GREAT Guitar Practice Routine (Do This Every Day)

[@MrPolevaulter]

The first 1,000 people to use the link or my code elmokarjalainen will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/elmokarjalainen04221 Check out more of my lessons: www.youtube.com/@ElmoKarjalainensGuitarLe-rd5tb

[@alanhollis9610]

Okay I really like this guy. He's not perfect but working at making himself better and at the same time showing others how he's doing it, so they can improve as well

[@MrPolevaulter]

Cheers!

[@billyj5080]

Always a pleasure watching your vids.. I’m pushing 63 years.. two bands forty years.. I’m digging this practice routine… never to old to practice.. thanks man..

[@MrPolevaulter]

Glad you like it :)

[@dracul74]

Good stuff. 20 years ago I spent hours a day playing solo’s at half speed and slowly speeding them up as I improved. While I am not as polished a guitarist as I was back then... I still retain quite a bit of it. I am glad I did it. A bonus was listening to songs I loved and to be able to play along comfortably. I took drum lessons a few years back for fun. That teacher told us to spend the last 15 minutes of practice jamming with random music (not songs we know). He said it is what makes us play in the first place. Never realized it, but I think he is right.

[@MrBileTooth]

The manualist bit was gold.

[@santrixhimself3679]

ok so i have been doing your exercises for 2 days now and i can see how that will improve in the long run. thanks. ill mix that up with my appregio practice routine and will report back in 363 days

[@MrPolevaulter]

Glad to hear 👍

[@bradenharwood]

How Can Less Be More? What an awesome track! I love the inventive nature of your soloing in that song. Most of all, the groove is killer!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thank you!

[@brasda127]

This is one of the best practice videos I have ever seen! Solid points made, a great routine to start with, and some great humor. Thank you so much! I'm starting this today!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Glad you enjoyed it! Let me know how it goes.

[@johnwardle9667]

Lots of good advice. I'm so into the picking and fretting exercises, which I've conditioned myself to enjoy, I actually get concerned that I'm not applying to any real music. It's the opposite problem to not doing my exercises. You're right about the crux of the song. The one tricky bit you trip over every time. But it's tempting to just play the whole song again. So I drill the hard and awkward bits. It works! I now need to keep changing the exercises for new ones because they do get stale, but now I've got quite a collection and I can jump between them. The most important thing I think that happened, was just learning to start enjoying the playing and fretting of notes for what it is. I love it. It's like meditation. Keep playing and always enjoy it!

[@juno7893]

Thank you dor sharing the TABs

[@CalitranoN]

Elmo! love your vid's! every time, you say common sense stuff! Greetings from Buffalo, NY,. USA. great playing man!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thanks!

[@stephanewelti8816]

Thanks for the Tab! It 's a good idea!

[@leonardopereira2952]

i love the idea of practicing scales on one string at the beginning, i also solo over backing tracks with one or two strings at first, sometimes the entire fretboard is too daunting if you just started practicing with a new scale or mode.

[@geoffpeck1043]

Thank you Elmo . That was the best, most helpful , logical and motivational practice lesson I have yet seen . Nice one.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Glad it was helpful!

[@manicguitar2455]

Great advice no guitarist wants to face! J/K! Seriously - motivating stuff Elmo - great job Thanks for the ideas.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Glad you like it 😊

[@ar15gator]

Inspiring, practice practice practice 💯 Love the reality and honesty, along with your funnies, in how you tell it. Just keep doing and trying, everything takes effort and consistency to improve and grow.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Spot on.

[@danielhartman5086]

You are a great motivator. And a funny guy as well. Thank you Elmo.

[@MrPolevaulter]

I appreciate that!

[@dinofond]

Thank you for the practice chart Elmo! It's just what I needed right now.

