1) List all the things I want to Practice
e.g. Lydian Dominant Scale in triads
Mike stern lick
Wes Montgomery chord intro
Write a short 8 bar composition to improvise on
2) Number each item.
1 - Lydian Dominant Scale in triads
2 - John Scofield Transcription
3 - Wes Montgomery chord shapes on a blues
4 - Write a short 8 bar composition to improvise on
3) Seperate them in to long and short term things.
e.g. Learning a Transcription could take several months at least - Long Term
Learning a new scale may take two weeks - Medium Term
Learning a new chord shape may take a few days - short term
1 - Lydian Dominant Scale in triads - Medium term
2 - John Scofield Transcription - Long Term
3 - Wes Montgomery chord shapes on a blues - Medium Term
4 - Write a short 8 bar composition to improvise on - Medium Term
4) Prioritise each category. e.g. I only have 30 minutes a day to practise so all of the above is a bit overwhelming so I will focus on 1 and 2.
1 - Lydian Dominant Scale in triads - Medium term
2 - John Scofield Transcription - Long Term
So now each day you have a clear goal and once you have worked through the Scales in Triads you could replace that with 3 or 4.
Number 2 (The long term transcription) is something you can keep going back to. You might not have time every day but I try to be honest with myself and see how often I practice that............................. It's a slow burner but over time you will absorb the long term goal stuff deep in to your playing style!
Keeping a diary you will find your own way and habits and it may take you less or more time to learn different things.
Another things I have found is sometimes I might think, arghhhh...which scale should I do or how should I apply it, which patterns of that scale, why is it not coming out in my playing, how long should I do this...? I found instead of getting hung up on things just saying...Ok...I am going to work on scales and applying them (don't forget to apply things e.g. which standard can I use the Lydian Dominant in?) for 15 minutes 5 x a week and leave it at that. The questions you had will disapper or be answered by just doing it.
Applying concepts and techniques in to your playing can be done in lots of ways. Here are a few:
Limitation:
example 1) If you are trying to learn to improvise with different rhythms, pick just one rhythm and try to play through a standard or a blues only using that one rhythm......It's easy to drift in to other things! Then after a few minutes or choruses on that rhythm try another one for another few mins.
example 2) If you tend to solo in one position then to make your ideas more interesting, try to solo only on two or three strings but all the way up and down the fretboard....and vice versa....if you tend to solo using the same shapes going up and down the fretboard see if you can improvise only within five frets going through different chords and not changing position.
Taking what you learn in to different Keys:
Transposing your ideas or licks or standards in to different keys helps to start to see harmony in numbers....for example take C to Am in the key of C. Try to do that in other keys ....G to Em, D to Bm, Gb to Ebm etc. Then you will eventually start to see them all as the same things and hear the chordal movement.
Writing a small composition to focus on the thing that you are trying to learn:
If you want to learn to play in 5 then writing your own song in 5 would be a great way to develop that skill.