What Should I Include in My Daily Practice Routine?

Practice makes perfect, right? Maybe perfect practice makes perfect? Well, in a sense, both of those statements are both true and false at the same time!

Practice is of course important to learn how to do any skill, but there is a right way to practice and a wrong way to practice. This is a topic that has been studied left and right and has a lot to do with brain development as well as motivation. 

As far as motivation, your personality type can and should influence how you practice. In other words, some people will thrive off of a detailed plan so they can feel a sense of accomplishment, whereas some people will thrive off of playing when they are inspired to play.

If you are this type of person, the best thing you can do is have your guitar where you can see it at all times. This alone will increase your practice time each day.

If you are a person who can appreciate a schedule, then it's important to build this schedule around a reasonable timeframe to where you are motivated to play and don't get discouraged.

It may take some time to find out how long this timeframe is. The minimum amount should be 20 minutes, and there is no maximum amount. I used to play for 4 hours a day when I started.

In your practice routine, you should include a mix of something fun, something hard, and some sort of drill.

For something fun, play whatever you want to play. You can play a favorite song or something that you're very comfortable with. For something hard, pick something that is out of reach and try to master it. This will play in to the third element: some sort of drill. Have this drill built around the thing that you are trying to master.

Figure out the most basic components and practice them as slowly and as correct as possible. You are teaching your brain the correct way to play. Speed should not come until you master the drill correctly.

Don't focus on getting it fast, focus on how to get it right. When you join Guitarmann, you will be able to download a practice schedule that you can customize!

But for now, just keep in mind that mixing up your routine is the best way to both get better and have fun at the same time. So, stop reading and start playing already!

Stephen