Schedule your practice routine
May 20, 2008 by Chris
Filed under Thoughts From Backstage
One mistake I think a lot of people make when it comes to practicing is to not practice efficiently. They just start playing along to a song they want to learn, or grab a tab and try to learn the a song, or just go through some exercises. Although every bit of practice helps, you are not getting as much out of your time as the effort you are putting in. This is why you should schedule your practice routine.
As an example, here is a good one hour routine and I'll show you how I apply it.
- 0-10 mins - Warm Up
- 10-20 mins - Fingering Drills
- 20-40 mins - Playing Skills
- 40-60 mins - Fun Time
So with this plan in mind I am now practicing like this:
- 0-10 mins - My Super-Duper secret warm up exercises*
- 10-20 mins - 2 x exercises from the 30 Day Guitar Workout
- 20-40 mins - Lesson from Blues You Can Use Book 1
- 40-60 mins - Work on one of the songs I want to learn
In 1 hour, I get to cover all the areas I want to work on. The beauty of this is if you have more time (which I normally don't) you can just extend out all the periods and still get a balanced workout.
I'd love to hear how others break up their practice time and what they find useful.
* My Super-Duper warm up routine won't be secret for long. I'll be sharing that shortly. It's a killer.
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My Nightly 2 hour practice routine –
00:00-00:15 15 Minute Warmup
Alternate Picking Symmetrical and Chromatic Exercises, Sweep Arpeggios, Legato, and Hybrid Picking
Source: Terrifying Technique for Guitar
00:15-00:45 30 Minute Scale Study Study
Source: The Guitar Grimoire Scales and Modes
00:45-01:15 30 Minute Fretboard Study
Source: Guitar Fretboard Workout
01:15-01:45 30 Minute Music Theory Study
Emphasis on chords and harmony
Source: Music Theory for the Guitarist
01:45-02:00 15 Minute Free Time
Program equipment
Review previous material
Watch instructional DVD
Study a song
What I want to accomplish:
Today -
*Insert today’s goal here
1 Week -
2 Chapters in the Theory Book
2 Chapters in the Fretboard Workbook
1 Month-
Learn to play every major scale mode in any key and any position on the neck
Learn to play Major, Minor, Dominant, maj7, m7, 9th, and 13th chords in any key and any position on the neck
My Nightly 2 hour practice routine –
00:00-00:15 15 Minute Warmup
Alternate Picking Symmetrical and Chromatic Exercises, Sweep Arpeggios, Legato, and Hybrid Picking
Source: Terrifying Technique for Guitar
00:15-00:45 30 Minute Scale Study Study
Source: The Guitar Grimoire Scales and Modes
00:45-01:15 30 Minute Fretboard Study
Source: Guitar Fretboard Workout
01:15-01:45 30 Minute Music Theory Study
Emphasis on chords and harmony
Source: Music Theory for the Guitarist
01:45-02:00 15 Minute Free Time
Program equipment
Review previous material
Watch instructional DVD
Study a song
What I want to accomplish:
Today -
*Insert today's goal here
1 Week -
2 Chapters in the Theory Book
2 Chapters in the Fretboard Workbook
1 Month-
Learn to play every major scale mode in any key and any position on the neck
Learn to play Major, Minor, Dominant, maj7, m7, 9th, and 13th chords in any key and any position on the neck