Having a balanced practice routine is essential if you want to become a versatile guitarist. If you just practice one or two things, sure you'll get great at those things...but you'll be weak in other key areas.

In this lesson you'll learn how to create a practice routine that is well-balanced and will help you work towards your ultimate vision of how you would like to play.

I generally categorise what I practice into one of seven areas: 1. Technique. 2. Repertoire (Covers). 3. Composition. 4. Improvisation. 5. Ear Training. 6. Theory. 7. Music Reading.

Everything that you practice will fit into one or more of above areas. For example,if you are learning a very challenging cover tune by transcribing it off CD you are essentially working on your technique, repertoire and ear training at same time. If you also write down song in standard notation, you will also be developing your music reading skills.

Now…do you have to practice things in all seven areas? I believe that you don't have to if your vision doesn't require it. For example, if someone wants to become an awesome classical guitarist and has no desire to improvise, then I believe that they don't need to practice things relating to improvisation. We all have limited time available for practice, so it's a waste of time working on things that don't specifically help you reach your goals.

Let's go through a few exercises…

Exercise One:

Think about vision that you have for your playing for a few minutes.How would you like to play in ten years time. Make it exact!

Once you've done that, brainstorm as many things that you need to practice in order to play like your vision. What specific things do you need to learn, develop and practice? Write them down now.

Exercise Two:

How much draw weight do I need for crossbow hunting?

You'd be surprised how many people aren't aware of fact that crossbows have varying draw weights to accommodate wide range of hunting available. In fact, gulf varies from 50 lb. draw pistol crossbow to 200-lb.-plus, full-size crossbows. That difference in resistance can mean a bolt ejected at 130 feet-per-second (fps), or one ejected at over 330 fps. But how does draw weight - and resulting speed of bolt - factor into hunting?

If you have your sights set on taking home a rabbit or two, you won't need much more draw than 150 lbs. That degree of resistance will typically give you a bolt speed of 220 to 250 fps. This is actually plenty of power to bring down a turkey, an antelope, and even a deer - provided you wait for right shot and hit a kill zone.

Believe it or not, rabbits are tricky beasts to nail with a crossbow because they're relatively small and are prone to either crouch, jump, or dart when they hear twang of crossbow. Because of their meager size and therefore naturally smaller kill zone (as compared to a deer or antelope), speed of bolt is actually more critical than it is for larger animals. You'll want fastest bolt speed possible to actually hit a coney, rather than grass where it used to be.

For larger animals with thicker hide and more fat density such as elk, caribou and small bears, you'll want a crossbow with a draw weight of 175 lbs. or more. Note that these larger animals aren't particularly quick about getting out of way of a bolt or arrow. What's needed here is raw power to penetrate into kill zone of animal - not speed - although you'll have plenty of it to work with. Some 175 lb. crossbows fire bolts at speeds up to 300 fps or higher.