[@MrPolevaulter]

👍

[@collinstanton]

Very cool, Queen is surely smiling🤗🤗🌹🌹

[@zacharymacfarland2761]

I printed this out when you posted it and have been using as my warm up. It’s been helping a lot already!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Great to hear. What kind of results have you had?

[@zacharymacfarland2761]

@@MrPolevaulter faster /cleaner transition between notes. It’s making me more familiar with the fretboard. I’m pretty new to guitar, so I still struggle with that.

[@robertclarkguitar]

This is a great great idea!!!!!!! Thank you !!!! Also been eying that SX you just reviewed. Wow.

[@MrPolevaulter]

If you try it, let me know how it goes.

[@robertclarkguitar]

@@MrPolevaulter For sure!!!!! Thanks Elmo!!!!

[@joemusicman64]

Really enjoyed doing Ex6 up and down the neck. It sounds more musical, and makes it more FUN to practice. Really enjoyed this entire video and sub'd. See you around.

[@stormtrooper9434]

Oh yeah!..my guitar teacher when I was in my twenties,insisted a lot in these exercises...he called them "mechanisms",and he emphasized the fact that they were "gymnastics",but not music in themselves, but they were useful to boost the performance and endurance of your playing.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Spot on.

[@verruckterwissenschaftler]

I just found this again on the algebrarhythm. I have been doing this for a year. I missed the metrodome, so I just got one and will start using that as well. Every time I make a mistake I drink a shot of vodka. I am getting pretty pissed as, I am not drinking at all lately. I made goofs all the time when I first started this exercise and would get pretty wasted. No doubt it is addictive and I do it for half an hour and it seems like 5 miutes. I like these exercises Mr. Elmo, share some more of your tricks on you play like Malmsteen please. Take care and all love to you and your family.🎸🧨

[@cylonhibrid]

I have seen this before, such a good video Right on the button.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Glad you enjoyed it! :)

[@daniellarson3068]

Well - You are not the only one who has given similar advice to perform exercises against a metronome. Others have said to play pentatonic and hexatonic scales in this way. I will not put my phone aside as it is the metronome. I've only picked the guitar up two or three times in the past week. This encouragement is great. Your download is good beyond the practice. It could be used as a key to sight reading. It has the tabs and the related notes. Good advice - Now I only need to follow it. With some good intentions, I will follow the path. Thanks.

[@MrPolevaulter]

And thank you :)

[@MARK-r6c3k]

Thanks for the Good Advice. 🙂👍

[@MrPolevaulter]

No problem :)

[@Isykul]

While not the first to say this Elmo, you offer some great advice. Few guitarists (I know) enjoy practicing to a metronome yet ti is the single most effective means to measure progress. These exercises are often considered to be boring yet they develop the left and right hand coordination and freedom of movement in the fretting hand. And when it becomes too difficult, it's easy to fall back into noodling or playing your favourite riffs rather than isolating and working on the problem area.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Spot on, although I would encourage people to record themselves on a regular basis too. That's also a great way to measure progress.

[@davidwhiteeagle2829]

You are give very good instruction are very encouraging and funny

[@RickMichaelis63]

Thanks for the 😎 video Elmo! Take care, Cherrs!!!😎🎸🎶✌🏻

[@MrPolevaulter]

You too!

[@TheTubeDude]

Great Oden! He is human; or is he pretending to be? Joking aside: Elmo you are such a nice caring person. This is an inspiration to an old man like me. THANK YOU. The humor at 09:00 is very funny.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thank you :)

[@Johnny-oy9fh]

I've been practicing like this every day for my entire life. it's the only way to get better. add in hammer-ons and pull off's and picking up and down and alternate picking...and different scales. I also find playing to backing tracks helps too....

[@MrPolevaulter]

Playing to tracks is brilliant.

[@Johnny-oy9fh]

@@MrPolevaulter sure is...I use different keys too...

[@Johnny-oy9fh]

Practice...every single day....and when not practicing think about it and visualise the fretboard....

