What BPM And How Often Should I Practice slow?

A good rule of thumb I use for how often to do that is to make sure
that at least 20% of my practice time is dedicated to playing slow. It
does not matter what exactly it is that you are working on right now,
it could be:

– A new solo.

– A challenging song.

– A new spider exercise.

– A new chord shape and the transitions into it from other chords.

– A cool new riff you just learned.

– Whatever it is, just make sure that when you practice, even though
it's very tempting to practice at the original tempo and feel like
you're playing it on stage with The Eagles, you are shooting yourself
in the leg when you do that. Instead, if you practice the solo very
slow, at about 50-60 bpm, I guarantee you will cut off about 70% of
the time it will take you to master that solo! If it's a very tough part
that you can't nail with perfect technique and cleanliness on 50-60
bpm – do it even slower!

Another good rule of thumb for finding your best BPM to practice
with is: as slow as you need to feel 110% in control of each finger's
movement in complete accuracy. This is very different for any part
that you might choose to play – easy or challenging. You need to feel
that you are perfectly in your comfort zone.

learn guitar theory (2)

Working on guitar theory and scales while playing slow and with
patience will be rewarded tenfold. The music material will just sink
more deeply into your brain.

It's all about that little patience that pays itself off tenfold. It's all
about letting your finger's muscles develop the “Muscle Memory” it
takes to work in new levels of precision. What does Muscle Memory
mean? It means that if you played it very slow and your fingers now
“know” how to play that part with perfect technique – then it will be
much easier to maintain that technique as you dial up the speed.
* When I say 50-60 bpm, make sure that you play 4th notes. Don't
play 8th notes! 8th notes, also called double notes, means playing
two notes for every one beat of the metronome. Which means that
when you are doing that, you are actually playing at 100bpm instead
of 50bpm.

I recommend that you work with a metronome. A drum machine app

is even better and will give you more motivation because it's simply
more fun and feels like you have a drummer with you. Something
like Beats+ will do. However, you don't have to use the metronomes
100% of the time, I know it can drive people crazy… So when you're
not using it, just pay attention to play at about the tempo we were
talking about. Read here for more about the best guitar apps out
there.

tumblr_nlf7slJzPJ1u9gho6o1_54053
!!!

♣ Hippie Tippie: For practicing improvisation on songs, I recommend

using apps that lets you slow down the song. Slow it down to 50
BPM, enjoy the comfort zone, and take your time to think exactly
about the next phrase that you want to play! You will notice a huge
improvement of your lead guitar skills very quickly.

———

Begin Your Practice Sessions With Finger Exercises

It is important to warm-up as you begin your daily practice routine.
There are several techniques you
can employ as you prepare to practice. In this lesson I want to
briefly mention some fingering exercises
that you may find useful. These techniques will help you loosen your
fingers while increasing your
flexibility and dexterity over time.
Begin your guitar practice session by flexing your fingers rapidly for
a minute or two. Create a rhythmic
motion by balling your fingers into a fist followed by extending the
fingers fully in rapid succession. Add
a second part to this exercise by including a galloping motion with
the fingers of each hand while your
thumbs are extended. Combine both parts of the exercise in rapid
succession for approximately one
minute.
This should loosen your fingers and increase blood flow to the hand
without triggering the onset of
fatigue. As you become accustomed to this daily exercise, you may
want to consider adding a minute or
two to the warm up process. Be careful not to over-do it. It is
possible to increase your flexibility and
hand strength by adding time to this warm-up exercise, just be sure
to do so gradually.
Another good exercise to add to this regimen is to spread your
fingers as far apart as possible. Using
the fingers of one hand, spread the distance between the index and
middle fingers as far as possible.
Repeat this process between the middle and ring fingers, and the
ring finger and pinky. Spread the
fingers as far as possible and flex the separation action in and out.
Repeat this process for several
minutes. The goal is to increase the flexibility in your fingers and
stretch your reach.
The long-term results of these exercises will increase flexibility, co-
ordination and dexterity. The
immediate results will include increased blood flow to the hand and
fingers. It will also raise your level
of finger awareness. Try closing your eyes and concentrating on your
fingers during these exercises.
It is also beneficial to use grip strengthening devices. These devices
can be tennis balls or spring loaded
grip exercisers. The idea is to strengthen your grip in each hand. It
is possible to enhance the results
with any isometric device.
The goal is to develop solid stretching, strengthening and flex
techniques. As you add these and similar
exercises to your practice routine, your guitar playing will improve.
It is not as fun or glamorous as
burning up your favorite guitar riffs on-stage, but it does work.

