How to build an effective guitar practice routine
Whatever your level of experience with guitar is, practice is crucial to level up your skills, or just to stay in shape. Just like having a fitness routine, having a guitar practice routine is a good habit, and will ensure that your guitar skills stick around.
Here’s how to build an effective practice routine:
Define your goals
Do you want to master the guitar solo for “Thunderstruck”? Are you trying to learn a setlist of songs you can perform at an open mic or gig? Having concrete goals can help give you a reason to practice.
Try writing down a list of short-term five goals you’d like to achieve in guitar, like playing an entire song fingerstyle or learning how to read tabs, and long term goals, like playing in public and starting a band. Put it somewhere you can see it to help motivate you to practice.
Break it down
An easy way to make a practice routine feel less daunting is to break it down into small sections. You can set a timer on your phone for each section if you’d like to.
Here’s a sample practice breakdown:
Warm-up (five to ten minutes)
Start with some basic scales or chord changes to warm up your fingers.
Technical Exercises (15-20 minutes):
Play through scales, arpeggios and riffs. You can use a metronome to help with your timing.
Repertoire Practice (15-20 minutes):
Practice learning new songs. If you have an issue with a part of the song, break them into smaller parts and play through them slowly, gradually bringing them back up to speed.
Creative or Improvisation Time (five to ten minutes):
Let your brain be creative and work on riffs or songs of your own.
Review (five minutes):
Review what you’ve practiced and make a note of what you’d like to improve on or try next time.
Tips:
Be consistent
Even if you only have 20 to 30 minutes a day for practice, it can really add up. Check out these methods of making time to practice.
Work on what needs improvement
Overcoming a challenging portion of a song or finally nailing that tough riff will give you confidence in your guitar ability.
Incorporate Fret Zealot courses
Fret Zealot has hundreds of guitar courses – everything from song lessons, to strumming patterns, to player studies. Learning something new is a great way to practice.
Record yourself
You can use the record app on your phone to record your session and hear how you’re sounding. Hearing improvement in your playing is the best feeling!
Keep it fun
Learn what you’re interested in playing, whether it’s classical pieces or the latest trending song on TikTok.
