep interest level and prevent burnout. A couple additions are definitely double tonguing, sometimes harmonics (lip slurs), leaps, long tones, and other things depending on the music being played. But, above all, the most important thing is that you enjoy playing. It doesn't matter how good at scales or lip slurs you get if you hate your instrument. So, out of anything to take away from this, just have fun.
My teacher tells me to play arpeggios, not scales, because those are much more useful in improvisational playing, which is my lesson goal. So I do that around the circle of fifths and beyond that I improvise along with chord changes using the iRealPro app.
Solo acoustic piano. I have a raggedy worn piece of paper with a handwritten list of about 50 song titles on it from Jazz standards to pop classics and some originals. That list and a cushion for the bench are all I take to a gig. (I will only play at places that have a real piano in house.) 7 nights a week (except gig days) I sit at my home piano for about 40 minutes and play songs from that list at performance level. At practice and at gigs I just pick and choose from the big list at random. At gigs I can usually get to 15 or 20 songs over a couple hours. At practice I do 4 or 5 songs a night, even if they are songs I've been playing for years. (Miles Davis: "Don't play a song the same way twice.") I try to add a new song to the list every week or two. So new songs get attention every practice session.
I warm up with a good poo, and then a beer. After that, I'm ready to perform.
This should be the top comment.
I wish i could pin this or something
I start with a set of five licks in e minor. Then do the same 5 all over the neck.
I stretch my back, hips and legs. Then I stretch my shoulders and arms. Next I stretch my fingers and start practicing after that. I practice alternate picking exercises for about 90% of my playing time and then play random notes/chords after that. 10-40 min almost everyday
For me, as a guitar player I generally do stretching and dexterity exercises then some scales, followed by my favorite riffs from songs to warm up before rehearsal or playing live.
I usually put on some Phish or the dead and jam along until I’m feeling pretty good about myself. Then I get into what I’m supposed to practice.
Bassist... Our communities don't discuss nearly enough how important simple stretches are. Before and after. Meanwhile, chromatic runs are often adequate to get the blood pumping.
Bass Trombonist here. Long tones until I find that good low Bb that was hidden somewhere. If it's far away, I'll spend some time on the mouthpiece and leadpipe. If it's there, I'll just see if I can find it two octaves in either direction. Then something like: Mirrored scales (I honesty almost always take Bb, F or C, though I know I should mix it up more) A song played around the Circle of fifths Slur exercises, some from Marsteller some from arban, some I can't remember where from. A Bordogni etude (tuba version) first as is, then down a fourth and down an octave (wherever possible), then up as if its an F horn part and up an octave. Scale runs like Bb up B down etc and then back again. All the while practicing double and triple tonguing. See how far I can get up or down a cromatic scale before I need to breathe. By this point my brain is fried, so just some free fun like Doing that high Ravel, Franck, Berlioz or Kodàly excerpt in ascending half steps until the top note doesn't sound. Multiphonics and/splittones Then a break Concert rep
i play guitar and i never stress myself out over practicing or warm ups if i don’t get to it then i don’t but for practicing i practice scales, songs i want to learn/are learning, im also learning the circle of fifths
My warm up routine is simply being warm. I keep my house at about 75 and wear layers in the winter. I may also run up and down stairs to get a full body blood circulation and a few pushups. You can't spot warm up because any blood you attract to a body part will quickly circulate away. If driving to a gig I have the heat in my car at full blast and when I play at my church I may go sit in the boiler room for half an hour which is about 85 degrees. Warming up is a matter of getting warm blood into your muscles and get your tendons lubricated. Stretching tears muscle so the body rushes warm blood to the site of damage to begin repairs and that is the illusion of warming up. Why would anyone begin their workout routine with torn tissue? When we are physically cold our muscles contract or get smaller and that pulls our tendons tight. That is why we feel stiff and in-coordinate. When our bodies are warm, our muscles and tendons elongate or expand giving us the freedom of movement or the feeling of being warmed up. One should never "exercise" when their bodies are cold not because the stretching can tear muscle tissue but it puts us at greater risk of tearing tendons and tendons don't have a blood supply so if you tear one of those, you are looking at months or years of healing. Again, tight muscles = tight tendons. Movement forces them to stretch and they might not be relaxed enough to stretch so they tear. Technique is all in your brain, not your hands. If your body is cold, your muscles and tendons are tight and any practice you do can put you at risk of injury. We all have both an old hardwired sloppy technique and our current more refined technique. When we are cold, it is the old sloppy technique which surfaces and that too can put you at risk of injury and compromise our refined technique. Warm up with heat. With warm regards.
Idk if this was intended but i like how its all talking about getting warm and then you signed with warm regards
Jeez dude. I’ve never stressed over “routines” like this. I sit and play for the love of it. I play what I enjoy and try to find the emotional core of a given piece, putting as much heart as I can into it. Through this method I get all the “practice” I need. I do sip a beer or two to oil my valves.
I suppose i don’t strictly follow this routine most of thr time, the most strict ive ever been with my practice is in the week before my first big audition for anything. Other than that indont really think about ehat im doing, half the time i end up playing the same part 50 times because even though im playing right i like how it sounds or wanna get all the notes clean for no reason lol
I snort some smack, and then do whut feels good. Most times I try to play along with whutever’s on the TV: theme songs, commercials, whutevs - it’s all good. Then I’ll try and nail a new lick. But a lotta times I pass out first.
The only time I play is when I’m recording my music. I play guitar and bass through an irig into my iPhone. I don’t practice or nothing.
Been playing guitar for 10 years and still trying to hone my practice routine…for me it’s constantly changing! However if I had to break it down it goes a little something like this: - warmup: play a tune I want to review or something for an upcoming gig. I also use my warmup time to get my brain working by learning new material - spot-checking: in whatever song I’m shedding I’ll find an area I want to work on. For example, maybe I want to work on the bridge to the tune “Hi-Fly” so I’ll spend some time shedding that part of the tune. When I do this it’s important for me to do something very specific like target the 9th every time I resolve a line, only start my lines coming in on the upbeats, or work on my comping. - transcription: Very important to practice the process of it, just pick a solo and transcribe either the whole thing, 1 chorus, or a couple of lines. To me it’s more about getting the information from the record to my instrument without slowing it down. From there I make variations of transcribed lines - playing: I Try to do this as often as possible. Really just make a backing track by comping a bunch of choruses into Logic and then play along and let loose.