———
———
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https://guitarsongsmasters.com/learn-lead-guitar-improvisation/

Core Exercises For Your Guitar Practice Schedule – These Are The
Most Important And Beneficial Subjects You Can Work On – I
Recommend Picking At Least 3 Daily Exercises To Start With.

1.Scales – Always start up with an exercise that involves going over

scales since this is a great warm up for the fingers and for the brain
too – as long as you consciously focus on WHAT notes you are
playing and not just blindly going over the “scale boxes”. This video
shows some great drills to begin with. You can do that to a backing
track, a song, or a recording on a loop pedal in order to make things
more interesting. BTW – loop pedals can help you immensely in your
guitar practice – read here more about them.
2.Finger Dexterity – Drills like “the spider“ will do wonders to your
ability to send your fingers all over the fretboard and hit exactly the
note that you were aiming for, and also with fingering complex
chords. Here you can find another good set of dexterity exercises
that are more challenging.
3.Chords – Chords are our bread and butter so this one's very
important and very effective as well. For these 5 minutes, I practice
changing chords and adding new chords to my arsenal. The chords
that I add here are usually more challenging chords like dim7's or
CAGED shapes but sometimes I need to work back on some pretty
basic ones as well. Here I demonstrate myself on the 2 techniques I
use to implement new chords to my arsenal. Remember to do these
exercises also very slow and not just very fast, so the chords will
really get imprinted in your fingers.
4.Picking Speed – Here I work for 5 minutes on each kind of picking
that I use, and practice building up speed and accuracy. I usually
practice fingerstyle for 5 minutes and picking with a pick for 5
minutes. On those 5 minutes what I do can vary a lot. With the
fingerstyle I have been working on perfecting “Don't Think Twice It's
Alright” in the last 2 months, slowly building up speed with the
metronome, (so I also work on my time keeping) and also doing
some short exercises as well. With the pic, I work on a song with a
metronome, and do other drills for picking up my speed such as this
one. Make sure to write down on a smartphone note the speed that
you are now comfortable with on the metronome / drum machine
app (Beats Plus is a good one) after finishing an exercise. If you
won't, it will be hard to keep track of where you are and you will
waste time without progressing.
5. Ear Training – figuring out a melody – Here I usually play a song
on the speakers and try to play along to the melody only.
Occasionally turn the song off and try it “a-capella” to hear myself
better. This works on interval recognition abilities which is very
helpful with improvising skills and being able to HEAR the note that
you are about to play and know what you want to play instead of just
“shooting all over the scale” when improvising.
6. Improvising Lead Guitar – Here I choose a song that I like or a
backing track and jam on to that song. “4 chords” songs are great to
begin with here since almost everything tend to sound good with
them as long as you are on the scale, preferably the pentatonic
scale. This is also an extremely fun part of my practice. Here you
can see some tips regarding lead guitar do's and dont's.
7. Repertoire Building – Here I focus one song from my repertoire
list and work on improving it, usually out of my DIY chord books and
usually with a metronome. (find out about the best metronome and
best guitar apps here) to work on time keeping as well. This is the
part I enjoy the most and also it is not effective if done for only 5
minutes like the rest of the drills so I save it for the end of my
session as a “prize” and usually work on a song for 10-20 minutes at
least. Check out my repertoire article for more details about how to
work on it effectively.

* Incorporate the use of a metronome or drum machine apps and

work on time keeping as much as you can. Time keeping is extremly
important if you want to sound good and also it is not very hard to
improve once you start working on it. Here you can read about 10
tips on how to practice your time keeping.

* Five daily minutes should be enough for most subjects.

Remember the 80\20 rule: “80% of the results come from 20% of the
efforts”. 5 daily minutes will get you very far with very little time
invested. If you want to put in even more time – great, but the
“curve” might not be worth your time.