[@pmcalvao]

Another great vid, thanks a lot Elmo. Cheers!

[@MrPolevaulter]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@caryboudas4771]

I always wondered about your picking hand.... Then you said economy picking. I need to look into that. Very cool This Guy ha

[@ernieb3626]

OK Elmo it’s a deal. As soon as I get home I’m going to set the timer and play the video again to get some of these drills down. And sometimes all I need to do is get started and then I play for an hour or two I just need to get started. I’ll let you know how the progress goes

[@MrPolevaulter]

I look forward to hearing from you.

[@aharkness5657]

Doing any major scale just ends me up with Bubble Bobble theme playing in my head for the rest of the time.

[@yngwerhappen]

I did practiced like this. Isolating problems are important.

[@MrPolevaulter]

👍

[@hmsdefiant]

You are a lovely lovely man, man ✌️

[@MrPolevaulter]

Cheers!

[@espertempo]

You start playing random notes as fingers exercise and end up a jazz player. 😂

[@mattdoliver1984]

😂😂😂

[@moarteacucoasa4193]

My thoughts exactly.. 😄

[@MrPolevaulter]

😂

[@pablo963]

Detune very slightly every other string for pro level

[@jackjerfstroem1072]

anyone know the brand of the guitar he´s using in this clip?? it´s really really nice!!!!

[@dwaynelasater2350]

Hi Elmo, great video. What is the purpose of having your guitar carved out between the frets?

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

You're a great teacher man..Your students are very lucky my friend . Man, I'm going to have to do that exercise again. I used to do it as well. I got to the point I only played to backing tracks. Great motivation man. Thank you. I need to up my game and you just motivated me sir. Really good video sir. Hope all is well in freezing cold north Viking land. 😂🤘♥️. Good here. It's spring and warm today. ❤️🤘

[@MrPolevaulter]

Thanks! Yeah, spring is in the air :)

[@sylvain1111]

11:25 I was not ready :)

[@valerycharles6007]

Hey , a particular thank you for this video ! I begin today, will send feedback in 1 month

[@MrPolevaulter]

I look forward to hearing from you.

[@valerycharles6007]

@@MrPolevaulter (first react : Damned it’s not easy :):) But I began guitar 17 month ago, strumming during one year, and pentatonic since once month : note to note is very hard to me. So this exercice have a perfect timing for me:)

[@michealgillman7418]

Great advice, being a great guitar player ain't easy! As a great sing by Jethro Tull said "nothing is east" check that one out by the way, its brilliant! Mick UK

[@michealgillman7418]

Song...nothing is easy! Bloody predicted text 🙄

[@MrPolevaulter]

I will, thanks!

[@markmason180]

Hi Elmo love the content ! What are your thoughts on the Spark Go? I recently got a guitar again after 20 years and would like a new practice amp Thanks Mark

[@catzndolz61]

Professor, I'm new at guitar. I have a family member who is a self taught guitar player. She does not know how to read music OR play any pentatonic scales. What I'd like to ask, as a beginner is WHY should we learn scales and how should I start? Thank you for your consideration. Lisa.

[@muhammadsteinberg]

Teaches finger dexterity. Builds finger strength. Subconsciously trains you where the sounds are. Most songs are structured and if you play scales in a key it'll be easier if you already know where the notes are. Helps you with ideas on building solos. The more you pick the guitar up to play sonething even scales as a beginner the less heavy and mysterious it will feel.

[@BensMusicDojo]

Scales for the sake of scales is not worth it. Learn Solfege and vocalize the major scale and any other scales that you play. Practice licks, and learn the Solfege syllables for the notes in the licks, vocalize the Solfege syllables while you play them again. Most importantly, learn the arpeggios of the major scale, and vocalize them with Solfege once again. Play runs using eighth notes and triplets. Ascend and descend. Start with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. There is a great deal of skill required to play a simple song beautifully, and helps with vocalization. Use a metronome or drum machine for speed and rhythm training. For musicality, Solfege everything you know.

