With so much music in the world to play, how do you figure out how to practice guitar? Guitar teacher Jack C. breaks it down to the basics…
As a musician, practicing every day is essential to keeping your skills sharp. This is especially true for guitarists, who need to maintain their fretting hand dexterity and strumming speed.
While there are many different things that you can practice as part of your guitar practice routines, here are a few essential elements that every guitarist should make part of their daily routine.
What Should I Practice on Guitar Every Day?
Taking a disciplined approach to guitar practice is key to improving your skills. Every day, as part of your beginner guitar practice routine, you should focus on specific strategies to help scaffold and build on your skills:
- Practicing things such as chords, scales, and exercises can help improve technic and muscle memory for instrument use.
- Stretching before and after playing can help provide flexibility and reduce any potential strains from extended practice sessions.
- Set practice goals that are realistically achievable over the course of each day and chart immediate progress to keep motivation level high.
- Set aside 10-20 minutes a day to break out the fretboard, pick up the strings, and get in some quality practice time with your guitar!
Still not sure what you should practice in your guitar practice routine? Ask your instructor! And if you’re not taking guitar lessons yet, be sure to sign up! You will learn everything you need in order to succeed as a new guitar player, like what you see in the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGsG70aUHyE
The Best Guitar Practice Routine for Beginners
One of the most common questions I’m asked by students, whether they are total beginners, or seasoned veterans who have been playing for more than ten years, is: “How exactly should I practice guitar in order to get the most benefit from my time?” As my explanation, I always like to break down guitar knowledge in three basic categories.
1. Technique
Technique is the actual mechanical movement of your hands which you use to create the sounds coming from your guitar. It entails training the muscles in your hands so you can develop the strength and muscle memory to pull off the actual chords and scales we use when playing the instrument.
2. Music Theory
Music theory is the mental aspect of learning any instrument. It is the act of breaking down the sounds we hear in to names and formulas. It’s the science behind the sounds.
3. Creativity
I believe, like any skill set, musical creativity CAN be learned and taught. Some people are brought to believe that you’re either born with that creative muse or you’re not. This simply isn’t true.
Let’s say we have a 2 note per string pentatonic scale (you can use any of the scales found here).
A great practice exercise would be to pick each note in ascending order from the low E string to the high E string, then descending using strictly alternate picking (up and down only). Start very slow, then gradually increase the speed at which you do this exercise. Then, once that movement is mastered, and the scale can be played by memory, you can then try creating a simple melody using only those notes found within the scale.
This exercise kills three birds with one stone! You are practicing your technique by working on your alternate picking, you’re learning a portion of music theory by memorizing the scale, and you’re exercising your creative mind by applying the scale you learned in creating your own melody.
By combining all aspects of learning guitar in to one exercise, you are now making the most out of your practice time. This approach to practicing is used by some of the greatest players in the world, and has proven to be one of the most efficient ways to practice the instrument. As you progress in your skill level, this approach can be applied to different scales, chord progressions, and picking techniques.
How Many Hours a Day Should I Practice Guitar?
Many aspiring guitarists want to know how many hours a day they should practice in order to be successful.
Ultimately, the amount of time spent playing any instrument will depend on how much time and energy you can devote to it, but setting a target goal of two hours per day is recommended for those beginning their guitar journey.
While two hours may seem like a lot to start out with, if you break it up into manageable chunks it can make for enjoyable practice sessions without feeling too overwhelmed.
Plus, as you get more advanced with guitar playing, you can begin practicing more and honing your skills faster.
So while there is no definitive answer as to how long you should practice each day, dedicating two hours to your skills can be crucial in developing sound technique and increasing your musicianship.
What is a Good Guitar Chord Practice Routine?
Creating a good guitar chord practice routine requires more than just learning individual chords. It’s important to learn the fundamentals first through exercises like scales and arpeggios, which provide the necessary muscle memory and basic skillset required for mastering chords.
But it is also important to expand your repertoire in order to properly practice varying techniques and master complex chords. This can be achieved by exploring different genres of music, like blues or jazz, as they often rely heavily on developing intricate progressions involving exotic chords.
Moreover, it might also prove beneficial to avail the services of an experienced guitar teacher who can give sound advice on how to proceed with becoming a proficient guitarist. With constant effort and dedication, any musician can develop their own useful practice routine that will allow them to master all types of guitar chords.
More of the Best Guitar Practice Routine Examples
Learning how to play the guitar is a challenge that takes dedication, patience, and practice. One of the most important things for any guitarist to do is to develop an effective guitar practice routine.