———
———

Justin

Making the most of your precious practice time is very important.

What I will outline here is the way I divide all my student's practice
times. I would strongly recommend the use of a routine page.

This is not for beginners. See the Beginners Routines for that
(obviously?). This is more set at the intermediate level player.
Advanced players will need to consider more complex routines as
there will be many more concepts that need to be covered
thoroughly, but this would do as a good starting point for creating
your own routine.

THE GENERAL IDEA...

I break practice into 4 main areas, plus a 5th for improvisation if
required. Each to be practised for an equal amount of time.

• Technique - development of right hand and left-hand strength and

dexterity.

• Repertoire - learning songs and pieces.

• Transcribing - using your ears to work out songs and solos.

• Knowledge - new things: techniques, concepts, theory, scales,

arpeggios, etc.

• Improvisation - if applicable gets added to the end of the routine.

USING A TIMER
Within each area, a few different exercises will be presented. I
strongly recommend using a timer to keep your schedule under
control. You can't spend half and hour on scales if you have only an
hour to practice. You must aim for an even development. Make sure
that your 'work out' on the guitar is even and will help you meet your
goals. Just use a kitchen timer of some sort.

Starting with just 5 minute focus sessions will help you a lot. Don't
worry if you don't get all the exercise done, just do as much as you
can in the allotted time. Focus HARD for that 5 minutes and try not
to let your mind wonder. If it drifts onto what you want for dinner or
what you are up to on the weekend try and pull it back and
concentrate on what you are doing.

I know it sounds funny to suggest ACTUALLY using a timer, but i

really think it is a good idea. It will help you develop your focus and
ring when you have 'done your time'. When time is up have a quick
break and then get stuck into the next session.

GOAL SETTING
It is also very important that you understand where you want to get
to. It can be fun just to play about on the guitar, but if you want to
make serious progress then it is best to set some short term goals
and aim for them. Maybe set goals for each area of the routine,
maybe set a goal for a years time... and try and make the routine
help you get there!

THE 1 HOUR WORKOUT

Well you have heard of the Steve Vai 10 hour workout, well this is a
slightly more realistic 1 hour workout. I plan it as being 6 days a
week. If you can do 2 hours then double all the times... If you can do
more than that you are getting serious and should consult a pro
teacher to help guide you, or use your own logic and base it what is
presented here for ideas...

TECHNIQUE (15 MINS)

As I have mentioned elsewhere on this site I think it is important to
develop your technique further than where you want to play. If you
want to be an athlete then you MUST go to the gym and work out,
but even if you don't want to be an athlete it is very beneficial to go
to the gym and work out, keep fit... and so we should also for our
hands. Perhaps I should try and make it to the gym more often...
Please read the notes on the technique section of this site for more
information on general technique development. The three exercises
I would recommend for most players would be:

• 5 minutes - Finger Gym

• 5 minutes - Spider Exercise
• 5 minutes - Scale Picking

This will give you left-hand strength and independence (Finger Gym),
a serious alternate picking workout (The Spider) and some
coordination work, combined with speed picking (Scale Picking).

If you are learning more techniques you might consider doing an A/B
routine where you do the above exercises on day 1 (A) and 3 new
ones on day 2 (B) and alternate them.

Other possible suggestions for a Technique B routine would be:

String Bending - Legato Technique - Minimum Movement - Finger

Tapping - Fingerstyle - Pinch Harmonics - Tapped Harmonics - Rolling
- Sweep Picking - Harp Picking - MORE...

There is probably loads I have forgotten, but that's a start. I don't

recommend ever losing the initial 3 exercises though - keep them
there, but just do them every 2nd day. They are your basics and will
really give you a lot of benefits if you follow them properly and do
them regularly.

TRANSCRIBING (15 MINS)

If you have read much stuff on here you have probably noticed that i
really rate transcribing. I REALLY THINK IT IS IMPORTANT. If you
have not read about it please start here and check it all out. It could
make the difference between you sounding ok and great. It will
make you listen to yourself better. it will teach you to use your ears.
It will teach you licks. Please Read This.

You could also incorporate some Aural Training into this section, but
I think transcribing is generally more beneficial - but it depends on
the individual.