[@MrPolevaulter]

Scales help me in that they give me a kind of framework. I use them constantly when I improvise, and I do that a lot. Practicing scales has also probably helped my technique. At the same time scales for the sake of scales isn't a good idea. Learn licks and songs as well.

[@jimmyjames2022]

I first learned chords, but to know how chords work in a song, from melody to harmony, we need scales based on the chords, and also the different positions on the fretboard the chords and scales work. If you sing a song on some chords and there are times the chords obviously sound wrong and jarring that's because the relative scales aren't being used for singing over their chords. For most of us Elmo viewers though scales help us play a lead part over chords without it sounding jarring. If you have a good ear you can go along way just knowing how chords and singing works by what sounds bad or sounds good, but eventually we need to learn the scales as we advance.

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

Sorry to post again. Do you have a theory course on your patron? Thanks man. I know just enough theory to not know what I'm doing. I play lead by using notes in the chords, but I don't know what scales I'm using. I just know it sounds ok. I've been satisfied with that, but I'd like to be able to say oh, I can use this scale with that rythm and those chords, etc. Thanks sir. You've motivated me today my friend. ❤️🤘

[@MrPolevaulter]

There: www.elmojk.com/theory You get access via my Patreon: www.patreon.com/elmojk

[@דורון-צ2ג]

Not related to the topic- why you never do multi effects video? The not very expensive ones. What brings me to the next question: modeling amp or tube amp+multi effect?

[@MrPolevaulter]

I did do one on a Boss GT-1. I sold the unit, and realized I'd lost part of the video files :D

[@marctestarossa]

What about isolating the problem that your pinky keeps flying off the fretboard way too far during those exercises

[@MrPolevaulter]

I'm well aware of that one, and actually talked about it in one of my recent videos. Personally I don't think that's one of my top problems :)

[@marctestarossa]

​@@MrPolevaulter With my playing I have the feeling that this is one of the hardest "bad technique habits" to get rid of.. I have to focus on that every single time I play literally anything and it's super annoying and I get to the "You know, whatever, just do what you like, pinky finger"-point super quickly due to sheer frustration. But I'm well aware that trying to change 25 years of muscle memory will take a very long time and that it's very natural that my fingers always want to fall back into the motion that they're used to.

[@davidmartinez927]

Fun fact is when you read the subtitles and notice that you're not Elmo Karjalainen, your'e Elmo Cardiologist 😂😂

[@MrPolevaulter]

🤣

[@MagisterTuomo]

🤔. Skill share.... hmhm.... scale share? Mmhmmm... Elmo scare. I see what you did there 😉. Alltid ett nöje med dina pedagogiskinriktade videor. Glad påsk, Elmo Tupakan mittainen tauko Karjalainen

[@MrPolevaulter]

Glad påsk :)

[@markel-100]

Thank You! Thank You! Very Muuuch!!! 👋😊 👋😄🙂🫠😉 😄🤗😊😇🤗🤗🤗

[@dannyjaco8997]

What kind of guitar is that?

[@MrPolevaulter]

Custom made

[@stranarn1]

Thank U for the pepping 😅 Simon 68 yo 🤪 but it's still fun and inspirational , but I may be wrong , are U playing on a Scalloping neck ? Just asking 🤣👍

[@MrPolevaulter]

Yeah :)

[@MaBaKar]

Thanks Emoji Careerline (how your name is mangled by close caption)!

