100+ Ideas to Practice

Okay, so you’re stuck for something to practice and are just wasting time… Fear not!

Click here to get a random number generated and then practice whatever number it says.

Alternatively, you can just read through the list and pick one but that’s not as fun.

This list will continually be updated with my own ideas and any ideas shared in the facebook group.

Also, feel free to share videos of anything you’re working on or create as a result of working on this list.

 

  1. Find/create 10 “new to you” Chord Voicings
  2. Learn a Jazz standard From Sheet Music
  3. Learn a Jazz Standard by EAR
  4. Practice arpeggios/triads through a chord progression
  5. Transcribe some licks from a guitarist/style you’ve never really listened too
  6. Practice ii-v-i’s
  7. Practice minor ii-v-i’s
  8. Practice the blues in a new key
  9. Practice Rhythm Changes in a new Key
  10. Chord tone solos on Giant Steps
  11. Write 10 String Skipping Licks
  12. Write 10 blues Licks
  13. Write 10 jazz Licks
  14. Practice the altered Scale
  15. Practice the Diminished scale
  16. Sing Major arpeggios and inversions
  17. Sing Minor Arpeggios and inversions
  18. Sing Dominant arpeggios and inversions
  19. Sing Diminished Arpeggios
  20. Practice sight singing
  21. Practice beat boxing
  22. Sing to a drone
  23. Practice singing what you play
  24. Practice soloing playing the opposite of your instincts
  25. Practice soloing with whole notes
  26. Practice soloing with continuous 8th notes
  27. Practice playing behind the beat
  28. Practice rushing the Beat
  29. Practice sidestepping
  30. Practice Strumming (Acoustic/Funk/Pop/Gypsy)
  31. Practice alternate picking
  32. Practice Tapping
  33. Practice playing along to records (Soloing)
  34. Practice Question and Answer phrasing
  35. Practice phrasing in groups of odd notes
  36. Practice soloing over changes in one position
  37. Practice playing over changes with as many position shifts as possible
  38. Practice hitting 3rds through a progression
  39. Practice hitting a specific chord tone through a whole progression
  40. Practice sight reading
  41. Practice rhythm reading
  42. Practice transcribing rhythms
  43. Practice sketch technique
  44. Practice musical memory. Play a recording then sing back the licks/lines.
  45. Practice soloing with double stops
  46. Practice soloing with chord voicing
  47. Practice long tones (Google saxophone long tones)
  48. Practice using effects pedals and EQ
  49. Practice playing with your eyes closed
  50. Practice playing on one string
  51. Practice playing on 2 strings. Or 3 etc
  52. Practice creating lines that move down the neck (Closer to the nut)
  53. Practice Leaving as much space as possible
  54. Practice your shuffle and Blues rhythm guitar
  55. Practice singing/talking whilst playing
  56. Do yoga, hip, or wrist stretches
  57. Practice Tuning your guitar mindfully – Use a tuner to tune one string and then the rest by ear from that string.
  58. Practice tuning your guitar whilst strumming a chord
  59. Practice tuning your guitar along to a recording (This is a useful skill for performers)
  60. Practice your vibrato
  61. Practice your bending
  62. Practice unison bends
  63. Practice bends with double stops
  64. Practice playing without a pick
  65. Practice playing/grooving/improvising to just a drum track
  66. Practice guessing tempos of recordings
  67. Practice identifying major/minor chords in real-time to recordings
  68. Play a tempo on the metronome, turn it off, improvise at that tempo for 30 seconds, check your final tempo against the original. Repeat for many tempos
  69. Practice singing bass lines along to recordings
  70. Practice singing/transcribing Stevie Wonder horn parts
  71. Practice singing scales/modes
  72. Practice copying drum parts on the guitar, using muted strums. Eg copy snare rhythm with muted strums.
  73. Transcribe/read James Jamerson or Motown baselines
  74. Listen to music you haven’t listened to before
  75. Transcribe a solo’s rhythm only and improvise using that rhythm
  76. Improvise with limited notes eg play a whole solo with just an E, G, and D
  77. Learn key signatures
  78. Practice spelling scales with letters. Pick a scale youre working on and move it through all keys.
  79. Practice spelling scales with numbers eg 12b34567
  80. Practice spelling chords every root, eg what notes make a min7b5 in every key
  81. Write licks with intentional awkward string changes, pick directions, fingerings and work on making them smooth.
  82. Take 5 minutes to be grateful for you progress, then take 5 minutes to list what you would like to achieve short term… be specific and realistic. (Look up SMART goals)
  83. Think of something you’re bad at, break it down as much as possible and work on it.
  84. Work on something you’re avoiding.
  85. Record yourself playing, listen back, critique it and work on how to improve it.
  86. Spend time on a second instrument/skill eg bass, keyboards, vocal harmonies
  87. Practice playing with all hammer ons from no where, (No right hand picking)
  88. Practice improvising over a drone. To internalise modal/harmonic sounds
  89. Practice playing along to a backing track that cuts in and out. You can chop it up in logic or find one here … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2b0CUANXlI
  90. Practice playing a one note solo – creating rhythmic, dynamic and timbral interest.
  91. Practice odd sub divisions
  92. Practice tapping polyrhythms on your lap
  93. Learn to sing a jazz/bebop head.
  94. Write a chord melody arrangement of ANY song… it can be anything from a standard to “smells like teen spirit”, your creativity will determine its value, not the source material.
  95. Transcribe some Charlie Parker by ear
  96. Recreate a tone. EG try to recreate David gilmours tone on Comfortably numb, or an Eric Johnson lead sound.
  97. Write an instrumental song.
  98. Write a pop song.
  99. Read a score and follow along whilst listening to a recording of the piece. This can be a classical piece or just following the form on a jazz tune.
  100. Listen to a recording and identify every time you hear the tonic chord
  101. Listen to a recording and identify every time you hear the dominant
  102. Practice the Paul Gilbert Strum to solo exercises – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4c0Bt9KmFQ
  103. Learn a simple riff or guitar solo that you’ve always looked down on or thought was easy and match the inflections and time feel perfectly.
  104. Spend 5 minutes creating your own list of creative ways to practice and share it in the group.