This is the one area that may be better used in one block of 1 and a
half hours. Up to you. It seems a lot of effort to get everything ready
for a good transcribing session and then only stay at it for 15
minutes, but that is your call.

REPERTOIRE (15 MINS)

This area is an often neglected but very import area. Learning
songs. It's no good having great technique and lots of knowledge
but not being able to play a song. I recommend getting yourself a
book that becomes your repertoire book. Songs that you can play go
in the front, songs that you are trying to play go in the back. You
then try to work on getting the songs from the back to the front.

BBQ Songs
These are the kind of simple songs you might play at a BBQ or party,
that you can play after a few beers, for that moment when a guitar
ends up in your lap and you have to play for a group of people. If this
happens it is better to play a sing-along song and get others
involved than just to show off some flashy guitar shite. Check out
the Songs page for some examples, but try and find songs that you
like that you think your friends and social circle will like and might
sing along to. There are plenty of sites around that offer reasonable
chords for songs, from my limited experiencewww.chordie.com
seems very good (I transcribe my own stuff, and don't use such
sites..).

Solo Songs
The songs that fit into this category sound good on their own -
without the need for accompaniment or vocals. Things like my Solo
Blues 1, or any nice chord melody arrangement would be great.
Unfortunately, good ones can be hard to find. I plan to put some
more here on this site soon...

Band Songs
These are songs that you should learn to play along with the CD all
the way through. Some songs don't sound so good by themselves
and need to be played with a band. These songs are for this section.
Do make sure that you play them all the way through. Don't leave
any bits out - learn the whole thing. Work on each song until you can
play along with the CD. Be realistic and choose achievable songs,
work up to very hard stuff over time.

Advanced Songs
Once your skills are better developed and you are keen on learning
guitar songs (Joe Pass, Satriani and any other guitar gods) - this
area will replace BBQ songs - you should have plenty of them sorted
by the time you get to this. If you have not - go back and get some
easy songs down NOW!

Either work one one song in each section for 5 minutes each, or
choose a new tune to work on and focus on that for the whole 15
mins.

KNOWLEDGE (15 MINS)

This area is the most difficult to plan - and the one that I advise my
students the most with. For certain it should contain:

• 5 minutes - Music Theory - either the recommended one, my book

or your own study.
• 5 minutes - Scales or chords depending on what you need to work
on.
• 5 minutes - < something else of your choice >

Some ideas for that spare secion would be:

Knowing where the notes are - Understanding Harmonics - Jazz

Harmony - II V I licks - Blues Licks -

You have to make those decisions. It totally depends on where you

are at and what things you need to work on. Once you know your
own goals that should help you with this area.

IMPROVISING (AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE)

Just do it - sometimes work on a specific area - like on blues licks,
or incorporating arpeggios - sometimes just letting go and letting it
all hang out :) I will have to get more onto this later!! It's an area
unto itself...

———
———

Guitar Practice Schedules

Before You Start

Guitar Practice Concepts
Weekly Practice Schedule
15 Minute Guitar Workout
Daily Practice Schedule
Guitar Practice Routine 1
Guitar Practice Routine 2
Guitar Practice Routine 3
Rest Days

Before You Start

Before you learn how to build an effective routine, it’s important to
set up a few learning tools in your practice schedule.

By setting specific goals, journaling, and recording each session,

you’re effective and efficient in the practice room, squeezing the
most out of every minute you devote to learning guitar.

Set Specific Practice Goals

The most important element of any practice routine, goals give you
targets to aim for in your playing and highlight progress in your
studies.

As you develop your practice schedule, set specific goals for each
daily and weekly section of your guitar practice routine.

An example of this would be:

Scales Daily Goal – Reach 120 bpm with metronome on A major

scale.
Scales Weekly Goal – Increase daily bpm by 25% with A major
scale.
Scale Monthly Goal – Hit 25% bpm increase with A, D, G, and C
major scales.
By setting specific goals, you give yourself specific targets to reach
and measure your success over time.

If you find that you aren’t reaching your goals, daily, weekly, or
monthly, don’t think of it as a failure.
Instead, figure out why you aren’t meeting your goals and use that
to set goals in other areas of your studies.
For example, if you’re not reaching your bpm goal for the week, it
could be a picking issue.
You would then focus on alternate picking, before coming back to
the scale exercises with your increased technical skills.
Goals are essential when learning any skill, and working towards
them maximizes your guitar practice routine.

