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... but I spent years playing scales, arpeggios and finger exercises.
I didn't do it because they were fun, I did it because they work and nothing else really does.
You will have to as well.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Some suggestions:
1) Try to play every note in each position (there's 17 notes....) never playing the same interval twice
2) Try to play the scale up and down but with every group of 3 or 4 notes, a different rhythm
3) Try to play the scale ascending but diminuendo, then descending crescendo (and do it in time too)
4) Play a different scale up and down (eg a different mode, or something). Randomly swap directions, but play a different mode each time. Try to not play the same mode every time in 7 or something
Or.....transcribing......pick a song completely at random from your music collection and try to play along with it
Chords.....just randomly put your fingers damn well anywhere on the fretboard, in weird/unusual/never-done-before shapes. It will sound horrible!!! So, do it again a few times, until it sounds nice. Then work out what the chord is.
Ionian: Vivaldi's 4 seasons Spring.
Dorian: Greensleeves (Vaughan Williams version)
Lydian: The simpsons (actually lydian dominant but that's ok)
Aeolian: Anything minor, really. Black magic woman? Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto, 1st movement. Or best of all, Rachmaninov's Vocalise.
Melodic minor: Bach's Eilt, from St John Passion.
Melodic minor 5th mode (Aeolian Dominant): Rachmaninov 2nd piano concerto 3rd movement - 'that' tune. It's really amazing.
Choose really juicy, interesting long tunes. Rachmaninov is great because he really gives his tunes the time they need to breathe and develop.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
As luck out have it I'm doing a 'learn 30 songs 30 days' thing at the moment, where I am learning a set of songs for a functions band I'm playing with soon.
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/85579/the-inaugural-learn-a-song-a-day-for-a-month-challenge
To be technically correct a transcription is where you take something from a recording and then notate it.
The term is also used as a short cut for 'learning songs'.
In the above thread I'm not really transcribing- I'm finding the fastest way to get the songs in my head so I can go out and gig them.
As to whether it is fun or not- it largely depends on whether your idea of 'fun' is something that is fixed or not.
There will be an element of 'work' to this- my advice is find a way to enjoy it.
Most of the time when people say stuff isn't fun it is because they are either trying to do stuff that is far outside their ability level and then trying to rush the process of learning it.
You can learn absolutely anything if you break it down to small enough chunks and then built it up piece by piece.
Give me an idea of a song you'd like to learn and I'll suggest how to approach it.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Have a look a this video- it is in the thread I linked earlier but you might not have seen it as there is a lot of stuff in there.
It shows you how I learn material- pay particular attention to how I isolate notes and how I sing intervals and then place them on the guitar.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
I practice a few things like this:
1) Play some chord melody stuff from a tab book.
2) Play some licks from a book written in standard notation and try to memorise them.
3) Try to work on some chord melody type arrangements of my own.
4) Learn a song (currently I'm working on learning the solo to Michael Schenker Group's Rock You To The Ground),
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Also Wisdom awarded to @octatonic for "I spent years playing scales, arpeggios and finger exercises" - as Larry Carlton says in one of his (very) old videos "Hard work will always get the job done".
Mix the grind with some reward - like learning a new riff/tune.
Feedback
I practice improvisation by playing very slow, think tai chi. One note per bar, two per bar and so on, solo one chorus and comp the next.
Other good things to practice are Bach's Violin Partitas and Sonatas, and the Cello Suites. There's very limited rhythmic variation and thus a great exercise.
My reading's not up to it though.
Feedback
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
https://www.oldswannerguitartuition.com/single-post/2017/04/24/What-is-Effective-Practice-On-Guitar