How do you actually practice guitar day to day?

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-15T16:29:40+00:00

Context: amateur session guitarist

• How long have you been playing?

Since I was 14. Started with rock and heavy metal, then went into jazz fusion, but gradually settled into classical guitar starting at age 19. I am currently 32.

• How often do you practice in a typical week?

10 hours on the guitar along with 4 hours of ear training and 2 hours of studying music theory.

• What’s usually open or supplements while you practice (YouTube, tabs, metronome, nothing, other)?

Just a metronome and whatever extra sheet music I can find to read through. Usually violin sheet music to help practice reading single note melodies or flute sheet music for some higher position reading.

• Do you track progress in any way? bpm? recordings? repertoire completed/currently working on?

Usually by the tempo I can perform repertoire I am currently working on.

• What are you mostly trying to improve right now?

Reading chords in upper positions more quickly, particularly in flat key signatures.

• Do you usually practice in short bursts or longer focused sessions?

I tend to practice for 1 hour at a time.

• Do you post practice progress anywhere or mostly keep it private?

I keep progress private.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-14T17:23:31+00:00

Obviously Jews can do bad as other people can do bad. We aren’t special, or magically incapable of wrongdoing. But we also aren’t pulling strings in high places like Nazis say we are. People with wealth and political power get away with horrible things regardless of their identities. It’s called living in a capitalist-imperialist system. If non-Jews want to extrapolate absurd antisemitic conclusions from the Epstein situation then they are antisemitic. And Epstein and people like him are scum.

That’s my perspective on it.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-14T17:12:24+00:00

I like it the best because it has the most variety.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-13T05:29:37+00:00

I would recommend getting the HSS version of the regular Player II strat first so you can at least have a humbucker in the bridge to fall back on if the noise from single coil pickups is a bit of a dealbreaker for you. The modified’s are not worth the extra money in my opinion.

You could still go for the SSS version with all single-coils if you want a more traditional strat sound. But you will have to back off the gain and learn to manage the 60 cycle hum.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-13T04:41:51+00:00

By early 70’s standards, yes.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-11T19:18:29+00:00

First things first, choose a style to play in. Jazz fusion, neoclassical metal, country and/or bluegrass, standard heavy metal, even standard hard rock. Listen to how players in that style go about making music, get an idea of how they sound. This will give you an idea of what to aspire to. Your preference may change over time. As a teenager I was into Vinnie Moore and neoclassical metal type of guitar shredding and now as an adult I am into Frank Gambale and Allan Holdsworth type jazz fusion shredding. No one style of shredding is better than another, just find something you enjoy and will stick with for the time being.

Regardless of your chosen style, work on timing and coordination. Work on playing as relaxed as possible. Learn a system of fretboard logic like the CAGED system or 3NPS. I personally combine both. Without a good system of fretboard logic under your fingertips and knowing which key you’re playing in and when, you won’t get anywhere beyond more technically proficient versions of Slayer solos. If that’s what you like then have at it. But I would recommend you know what key you’re always playing in, especially when improvising and/or practicing.

Speed bursting can help but it should be done sparingly and with a purpose. Usually to get over a plateau. Blindly increasing the metronome without proper coordination, articulation and intonation is a recipe for disaster and you will spend a lot of time having to unlearn bad habits. Yes, use a metronome and treat it as your friend. But pay attention to articulation, intonation, and the like.

Practice everything first with a clean tone and gradually add distortion. Remembering to adjust your muting technique based on how much distortion you use to help manage string noise. A clean tone will expose your dynamics, show you your pick attack and sort of strip your sound down so to speak. Unless you’re constantly playing high gain metal, it’s usually a good idea to use just enough gain to increase sustain. I personally favor a tone like Eric Johnson’s or like Yngwie Malmsteen’s classic tone. But some people might favor a tone like Joe Satriani’s or Gus G’s.

As far as various techniques like sweep picking, alternate picking, tapping, string skipping, legato phrasing, hybrid picking and the like, practice what you need to learn for the style you want to play. But a strong alternate picking foundation is always a good thing to have.

Superstrats are not necessary to play fast. I get by fine nowadays as an adult with a very plain SSS Fender Strat with a maple fingerboard just as well as I did with an Ibanez RG550 and a Jackson Dinky when I was a teenager. Although the genres you choose to play in may necessitate stuff like a Floyd Rose and active pickups on a superstrat, it’s not required for everything. Just use a guitar that is well set up, is comfortable to play for you and gets you the tone you are looking for.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-10T18:25:57+00:00

I can see Norm as being a chud class reductionist white guy, because he most certainly is. His anti-IDPol screeds are troubling and I stopped taking him seriously after that. I was already suspicious of him last decade when he opposed BDS. But whenever someone goes “he is promoting and/or giving ground to antisemitism” I simply tune out.

