If you are not sure what to practice on your guitar, then you are in the right place. I will tell you how I go about planning my guitar practice routine and how you can incorporate that into your own. Any guitarist at any level can benefit from this.
For the ease of reading, I am breaking this broad discussion into a few parts.
Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Setting a Target
Part 3 – Tools & Resources
Let’s be honest, we don’t always have a routine to practice guitar.
Out of the blue, you are inspired by a video on Instagram or youtube, pick up your guitar and start shredding, only to realize that you haven’t practiced in a while and your fingers are rusty. The enthusiasm or motivation usually dies out if you are ready to commit to a routine but don’t have one. Happens to me too, you’re not alone. So, I came up with a simple routine to help me practice depending on how much time I have in a day.
Let’s get right to it. What should you practice on the guitar?
Set a target, and practice till you reach that target with perfection. I usually set my targets for a week. I don’t always achieve them on time but I try my best. For me, a target can be learning a solo or the entire song. If something is too complicated, I usually break them down into smaller parts which makes the process a bit longer but much easier.
Everyone has different goals and levels of experience. So, there is no one single practice routine that will meet your requirements. I made a four-block method to decide what I am going to practice depending on how much time I have.
You don’t have to practice for an hour or more every day. But you’ll probably not reach or achieve much progress if you only practice 5 minutes a day. The idea is to utilize your time effectively and be able to at least pick up the instrument once a day. You will have to adjust your time depending on your target and how soon you want to reach it. The more you practice, the sooner you reach your target.
Now that you have an idea of what to practice, here are a few tips you should always apply to your practice sessions.
Warming up your fingers every day is a great way to keep your joints healthy and protect them from injuries. Also, warmup exercises help you maintain your skill levels. You should always start playing the instrument with at least a couple minutes of warm-up.
When you are performing on stage, recording in the studio, or shooting a video for Instagram, you cannot consider that as practice. You need to practice, to be able to perform flawlessly and with confidence.
Metronome is your friend. Metronome in a way works like your workout weights. If you are pumping your biceps or chest at the gym, you increase your weight progressively. A metronome can work similarly for your guitar practice. As you work on a lesson or a piece, start playing around with your tempo and dominate them all.
It is very important to keep track of your progress. I often write down notes and also keep track of my speed when I am working on something specific. You can use a physical notebook or a digital tool, the choice is yours. I prefer mine online.
In the END, what you practice is completely dependent on what you set as your target. In the next article, I will talk about how to effectively set a target for your practice.
Please feel free to let me know in the comments what you are going to practice today or how you approach planning your practice routine. You can connect with me via the following links to get notified when I publish the next post.
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