As we continue with our series dealing with practice techniques that require no physical practice, we will cover a technique in this installment that I myself using to this day. This invaluable practice technique is called Fretboard Visualization.
Let’s say that most of us don’t have three hours a day to practice (I’m sure I would much rather be doing that than most anything else!). There are times when there’s just not enough time to devote to physical practice. In this series of articles I will discuss different ways of musical practice that don’t have to be done at home or in a studio.
One of the most overlooked aspects of practicing any instrument is what I would call “micro-practicing,” which is the practice of isolating a small passage of a musical piece or technique that may contain a challenging element. This single, challenging element is what we’ll focus on when we micro-practice. The entire solo, riff, lick or composition is not repeated over and over again, only the area that may contain whatever it is that we find challenging, and thus prevents us from performing at our optimum level.
It wasn’t until I went to secondary school in 1992 that I found out about Guns n’ Roses. Nearly everyone one in my school listened to it. They were huge. It is also the first time I heard Slash. I wouldn’t pick up the guitar for another two years but already his lead playing captivated me.
