Practice Routine

okay - one of those questions there may not be a "right" answer to but it's driving me crazy so I'll put it out there. I feel a bit lost and am struggling with how to approach my guitar practice.

After a year+ of playing I could essentially stum basic versions of tons of songs. Also had some exposure to theory and could play most of the common scales. Took a new job last November and pretty much put the guitar down.

Really want to get back into it but not sure of my game plan/approach etc. Memorizing songs from tabs or even the song lessons here isnt really what I want. But realistically I don't think I can really commit what is necessary to master scales, playing by ear, learning to play lead etc.

If I were to play 30 minutes, 5 days a week any suggestions on a practice approach or regimen? Is it as simple as 15 minutes learning a song and 15 minutes on a more technical aspect of the guitar? Is that really enought time to "get better" with my technique? Other ideas?

Keep it up Bonafan, regular practice will make you a better player, but it takes time.

As a teacher of mine used to say, "practice doesn't make perfect - perfect practice makes perfect."

With that in mind, that's why we set this page up: http://www.guitartricks.com/artofpractice.php

Let me know if it helps!

For me, 30 minutes would be kinda short. But what's important is that everyone, consciously or not, prioritizes guitar and guitar practice against everything else during their day. Those that really want to practice, 'get better', etc., will find the time to match practice to their goals. Some find 30 minutes daily is enough... It's not for me; there are too many things I want to learn, too many songs I have to revisit, too many lessons I want to take. Besides, my 'natural talent' doesn't register on the scale...my guitar skills come slowly. :(

Efficient practice is very important. IMO, the shorter the practice time the more important that efficiency is. Make every minute of that 30 count. Already know, i.e., have on paper, what you're gonna practice and for how long. I do...it's like a mini-lesson plan...I guess I picked it up from living with a teacher for so long... ;) I count only the time my fingers are on strings...not set up, not dwelling on which lesson to bring up next, not tuning, not any of the time-sucking diversions common to guitar practice and guitar players.

Thirty minutes a day is a great start. Keep faithful to that and you'll improve. Practice more than that and you'll improve faster.

Good post John.. I'd also add a couple of things:

-make sure you give yourself time to just experiment & have fun every day. Putting what you practice into practical application is a sure fire way to make it stick (look into jam tracks, effect/rhythm machine combos etc).

-record yourself often and listen back to your recording. Its a great way to pickup on what you need to work on, but also to mark your improvement.

I think most of us were introduced to scales soon after we picked up the guitar. Shortly thereafter, we were warned to not let learning scales dominate our practice time...I certainly was.

This video from the great ( :) ) Justin Sandercoe of justinguitar.com adds some meat to the reasoning, "you shouldn't learns scales (if) you don't know what you're learning them for."

On the other hand as Justin points out, don't discount the gain in flexibility, picking, coordination, technique, etc., gained from running through the five positions. THAT was my motivation when I started practicing major and minor pentatonic and, happily, when I hit GT lessons that called upon those capabilities I could concentrate on the *music* rather than building my muscle memory, i.e., my skill level was more than ready for those lessons.

Efficient practice is certianly important, especially if you want to improve. However, be careful about how rigid you are about this. Sometimes it's OK to take a break from the "routine".

One day, you will find yourself going to your practice area and thinking to yourself "ugh, time to run through !". It will be work and you will completely uninspired. When this happens, rather than slogging through it for the sake of it, allow yourself a break and play whatever inspires you at that moment. Play something you've learned that you enjoy, even if it is rediculously easy. Playing along with a jam track you enjoy. Play along with a CD and just noodle around.

Basically, as long as you hold the guitar in your hands and play some music, it is not time wasted. This will help you improve too!!

For the past few months, I have not had the time to go through any lessons. I've been practicing some lessons I did go through, some songs I've learned, and jamming along with some songs. These practice "sessions" last from 5 mintues to 30 minutes - probably 10 minutes on average. My ear has improved, my speed has increased, and my improvisation has gotten less redundant.

Could I have made better progress with a "structured" routine? Certainly. But my situation didn't allow for it, so I made the best of what time I had.

So if you find yourself getting bogged down, rather than skipping practice because it's becoming "work", use the time to do something with your guitar, even if it is just aimless "noodling".

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An Effective Practice Routine
Here is a sample 30-minute routine to give you an example of what your practice time should include.
Warm-up (5 minutes) Hand stretching, finger stretching exercises
Physical Technique (10 minutes) Scales, arpeggios, jumping between chords, metronome
Music & Songs (10 minutes) Applying technique to an actual song
Create & Improvise (5 minutes) Exploring musically on your instrument, jam tracks, soloing

Remember, the goal of practicing is progress. Ten minutes of focused
practice is worth an hour of just messing around on your guitar.

Thanks for the insights everyone

I don't know if jpolito got that schedule from, how shall we say it, a competing guitar instruction source or not. But the main instructor at this other site
came up with this exact same 30 minute suggested schedule. (It's probably blasphemy for me to say it but I got it from Learn and Master Guitar.)

It could have possible saved my guitar learning career. I was absolutely getting burned out on practice and really sick of pounding away at the practice. The concept of only 10 minutes of actual pounding and most of the rest of the time at actual fun completely revitalized me.

And I have to say that with only 10 minutes of actual practice instead of 45 or 60 at a time I really believe that I am progressing faster. It's all about attitude.

I have taken that 30 minutes and modified it for 45. So I go 5-20-15-5.

It's fun again!

Originally Posted by: matonanjinThe concept of only 10 minutes of actual pounding and most of the rest of the time at actual fun completely revitalized me.

And I have to say that with only 10 minutes of actual practice instead of 45 or 60 at a time I really believe that I am progressing faster. It's all about attitude.

I have taken that 30 minutes and modified it for 45. So I go 5-20-15-5.

It's fun again!

The problem is that no matter how much you pound, you can only retain so much. Your brain needs time to post-process what you are learning which continuing to pound isn't going to help. It can also be non-productive since you could be digging yourself into a rut or even worse committing a bad habit to memory.

Sometimes, the best thing to do is "walk away", which doesn't to mean putting down the guitar, but doing something else with the guitar that is more pleasant.

I'll never forget when I was learning the pentatonic shapes and working on an exercise of ascending and desending the scale in thirds. I came home from my lesson and tried working on it. My fingers were tripping over eachother. The next day, it magically came to me and I could do it. Continuing to pound away in the situation would not have helped my situation at all - all it could have done was frustrated me more.

Everybody is different and learns differently (all things, not just guitar). For me, this was an important thing I learned about my learning style.

Basically, if what you are doing isn't working, try a different strategy. If pounding away works for you to plow through obsticals, that's great. If not, consider a different strategy like the suggested practice schedule.

Hello Everyone. The practice schedule I posted was from the Gibson Guitar Website by an instructor named Steve Krenz. I thought it made sense so I posted it here for the purposes of the original topic.

I like to practice for an hour each day. I am going through the Blues course here and take my time with each lesson before moving on. Then I try to learn a song no matter how long it takes in between my blues course lessons. I have already completed fundamentals 1 and 2 as well.

I am not in a band and I practice for the love of me playing the guitar, no other reason. So however long it takes, it takes. Enjoy the ride.

I figured that was where is was from. As I said, that schedule made playing guitar, more correctly learning guitar, fun for me again.