Hey Friend,
I gave you seven exercises yesterday, explaining that they aren't meant for just one practice session. These are exercises that you could very easily spread out over seven weeks (or longer), focusing your attention on a different aspect of the exercise every day.
For example, here's a list of ways you could practice a different aspect of technique with just those simple exercises...
Fretting hand: - ensuring finger is on proper fret for the note to be played
- focus on how clear each note sounds and the pressure you're using to fret it
- say the note name each time you play it
- hum the note as you play it
- sing the note name as you play it
- practice your vibrato for each fingered note (vibrato is a technique to increase the duration/sustain of the note)
Plucking hand: - play each note with a down-stroke
- play each note with an upstroke
- play each note with soft attack - attack is how hard or soft you pluck the string
- play each note with hard attack (aggressive)
- play the notes using alternate picking
- try changing the pick angle as you play the notes. Practice the scale with the new pick angle
- plucking on the beat with exact timing
There's a dozen plus different ways you could use your practice time to really master the exercises. You could devote an entire practice session to each of these playing aspects.
I hope you're beginning to see that you can really take control of how quickly you become the guitar player you want to be. You do this by identifying all the little movements and touch points and isolating a block of practice time for each.
This might seem tedious, but tiny adjustments can make a huge difference in how well you play.
Another benefit to practicing in this way (isolating each area and practicing just that aspect) is the exercises build upon each other. The exercises have an exponential effect on your overall skills.
Work on picking one day, and the next day your picking will be a bit more consistent and smooth. Hum the notes as you play them and the next day you'll know if you make a mistake while playing.
All the practice tends to build on itself, and you'll find that when you go to learn something new, your fingers will pick it up much faster.
It may take a little while to learn how to focus your attention on just one aspect at time. You'll want to look at your left hand to make sure you're playing the correct frets and then looking at you right hand to make sure you're playing the correct string. But resist the scattered attention
When you're practicing, force yourself to only look at the one aspect you decided to practice. Do it for 5 minutes a day - you'll start seeing improvements in your technique very quickly.
Peace~
Dave | 