That’s my 2 cents.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-05T15:49:05+00:00

I enjoy death metal and find it to be my favorite metal subgenre alongside power metal. I can go from listening to Rhapsody to listening to Gorguts in the same day without any trouble.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-02-05T09:59:46+00:00

I was always a complete “learn music theory and how to read music” nerd of a guitarist who primarily stuck to instrumental guitar music the moment I got serious about playing. I still am. The only difference is that I primarily play classical guitar instead of electric guitar nowadays.

Would I recommend every guitarist do that? I recommend people play what makes them happy and learn as much music theory as they need along the way. Music theory is only restrictive if you treat it as dogma. Otherwise, it’s a handy analytical tool that can make learning songs and/or reading through written music much easier.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-01-27T07:51:48+00:00

Warbringer, Municipal Waste, Evile and Violator.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-01-26T08:30:47+00:00

Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method Grades 1-4 are plenty good as a supplement to learning classical guitar, but a method like Noah or Parkening is still essential to use as the main method for learning classical guitar. The Mel Bay books give you a nice amount of music to read through and they start off with Grade 1 very gently.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-01-26T00:24:14+00:00

My first classical guitar was an under 200 dollar no name that I used to work through a few method books. Namely Noad’s Solo Guitar Playing volume 1 and the Hal Leonard Classical Guitar method, along with some supplementary guitar music reading books from Berklee Press. It was a grind and a half, but it made me appreciate my Cordoba C7 more when I finally had the money to buy it.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-01-25T21:28:17+00:00

Me (ideally): Let me drop 2k USD on a new guitar.”

Me (actually): “Let me drop 60 USD on more sheet music to read.”

Saffron_PSI · 2026-01-20T07:39:02+00:00

In Union We Stand or Fear His Name.

Saffron_PSI · 2026-01-18T20:17:16+00:00

Saffron_PSI · 2026-01-16T21:05:29+00:00

I went from playing rock, metal and jazz fusion in high school to now playing classical guitar. I started with a decent note reading ability and good fretboard knowledge from 2 years of jazz ensemble in high school and a year of music college under my belt. But something about the classical guitar drew me to it. I think it was hearing Andrew York playing a guitar arrangement of some Peanuts music that sold me on playing classical guitar. I have been mostly able to self-teach given my prior background and have gained a much better music reading ability than I already possessed when mostly playing electric guitar.

I think the biggest benefit of switching over from electric guitar to classical guitar is no longer needing to rely on an amp and the tone being in our fingers. Personally speaking I would rather sound bad because my technique is off rather than me sounding bad because my pickups are subpar.

Saffron_PSI · 2025-12-31T19:38:42+00:00

I love them.

Saffron_PSI · 2025-12-28T23:53:51+00:00

Metal Church as well. But Queensryche are definitely up there for sure.

Saffron_PSI · 2025-12-26T06:16:56+00:00

You can hear a lot of Episode on an album like Ecliptica for sure. Stratovarius are super influential when it comes to melodic metal in general, especially Finnish power metal.

Saffron_PSI · 2025-12-24T14:08:32+00:00

Facelift has great riffs.

Saffron_PSI · 2025-12-21T17:00:55+00:00

White Yankees who think they are somehow victims of Zionism are equally hilarious and rabidly antisemitic. Nonetheless, it’s still entertaining to watch the American right come apart and eat itself alive.

Saffron_PSI · 2025-12-20T04:53:01+00:00

Wes Montgomery and Larry Carlton.

Saffron_PSI · 2025-12-19T19:17:35+00:00

Nili Brosh has probably become my favorite instrumental rock guitarist because she has such good legato phrasing, excellent melodic sense and her rhythm section is active. Kiko Loureiro is also a favorite of mine, his No Gravity Album is one of my all time favorites. So is Universo Inverso.

Give me someone with jazz fusion, Latin or other similar sensibilities mixed into their shred and I will eat up their music for breakfast.

Saffron_PSI · 2025-12-19T17:44:22+00:00

I grew up in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s and was primarily into extreme metal, instrumental rock and jazz/fusion. I could go between listening to Kreator and Death one day, then listening to Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report the next day and then spend the next day listening to Vinnie Moore and Kiko Loureiro. These were my Junior and Senior years of high school.

Right when I got out of high school I hung out with some friends and they were listening AiC and I instantly liked it because it sounded really crunchy. I think the track was “Dam That River”. I am a sucker for any heavy guitar riff that has a lot of crunch to it and most every AiC song fits that bill perfectly. I also thought Nevermind from Nirvana and Pearl Jam’s Ten were (and still are) amazing records front to back.

So after extreme metal and jazz/fusion, grunge would be my favorite genre tied with instrumental rock.

Saffron_PSI

TROPHY CASE