But how long should your routine be? That depends on how much time you have available. If you’re pressed for time, then a 30-minute session may be the perfect fit. If you have more time to dedicate to practicing your instrument, then feel free to extend it up to 2 hours!
Here are some examples of short, medium, and long practice routines that can help take your playing to the next level.
30 Minute Guitar Practice Routine
When you only have 30 minutes available for practice it’s important that you make the most of your time. Here’s what a typical 30 minute guitar practice routine might look like:
- Warm up (5 minutes): Spend the first 5 minutes stretching and warming up your hands and wrists before you start playing. This will help prevent any unwanted injury or discomfort during your session.
- Chord progressions (15 minutes): Spend 15 minutes working on chord progressions and strumming patterns so that when you transition from one chord to another it’s seamless and effortless.
- Scales/soloing (10 minutes): Spend 10 minutes working on scales or soloing over a backing track so that you can hone in on your melodic skills as well as refining your ability to improvise.
1 Hour Guitar Practice Routine
If you have an hour available for practice then here’s what an ideal 1 hour guitar practice routine could look like:
- Warm-up (5 minutes): Just like the 30-minute routine this one begins with 5 minutes spent stretching out and preparing yourself mentally for the session ahead of you.
- Rhythm playing (20 minutes): Spend 20 minutes practicing rhythm parts including strumming patterns, fingerpicking techniques, rhythm chords, etc. This is where having a metronome handy comes in especially helpful as it will help keep you in time while playing along with songs or backing tracks.
- Scales/soloing (20 minutes): Spend another 20 minutes focusing on scales and soloing exercises so that you can become even more comfortable with improvisation over different progressions or songs in general.
- Theory/ear training (15 minutes): Spend 15 minutes focusing on theory concepts such as ear training exercises or sight-reading drills so that you can increase your understanding of music theory as well as improving upon these important skills in general.
2 Hour Guitar Practice Routine
Finally, if you have 2 hours available for practice, then here’s what an ideal 2-hour guitar practice routine could look like:
- Warm-up (10 minutes): Start off by spending 10 minutes stretching out and getting into the right mindset before beginning this longer session ahead of you.
- Rhythm playing (30 minutes): For this longer session, spend 30 minutes focusing on rhythm playing, including strumming patterns, fingerpicking techniques, etc.
- Lead/soloing exercises(30 minutes): Also spend 30 minutes working on lead/soloing exercises such as arpeggios, scale runs etcetera
- Theory/ear training(30 minutes): Use another 30 minutes focusing on theoretical concepts such as ear training drills or sight-reading exercise
- Jamming(30 minutes): Finally, spend a full half hour jamming along with songs or backing tracks just for fun!
What is the Ideal Intermediate Guitar Practice Routine?
The ideal practice routine for intermediate guitar players should emphasize refining and honing the techniques they’ve already learned.
A guitarist will benefit from spending time playing solos of their favorite songs both in tempo and by ear. Since technique and dexterity are so integral to playing guitar, practicing scales is also essential.
Finally, it can be helpful to use a metronome to develop better control over speed and timing when practicing. This type of structured practice can help ensure that an intermediate player’s skills continue to grow, become more innovative and musical, and challenge themselves in new ways.
What is a Good Advanced Guitar Practice Routine?
A good advanced guitar practice routine should not only focus on new licks and riffs, but also include regular warm-ups to develop your finger dexterity and muscle memory. Your routine should also include plenty of playing along with recordings of familiar music, as this helps you perfect notes, timing and other stylistic elements.
If you take the time to learn some basic music theory it can be a great tool for expanding your repertoire. You can also explore other styles and create your own compositions to apply the knowledge you’ve acquired.
Finally, working with feedback from experienced guitarists can help you refine your approach and develop better problem-solving skills. Ultimately, the best routine for each guitarist is one that is flexible, creative and tailored towards learning advanced techniques with precision.
In review, we know that if a guitar exercise can cover these three aspects of guitar playing: technique, theory, and creativity, all at once, then we know it is an exercise that will serve us well in our guitar journey! Thanks for reading and if you have any questions for me, I’m more than happy to answer your questions.
Learn more about the guitar by taking lessons with a private instructor. Search for your guitar teacher now!
Jack C. is a guitar instructor in Huntington Beach, CA. A professional gigging musician, teacher, producer, and session player, he earned degree in Music Theory and Guitar performance from Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California. Learn more about Jack here!
Photo by J. Pitt
Megan L.