Dear Diary…
Another essential tool for an effective practice routine is keeping a
practice journal.
When you’re working in short sections, such as 30-minute routines,
it’s hard to see results day to day.
By keeping a practice journal, you see tangible results as you record
your daily exercises and achievements.
If you don’t think you’re growing, look at your journal for the past
few months to see where you were and where you are now.
You’ll be surprised that you’ve learned a lot of new material,
increased your bpm with technique exercises, and spent less time
each day to learn new concepts on the fretboard.
On the other side of the coin, if you’re struggling to reach a specific
goal, journaling helps you figure out what’s working for other areas
of your routine.
You then apply similar techniques to the concept you’re struggling
with to overcome those roadblocks in your practicing.
Though it may seem strange at first, a practice journal is one of the
most effective ways to see progress and grow in the short and long
term.

Recording Practice Sessions

Alongside journaling, another highly effective practice tool is
recording your practice sessions.
You can listen back to those practice sessions the next day, week,
or month, to hear your improvement over time.
You can also listen to problem areas, allowing you to address those
areas when you’re not focused on playing them in the moment
during an exercise.
Recording is also effective when working on less measurable
concepts, such as soloing or legato playing.
Listening back, taking notes on what’s working and what’s not,
helps you quickly address those issues, and enhances your
strengths, during these sections of your routine.

Guitar Practice Concepts

Though every guitarist is different, there are 7 musical concepts
that should be a part of any guitar practice routine.
These concepts cover every skill needed to develop a well-rounded
approach to chords, soloing, fretboard knowledge, and music theory.
In the 30-minute routines below, you cover each of these 7 concepts
in your weekly practice sessions.
By spreading out these concepts, you cover all 7 in your studies, and
see progress on the guitar each week at the same time.

The 7 elements of an effective guitar practice routine are:

Harmony
Melody
Technique
Soloing
Ear Training
Repertoire
Music Theory

It might seem like you need a lot of time each day to even touch
upon these concepts.
Don’t worry about cramming these skills into each practice session.
Instead, focus on touching each of these essential skills over the
course of a series of practice sessions that you repeat each week.
Having a well-rounded practice routine each week allows you to
grow as a guitarist by working short, consistent practice sessions.

Weekly Guitar Practice Schedule

Before digging into the daily practice routines, it’s effective to plan
out your weekly practice schedule to get the most out of these
short, 30-minute sessions.
In a similar way to how you work out at the gym, using a weekly
schedule covers essential concepts, even when time is short.
Here’s how you organize your weekly schedule to maximize time in
the practice room, and cover essential skills over a 7-day period.
You’ll learn about each of these three routines, and the rest day, in
detail below.

Saturday – Practice Routine 1

Sunday – Practice Routine 2
Monday – Rest Day
Tuesday – Practice Routine 1
Wednesday – Practice Routine 2
Thursday – Practice Routine 3
Friday – Rest Day

As you can see in this weekly guitar practice schedule, you aren’t
working long sessions each day.
But, each week you cover a lot of ground on the fretboard.
By spreading your practice routine over a week, you use consistency
to build skills over time.
These steady, short, practice sessions produce big results over
time, especially compared to not practicing for several days and
then cramming a few times per week.

The 15 Minute Guitar Practice Routine

If time is really short, you can adjust the 30-minute routine to work
with 15-minute segments each day.
When doing so, you alter the two daily practice sections to fit the
following time schedule.

Section 1 – 10 Minutes
Section 2 – 5 Minutes
Though 15 minutes might not seem like a lot of time each day to
practice, over time this consistent practicing adds up.

With steady practice, you keep your hands and ears in shape, and
maintain your creativity on the fretboard.
It might not be ideal to only practice 15 minutes each day.
But, it’s much better to work in short, consistent sessions than not
to practice for days on end and then do a big chunk on the
weekends.

Now that you know the 7 skills, how to schedule your weekly
routine, and how to work an effective 15-minute session, you’re
ready to work the 30-minute daily practice routines.