[@MrPolevaulter]

🤣

[@scottnoricsson2023]

My 2 cents, ok, maybe more, maybe this will help someone... -don't practice too much, and more importantly don't get OVER-obsessed with how you fared today or yesterday (during time when you're not practicing) - this is what kills the mind -only practice what you're going to use in real life music (preferably yours)... ask yourself this, if you're playing blues or hard rock, when in the frigging Hell are your gonna use four note chromatic pattern? Never. So, why waste time on it? Finger coordination? There are sequences which can help you with that and also be usable in a musical context. I know everyone did this, including myself, and the rest of old-school guitar players (Vinnie Moore, MAB, Troy Stetina, Andy Timmons) but it's because they didn't know any better, some wise guy at GIT told them to do that stuff so they did it. -it is NOT NORMAL to spend more than 1 hour on sequence, unless that sequence is critical to the solo you're gonna record in three months' time e.g. -people who are into guitar seriously or are guitar players are mentally ill, there's no sugar coating that fact. OCD, PTSD, bipolar, you name it. Do not equate yourself (your mental image of Self) with your success or failure based on a bad day of practice or week or month. Yeah, it's kind of hard to push thru when nothing seems to "come out" of the fretboard no matter how hard you try and practice it. -I've practiced so much that at one point, I stopped and realized I haven't played real music for years. -Lastly, it doesn't really matter how much time you invest in your daily practice routine. If you're focused, you can finish your daily task in 30 minutes...or you can spend 3 hours dragging yourself, fiddling about. PS. If you're practicing something the wrong way and not realizing it, you're not helping your playing. You need to make sure that your left hand mechanic (legato) is sound, and that your right hand picking mechanic is anatomically correct - don't fight your body, work with it. In other words, if it hurts too much, or you're having cramps due to abnormal tension - you're doing it incorrectly.

[@pmcalvao]

Very nice complement to an already great video, and subject, thrown by Monsieur Karjalainen (this guy...). Congrats!

[@pmcalvao]

And thank you for the time it took you to write your comment. It was not in vain, I must say. 👌😉

[@650thunderbird]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@shanewalton8888]

I think buying a scalloped fretboard will make me play like Yngwie!

[@MrPolevaulter]

:D

[@artwhat..]

E.. I love metronomes..ha.. I wish they would stay the hell out of my garden..

[@danielcarlberg3096]

Kiittää 😀

[@kmichaelp4508]

Does it go down to 5? 🤭

[@kipponi]

There are technical exercises and musical exercices 😂. But we need both. In the end we have to play songs...

[@MrPolevaulter]

Spot on.

[@cinnamongirl8158]

LOL, 120bpm is my (still far) goal, not my starting point xD.

[@PaleCaretaker]

If I had to do that even for 5 minutes, I would quit playing guitar, because of boredom. I can't practice anything without playing song.

[@luisnunes3863]

Also, it's easier to find 8 blocks of 15 minutes than two whole hours straight! 🤔🤔😉😉

[@MrPolevaulter]

Spot on.

[@noephinway]

More playing, less “practicing” 👍

[@germanCrowbar]

18:60 best part of the lesson. 😋

[@stringlocker]

It's like patting your head and rubbing your stomach.

[@apelcinumoranssi3300]

Jos käytän siihen vain 15 minuuttia päivässä, en saa mitään hyötyä

[@MrPolevaulter]

Parempi 15 minuuttia päivässä kunnolla kuin 5 tuntia lauantaina.

[@kaikarlsson8673]

Poika alkoi soittaa kitaraa ja itselle tuli ajatus kokeilla. Olen jo 46 vuotias kannattaako lähteä yrittämään vai mennä lammelle syöttämään ankkoja 😂

[@apuapustajaauttavainen]

Skeba käteen vaan ja alat soittamaan! Elämä on liian lyhyt jahkailuun

[@Twitexter]

After 10 minutes he still didn’t explain what he was doing so I just stopped watching. Nothing to learn. 👎

[@MrPolevaulter]

At 1:50 I show exercise 1 that I do. Pay attention. If you don't, then you're right, there's nothing for you to learn. But that's hardly my fault.

[@Twitexter]

@@MrPolevaulter that’s exactly my point. You are NOT showing it, you are playing it too fast. I have no idea what you’re doing.