[__tsidewinder__]

Hey, I was just wondering what you guys do to keep motivated and continue practicing the not-so-fun parts of guitar, or better, make those not-so-fun parts fun. I'm just starting technical studies, in order to improve articulation and develop a cleaner playing style, and its not exactly the most inspiring thing. As a side effect, I hope to develop some chops to be able to play some songs that have as of yet been "off-limits" because of my lack of technical ability.

I've also been trying to practice and apply the music theory I've learned, in order to make it more concrete, and to keep it in my head, cause I'd hate to have to learn all of it twice.

To develop technical ability, I'm practicing the good ol' major scale to a metronome, 15 mins at a time, as nonstop as possible in one position. The idea is to improve the muscles in both my right and left hand in order to gain more control, and therefore accuracy. I also hope it will help "internalize" that 4/4 beat, and since I am concentrating on hitting the first beat of every measure as an accent, improve my articulation as well. This isn't a fun exersize. It takes concentration, and its hard to get myself to just start the exersize, cause I know it won't be fun. So, I'm looking for ideas here on how to keep the 15 mins a day going.

Also, I'm doing 15 mins a day just working on good ol' music theory, the nemesis of many a guitar player. Its not so bad, its just that the prerequisites to truly understanding and apply theory are difficult to attain. These prerequisites are memorizing the fretboard, and memorizing the intervals on the fretboard, at least in my head I believe I must know these two things. After that is done, the rest will be much easier, and quicker, to learn and apply. I've heard many methods of doing this, and have already done one, but I'm looking for suggestions here as well. My current theory knowledge includes but is not limited to: Basic CAGED theory, the five positions of the major scale learned, all minor and major triads in all positions learned, Basic interval theory, and the circle of fifths understood. Thats the basics, I might know some more. That means I can improvise over any basic chord progression which consists of purely minor and major chords. So any suggestions for learning the notes on the fretboard, and learning the intervals?

My idea for learning music theory a bit more, and maybe improving my improf, is to take a favourite progression, say hotel California, and learn all of the chord triads on that progression, then improvise over it in all keys. Or just a few keys, no point shooting a dead horse and improvise in all, I figure. What do you think, Good idea, bad idea, okay idea?


Finally, any exersizes you know that could help in any of these areas? I'd appreciate it. And, what do you do to stay motivated, when practicing some of the more un-inspiring things on the guitar?