Daily Guitar Practice Breakdown

With specific practice goals set, and your practice schedule planned
for the week, it’s time to look at your 30-minute daily practice
routines in more detail.
Each of these 30-minute sessions is broken up into two chunks, one
that takes 20 minutes and another that takes 10 minutes.
It’s important that you stick to this timing when working on each
section in your daily practicing.
Set a timer if you have to.
Just don’t go over time on one item and take time away from the
other concept.
It’s tempting to keep going on an exercise once you’ve started.
But doing so takes time away from other important areas, and
prevents you from covering all 7 essential concepts each week in
the practice room.
Lastly, always use a metronome to get the most out of any technical
element in your daily practice routine.

Guitar Practice Routine 1

The first routine that you’ll work on, which falls on a Saturday and
Tuesday in the weekly schedule, focuses on harmony and melody.
Because guitarists spend most of their time playing chords and
chord progressions, as compared to soloing, this takes up the
majority of today’s routine.
If you find that you become unbalanced in these two areas, you can
switch them up to spend 20 minutes on scales and 10 minutes on
chords.
And don’t forget to set specific practice goals for each section to
monitor your progress and achieve those goals over time.

1. Chords and Chord Progressions – 20 Minutes

As mentioned above, as a guitarist in a band or jam setting, you
spend most of your time playing rhythm guitar.
Because of this, spending 20 minutes in today’s session prepares
you to function in a band, as well as take your rhythm guitar chops
to the next level.
Here are four examples of chord exercises that you could use in
today’s session.

Develop specific chord shapes, such as barre chords or drop 3

chords.
Learn inversions for any chord type, i.e. m7.
Practice a chord progression in multiple keys, i.e. I-vi-IV-V.
Work on playing the chords, in a few positions, for a song you’re
learning.

2. Scales and Arpeggios – 10 Minutes

Though many guitarists love to learn scales and arpeggios,
sometimes this side of your practicing is the source of an
unbalanced routine.
To keep these items in your routine, but not overdo it as some
guitarists do, you work on scales and arpeggios for 10 minutes in
today’s routine.
Remember, set specific practice goals for this section.
And don’t be worried about working both scales and arpeggios in
this section of your practice routine.
It’s perfectly cool to work on a scale exercise for a few weeks or
months, then switch to arpeggios, and work both back and forth
over time.
Here are four examples of scale and arpeggio exercises that you
could use in today’s session.

Learn a new scale in 12 keys.

Play a mode and its related arpeggios in all keys.
Run a practice pattern through a new scale.
Play one, two, and three-octave arpeggios shapes for a chord
type, i.e. maj7,

Guitar Practice Routine 2

Moving on to day two, which falls on Sunday and Wednesday, you
practice technique and soloing.
Working these two concepts builds your strength, dexterity, and
creativity in today’s practice routine.
As was the case with scales, guitarists often overdo it with
technique.
To prevent this imbalance, set a timer and stop your technique
exercise after 20 minutes.
This keeps you moving forward with technical and soloing goals in
your daily and weekly routines, and prevents your time from
becoming unbalanced in the practice room.

1. Technique – 20 Minutes
Building technique on guitar makes anything you play smoother and
easier on the fretboard.
But technique doesn’t just mean playing fast.
Having strong guitar technique means building dexterity, flexibility,
strength, and speed in both your picking and fretting hands.
Because of this, work a variety of technical exercises in this section
of your practice routine to develop strong fundamentals.
Here are four examples of technique exercises that you could use in
today’s guitar practice session.
Speed drills with a metronome, steadily increasing the speed.
Legato exercises through scales or finger patterns.
Alternate picking, fingerpicking, or hybrid picking exercises.
Stretching exercises to work on fretting-hand dexterity.

2. Soloing – 10 Minutes
In your soloing practice, let your hair down and be creative as you
learn about musical concepts and the fretboard.
One thing to watch in this section, is that you don’t just randomly
solo over chords or chord progressions.
This won’t help you grow as a soloist. Instead, soloing with a
specific goal produces better results in the practice room.
I call this type of soloing practice, “constructive noodling.”
This is where you solo over a progression, but you only use one
scale fingering, one part of the neck, one outside concept, etc.
By doing so, you build your creative chops, and increase your guitar
skills at the same time.
Here are four examples of soloing exercises that you could use in
today’s guitar practice session.

