A family holiday last week meant a week without practice, and you know what that means:
A week without practice makes one weak...
So, today, back in the practice room for a mix of full acoustic practice and some "padded up" practice.
As a busy man with a business to run I no longer enjoy the luxury of many hours per day, so I divide my routine into separate sections: I start with a practice pad and warm my hands up while doing something with my feet (perhaps a samba pattern for example), this way I am physically warmed up quite quickly. Then I play some timekeeping patterns with a metronome, perhaps playing "games" with the metronome by hearing the beep as the "&" count etc. After that I often reach for 'something to read' - maybe exercises from a book, or a chart. Finally I play along to some music, maybe a track I need to learn for a gig, or something else I dig. This routine can be squeezed into 20 mins or stretched out to 2 hours if I have time (today was about 35 mins). Sometimes I just improvise for a while, but this is more "play" than "work" if you know what I mean.
Anyway, back to the business...
Hugh.