Having structure is the single most important aspect to an effective guitar practice routine. My students often ask me how they can get really good at guitar in the shortest amount of time and the answer is always the same: your practice routine needs to be structured and you need to stick to it consistently. This guide will help you develop the best practice routine for your skill level.

Note: This lesson’s aim is to help you build a very effective practice routine, not teach the exercises. See the additional links throughout the lesson for that. They are loaded with exercises for you to implement with these routines.

If you want to develop into a great guitar player, you will need to add structure to your routine. A practice routine should be almost like a daily schedule: broken into blocks, with prescribed times for each section. The amount of time you give each section largely depends on your skill level and goals.

For example, a new guitar player should be spending much less time on his warm up than an experienced player. However, the beginner should spend significantly more time on skills training than an experienced guitarist.

Everything is relative and if you have any confusion on this, please let me know and ask in the comments sections at the end of this lesson. Alright, let’s get into it!

The ideal guitar practice routine includes:

Warm-Up

Ear Training

Music Theory

Skills/Technique

Having Some Damn Fun!!!

Let's Begin!

1. Warm Up



What is a warm up, really? What should an effective warm up accomplish? Think about those questions for a moment.

Imagine: You’re learning a song, you’re playing along with it, everything is going well- then suddenly the tempo picks up. You know what’s coming next but your fingers just can’t seem to make the next transition quickly or cleanly enough. You almost nail it, but you’re just a fraction of a second off from perfection.

This annoying little problem is easily fixed with a proper warm up. While the amount of time varies by skill, every guitar player should have the following included in their warm-up routine; regardless of experience:

A. Chords & Transitioning

As a beginner you learn the open, “cowboy” chords. Transitioning within these chords is critical to your development as a player. Don’t neglect these, get them down! For all you veterans muttering “Bah! I’ve been playing chords for 20 years, I don’t need to practice them.”

Wrong! How smoothly can you transition from an open C to G, 7th position then back down to A 2nd position while keeping in time? Find some new chords, practice them. Keep building your arsenal, cuz you’re never too good for more chords. Trust me. …And yes, I pulled that progression out my @ss, could ya tell?

Basic Guitar Chords Beginners Need to Practice



Chord Progression Generator

Guitar Chord Finder

How to Easily Transition Between Chords

B. Dexterity Exercises

This is the “big secret” to fixing that annoying problem I mentioned before. Remember when I told you to think about those questions? Come up with a reasonable answer?

An effective warm up should really accomplish only two things: get the blood flowing in your hands, and loosen up your fingers. You will be activating whatever muscle memory you have built up during this time, as well. Making it easier for you to play without staring at your hands when the real practicing begins. Dexterity exercises build strength and coordination in your fingers making it easier to play longer and faster.

See My Lesson On: Building Dexterity In Your Warm Ups for TABs, techniques and more

C. Right Hand/Left Hand Synchronizing Exercises

These exercises will get you from playing “All the Small Things” to playing “Eruption” faster than anything. By adding synchronization exercises to your guitar practice routine you will be improving your overall accuracy and speed every day. Within just a couple weeks you will eliminate that annoying “Pick before you fret” problem, causing all those ugly dead notes in your songs. Add these exercises now, and thank me later.

2. Don’t Let Your Ear Go to Waste

The best guitar practice routines always.. always, always, always include ear training. Did I drive that point home well enough? Some of us are lucky enough to have an inherently good ear for music. My friend Steve never practices theory or ear training and has just been lucky enough to have the blessing of a good ear. He can hear a song and just figure it out in a matter of hours.

Do you see how he is still held back, though? If you train your ear daily, you will quickly get to the point where you can hear and learn a song in an hour. Additionally, by developing your ear, you will play with other musicians much better. No more asking what key or listening to the song, looking constipated. Just train your ear daily and you won’t regret it. Companies like JamPlay and EarMaster both offer paid solutions to ear training. I have recommended both products to many of my students. The ear is a terrible thing to keep crappy. Trust me.

More on ear training:

GuitarWorld Steve Vai Interview (Motivational)

About.com Ear Training/Transcribing Lesson

JamPlay Ear Training Tools (Paid)

EarMaster Ear Training Software (Paid)

3. Understanding and Breaking Music Theory

Theory is another component that simply makes you a much better musician. By understanding how the music you create actually works, you empower yourself to create crazy amounts of creative works.

Very different from our countries laws, once you learn the laws of music theory- you are free to break any of them! It is called theory for a reason. You’re meant to build an understanding and then explore what you’ve learned. Push the boundaries, try something that seems crazy. Learn the notes on the fretboard. Practice with a metronome. Learn chord formulas, scale formulas, what a half step vs whole step is, etc.. All of it is invaluable for any musician.

More on music theory and applying it to guitar:

Circle of 5ths

Memorize Fretboard Notes in 1 Week!

EarMaster Ear Training Software (Paid)

Intervals, Musical Alphabet and Scales

4. Hone Your Skills

This is the section most guitarists fall under when they claim to “practice 2 hours a day”. What I often find my students are doing when they tell me this is just working on particular skills such as trills, hammer-ons, two-hand tapping, sweep picking, etc. for hours on end.

This is not practicing, as I hope you can see by now. If not, go back and start reading this article over again- from the beginning. Cuz you’ve clearly missed some things.

However, skills are an important part of any practice routine. I recommend you practice and hone your skills for 20-50% of your practice time, depending on skill level. And for the love of God, use a metronome.

5. Have Fun!

Finally, the best part! You may be surprised to learn this- but this part I actually believe to be the most important part of any practice routine. After all, you are learning guitar because one day you heard one and said “Hey, that’s cool.” Guitar is a hobby because it is fun. Remember that.

Yes, excellence always requires hard work- but without fun you will never really achieve excellence. 99% of the people who just sit like drones and practice exercise after exercise, never really get the full experience. They also quit more often than not.

You need to be enjoying yourself- guitar is not a chore. Keep songs and learning them at top priority for all practice sessions, but always do it last.

What do I mean by this? If you’ve only got 20 minutes or so to practice- just warm up and work on a song. However, if you’ve got 45 minutes, warm up real quick, spend 15 minutes on ear training, skills, whatever, and spend your last 20 or so minutes on learning a song.

Bonus Lesson!

Check out this Jamplay Lesson on “5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About How To Practice Guitar”

Get 25% Off Jamplay Lessons!

Wrapping Things Up

If you’re taking notes or something and need a reminder, the 5 things your guitar practice routine needs are:



Warm-Up

Ear Training

Music Theory

Skills/Technique

Having Some Damn Fun!!!

Time Spent By Skill Level

Beginner Intermediate Advanced

Warm-Up10% Ear Training10% Music Theory10% Skills45% Fun25% Warm-Up10% Ear Training15% Music Theory15% Skills35% Fun25% Warm-Up10% Ear Training20% Music Theory10% Skills35% Fun25%

1 Hour Total 6 Minutes Warm Up 6 Minutes Ear Training 6 Minutes Music Theory 27 Minutes Skills Training 15 Minutes Fun 1 Hour Total 6 Minutes Warm Up 9 Minutes Ear Training 9 Minutes Music Theory 21 Minutes Skills Training 15 Minutes Fun 1 Hour Total 6 Minutes Warm Up 12 Minutes Ear Training 6 Minutes Music Theory 21 Minutes Skills Training 15 Minutes Fun

I hope this lesson has helped you develop a solid practice routine. Remember, a structured practice routine is the key to becoming a great guitar player quickly.

If you have any questions or if I skipped over something please let me know in the comments box below. I’ll get back to you within 24 hours, usually much quicker.