Solo over a static chord with a specific scale or arpeggio.

Solo on one string at a time to work on fretboard fluency.
Stick to a four-fret span when soloing over a song or progression.
Work on a specific outside concept, such as sidestepping or
passing notes.

Guitar Practice Routine 3

The last guitar practice routine occurs only once per week, on
Thursday.
This doesn’t mean that these concepts are any less important than
the others.
But, because time is short, and you want to maintain balance, you
only cover these concepts once every 7 days in your guitar practice
routine.
As is the case with any element of your routine, if you find that you
struggle with ear training or learning songs, you can switch this day
with another to cover it twice a week.
That is the beauty of this type of practice routine. You can move
things around to bring focus to weaker elements, while maintaining
daily and weekly balance in your guitar practice routine.

1. Ear Training – 20 Minutes

One of the most important elements of any practice routine, and the
one that many guitarists avoid, is ear training.
Though ear training is tough, it’s the biggest reason why you see
growth in your playing over time.
Now, ear training might not mean what you think it does.
For many of us, we have nightmares about singing intervals in music
theory class.
Or struggling to write down melodies by ear in classical guitar
lessons.
But, ear training can be fun, if you do it right.
In this section, focus on what’s practical for you and your musical
goals.
This could mean learning songs by ear, or working on transcribing a
solo by your favorite guitarist.
As long as you work on learning music by ear, and expanding your
ability to hear music in the moment, you’re being productive with
ear training in your routine.

Here are four examples of ear training exercises that you could use
in today’s guitar practice session.

Pick out the chords to a song by ear.

Learn a riff from a recording.
Transcribe a solo by ear from your favorite player.
Sing intervals, scales, arpeggios, or other musical devices.

2. Learning Songs– 10 Minutes

In the second section of today’s routine, you expand your repertoire
as you learn new songs.
One of the biggest roadblocks guitarists face, is that you have
scales and chords under your fingers, but can’t play a song.
So, when you have friends over and someone sees your guitar and
asks you to play something, you run through a few scales and it’s a
bit awkward.
Wouldn’t it be cooler if you could grab your guitar and play a song
for yourself, or your friends?
Spending time each week learning songs gets you to that level, and
gives you a real, tangible, piece of music that you can perform.

Here are four examples of song exercises that you could use in
today’s guitar practice session.

Learn the chords to a new song.

Learn the melody line to a tune, for instrumental guitarists.
Learn the riffs and/or solo from that same song.
Learn a song by ear to work ear training as well.

Rest Days
Just as you would when working out at the gym, you don’t need to
completely stop studying music on rest days.
Instead, you focus on studying concepts away from the guitar in
these practice sessions.
The two most popular elements that you can study away from the
guitar are listening and music theory.
Both can be done anywhere, you don’t need a guitar or amp to work
them out in your routine.
And, they grow your ears and understanding of how music works,
even on a rest day.
So, though you’re not working your fingers, don’t think that rest day
workouts are less productive than days when you’re on your guitar.
They can be just as productive, it just takes planning in your guitar
practice schedule each week.

Listening – 30 Minutes
As you have two rest days each week, Monday and Friday, you can
spread out these concepts in your guitar practice routine.
This means spending 30 minutes of listening on Monday, and 30
minutes of music theory on Friday, for example.
When working on listening, take time to do focused listening.
You probably listen to music for hours a day, but it’s often in the
background, or you’re not really paying attention.
In this 30-minute routine, spend time listening intently as you grow
your ears and expand your musical understanding.

Here are four examples of listening exercises that you could use in
today’s rest day practice session.

Listen to a solo you’re learning on repeat.

Listen to a song you’re learning on repeat.
Listen to a new album.
Listen to a new artist you just discovered.

Music Theory – 30 Minutes

The final element in this guitar practice routine is music theory.
Again, you can use an entire rest day, 30 minutes, to work on music
theory, or you can break it up with listening if you prefer.
As was the case with ear training, music theory is extremely helpful
in your studies, but many players avoid it.
Learning music theory doesn’t have to be boring; create fun
exercises and you look forward to studying theory each week.
By working on practical theory, such as analyzing songs, or reciting
the note names for a scale, you tie theory to your fretboard in your
studies.
This makes music theory practical, and keeps a focus on other
elements of your practice routine going at the same time.

