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I recognize first and foremost that playing a musical instrument is a technical exercise.    You must condition muscles to work in a certain way.  Music is formed through application of a simple set of rules.   You must understand how those rules apply to your instrument.

Recognizing that,  I set out to work the technical aspect first, then the artistic.   Learn scales.  Once mastered, I can write melodies and harmonies with ease.   Learn chord progressions.  Once mastered, I can improvise songs on the spot.   Exercise my hands, and increase their strength and agility, and I can play faster, and cleaner melodies and chord progressions.

My mantra is simple.  All the artistic intent in the world is meaningless if you can not manipulate the fretboard in a predictable manner.

Not on the mySpace just yet.   I just introduced it to the band last week.  We'll work it tonight, and polish it next week.  Then we'll probably try to get recorded.

And if by "Dylan Sound" you mean "simple chord progressions and can't sing" then yes, I sound just like him. 

All three of those are about politics.   

Religion is merely another means of controlling people.  That's politics.

Terrirtory, or just plain old resources, is also politically driven.  i.e. I want to control your resources.

War is just politics by other means.

All war is fought over politics.  It is a means to impose your political will on another.  Nothing more, nothing less.

'78 Pontiac Firebird with  Lynyrd Skynyrd blowing out the windows.

Oh man.  Now I'm getting all teary eyed.....

People generally hate theory until they discover how powerful it is, and how they can apply it directly to their playing.    Then they can't get enough of it.

That there sounds like a great opportunity to work on some scales.   

It's a fact!

We over here in the States like to paint the story of how they came here to practice their religion because they were oppressed.  The reality is they were just really freaky people with really weird ideas about things.   Those puritan roots are still with us today, way down in the Bible belt.

There is a great line in the movie "Stripes" with Bill Murray, that sums it up succinctly.

"We're all very different people. We're not Watusi.  We're not Spartans.   We're Americans. With a capital "A", huh?   And you know what that means? Do you?

That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog.   We're mutts. "

No, it's not a religious holliday, it's a commemorative one.

When our puritan forefathers showed up on North American shores, they dang near starved to death.  Had the local Native Americans not shared the local cuisine with them, they likely would have.   Every year, we commemorate this through our Thanksgiving holiday.

It's my favorite holiday. 

Some more from the Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving

The key to playing the guitar is to be able to manipulate the fretboard in a predictable manner.  The only way to do that is practice.

Shawn Lane on practice as a youngster.

"I practised a whole lot when I was very young, between 10 and maybe even 18. I used to practise..just play guitar all the time. "

And look how that worked out for him. 

1/2 hour has been the standard recommended practice length for every instrument I've ever played, for as long as I can remember.  It gives you enough time to warm up properly, and then work on whatever your practice goal is.

But as James notes, what will make you a much better player is daily practice, of whatever length is working for you.   

Keep your guitar out of it's case, on a stand, next to where you park your butt at the end of the day.  It makes daily practice a whole lot easier.