Here are four examples of music theory exercises that you could use
in today’s rest day practice session.

Read about a specific theory concept you’re studying.

Write out theory exercises such as key signatures, scales, chord
tones.
Analyze a song or chord progression you’re learning to play.
Learn a new musical term such as Coda, refrain, passing tone,
etc.
As you can see, you don’t need a ton of time each day in the
practice room to grow as a guitarist.

By working short, 30-minute sessions, and using a weekly schedule,

you maximize your time in the practice room.
This organized approach is just what you need to become a better
guitarist today.

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GUITARHABITS

The 1 Hour Essential Guitar Practice Workout

The 1 hour essential guitar practice workoutWe all lead different

lives and are at different stages of our lives. This means some have
more time to play and practice guitar than others. Today we’re going
to set out a 1 hour practice workout for those who have time to
practice one 1 hour a day or every other day.
If you have only one hour to play over the entire week, it is better to
practice every day for 5 to 10 minutes than get it all done in one
hour on a Saturday morning.
This workout combines the most important elements of practice, but
you are free to alter it to suit your specific needs, change the
duration of each section or add some additional elements to
different days of the week to make the workout more fun and
playful.
The 1 hour workout is a guideline to keep you focused on a good
practice routine that moves your playing forward without getting
distracted.
Grab your phone and set a timer for each section to keep your eyes
on the ball every step of the way. Attention, Concentration and
Action is the key to steady progress.
Make sure you got your guitar and gear (amp, cables, picks, capos,
music sheets, music stand, laptop, cappuccino or tea) all set up
before you start practicing.

Let’s check out the essentials for a one hour workout:

10 min – SCALES
By starting your workout with practicing scales you’re opening two
locks with one key. You’re working on the memorisation and
dexterity of your scales and warming up at the same time. An
effective time saver.
If you’re new to scales start out with practicing the pentatonic /
blues scale and the major scale. If you’re an intermediate player
learn all the pentatonic / blues scale shapes and how to use them to
solo and improvise over the entire neck.
Learn the scales, and then learn to create melody with those scales.

30 min – PROJECT
Now your fingers are warmed up and loose, pick out one song, solo
or arrangement to work on. You might even want to write your own
song. Whatever it is, this going to be your main project. Something
to enjoy and make yourself proud.
Find the tablature to the song or get your tools ready to figure out
the necessary guitar parts.

5 min – CHORDS
Learn one or two new chords everyday to boost your creative
imagination, add more colour to your songs and expand your
visualisation and flexibility across the fretboard. The best way to
memorise new chords is to apply them directly to songs and keep
playing and using them in different songs. If you’re a beginner start
with the The 8 most important guitar chords for beginners.

5 min – MUSIC THEORY

Study some guitar music theory every workout and use it in your
practice. Read on chord structure, scale formulas, The circle of
fifths and fourths, finding octaves, the caged system, building
chords and progressions and more.
When you understand music theory the fretboard and what you are
playing will start to make much more sense. It puts together the
pieces of the puzzle. Everything will fall into place and it makes
guitar playing easier and more fun. You will memorise faster, play
more creatively, and will become a better overall guitar player.

10 min – EAR TRAINING

Training and developing your aural skills is the crown jewel of
serious guitar practice. It will benefit your guitar playing in all areas.
Being able to identify chords, progressions, notes, intervals and
transcribe melodies by ear is the greatest skill a guitar player can
develop. Learn to listen, analyse, listen again and put it into
practice.

AFTER THE WORKOUT

Get a ruled notebook and keep a journal on your practice. What gets
measured gets managed. What song, scales, chords did you work on
today? What did you notice about your playing? What new things did
you learn? (music theory and ear training). What do you need to
improve on? (be specific). What skills are you lacking? How can you
change that? What are you going to practice tomorrow? (write it
down for each section). At what time are you going to practice
tomorrow? 5 a.m., 10 a.m. or 8 p.m.? Perfect! ✓

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