The Holistic Practice Routine

There is certainly no one-size-fits-all practice schedule. So how should you practice guitar?

I call it The Holistic Practice Routine. It's a system that I've developed over the years that breaks guitar practice down into six areas. It also considers that we all have different needs and that our practice routine should reflect them.

Understanding how guitar playing works and how each area of practice interacts with each other is the biggest deal here. It's fine if you decide not to use the system we'll learn in this lesson, as long as you understand each of the basic principles of guitar playing and apply that knowledge. Now - what are they? I'm glad you asked!

But before we get stuck in and learn the 6 essential things that I suggest you practice, remember that you can, and should, adapt your practice schedule. If you're following this free beginner course, we'll soon get into setting your guitar goals and managing your practice time effectively.

For now, just remember to adapt your practice schedule to fit your guitar needs - don't forget to think about the big picture!

💡 The Whole Body Approach

Using the analogy of our own body, you wouldn’t want to go to the gym and work on just your weakest arm or your favorite arm. You wouldn’t get it looking super buff without working on the rest of your body at the same time, would you? Would look pretty strange!

When it comes to guitar practice, it's the same. You won't become a better guitar player if you only practice the things you enjoy or the things you're really struggling with. You must understand how the different parts work together to put them effectively in your practice routine.

So, what are the essential areas of guitar practice?

I see them falling into six categories, and we'll explore them one by one - but not in order of importance! The last ones are probably the most important, but we'll learn in an order that will help you make sense of it all! Also, don't forget: we're all different guitar players with different practice needs. You might adjust these according to your guitar goals. As general advice, just make sure you don't overdo #1. Now let's reveal those fundamental areas every guitar player should know.

6 Guitar Areas You Should Practice

Depending on your big picture, you should manipulate the amount of time you spend in each practice area. Think about your goals, the music you love, and your strengths and weaknesses. You might potentially drop some of these areas if they are not relevant!

#1 - Technique

The Technique category works out the physical mechanics of your playing. It's like going to the gym! Are your fingers flexible and fast enough? Can you synchronize your movements? Are you able to bend in tune? Are you picking accurately? Those are all things that you can improve when practicing your Guitar Technique.

🎸 If you're following my Beginner Guitar Course, you'll always get a suggested practice routine in Grades 1 & 2, which works great for guitarists learning from scratch with me. For this Grade 3, we'll keep that very same structure, as we're still working on some structural learning bricks. :) But, as we get closer to our Intermediate grades, I'd recommend you start working on adapting my suggestions to your particular needs!

Always keep in mind that, as different guitarists that we all are, we'll have different needs for Technique practice. Our anatomy, our guitar background, the music we want to play - many different things influence the Techniques you should practice. So, no need will be able to forever tell you what to do! Only you can make decisions.

That said - don't skip the basics. There are a few Technique things that most players will benefit from - as exercises to help you develop your pick accuracy or the synchronization between your hands. As a rule of thumb, ensure you know why you're practicing a certain skill. If you don't really know WHY you're exercising something, you're unlikely to benefit from doing it.

#2 Knowledge

Knowledge includes theory but also the application of it. Guitar Knowledge includes things you should know that will help you in the real world: keys, scales, arpeggios, modes, licks, chord grips… There's a lot of things you can put in this spot, so you need to choose wisely!

Knowledge helps you sort out your guitar fretboard and manipulate chords and grips. When sorting out your effective practice routine, you'll need to find a balance between knowing things and actually being able to play them.

So, make sure you focus on playing - and sounding good. At the end of the day, playing guitar is all about expressing ourselves through the music we love!

#3 Repertoire

Your repertoire is really what it all boils down to - what do you want to play? The other practice areas will help you play the songs you put here! Without songs to play, you can't really perform, express yourself or even entertain friends at a party.

🎸 If you stick around with our Beginner Grade 3 course, we'll soon learn the 3 Types of Songs You Should Practice (To Become a Better Guitar Player).

Then - when setting up your practice routine, make sure you include the Technique and Knowledge content you need to play your repertoire!

#4 Ear Training

Many guitarists often neglect Ear Training, but it is one of the most important and rewarding areas to study. Ear Training can be as fundamental as hearing a song and finding it on your guitar. But how to even get started with Ear Training?

Well, transcribing is one of the best ways to train your ears! That means you'll work on a song and figure out its chords and rhythm. If you're following my Beginner Guitar Course, we get started with transcribing right at the beginning of our Grade 3! Transcribing songs is easier than you might think, but there is a steep learning curve when you start. You just have to start off with easy songs and an effective pathway - just like we do in our lessons!

Ear Training develops the relationship between your 'inner ear,' your musical imagination, and your hand, which increases your ability to express yourself. A great test is to try and play Happy Birthday on guitar without any external help. Start on any note, and off you go. Can you sort that out?

💡 Learning a song from a songbook or my song lessons is great practice. Still, nothing is as good to develop your musicianship as learning songs by using your ears!

When you sort out music by yourself, you develop an important ability that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise! So, please - don't neglect Ear Training. If you ask me, the great guitar players that we know from a few decades back play the way they do because they had no choice but to develop their musicianship and sort out music on their own. I bet you can imagine there weren't many tabs or sheet music back in the day! :)

#5 Time

The longer I play, the more I think that Time is really where the whole thing is. All the greats have amazing time feel, solid time, and 'in the pocket' grooves. Solid time makes people tap their feet, nod their heads, get involved with the music. Rhythm is what makes music a universal language! If you don't get your time right, your audience will have trouble connecting with your playing. When your time is good, you get people's attention.

Beginners should make their strumming patterns feel good, and Intermediate guitarists can work on their riffs, scales, licks. Advanced players should ensure that they get their septuplet subdivisions right on.

💡 Explore your weaknesses! Does your strumming feel wonky? You might want to revisit some basics. Can't get it feeling good? Practicing with muted strings might help! Want more tips? Check out these 11 tricks to help you get better strumming patterns!

Now, let's talk about #6. The last is we'll explore what might be optional for many guitar players - but it's probably my favorite one!

#6 Improvisation

Improvisation is important for those that want to do it! If you're a songwriter and not interested in lead guitar, it may not be as relevant, so that you might drop it. But if you want to play Jazz or Blues solos, this needs to be a priority as this is where you will put it all together with your band or a backing track.

How much improvisation you practice really depends on what type of guitarist you want to be and how much that skill matters to you! Later on in this Beginner Course, we'll talk about goal setting and how to plan your practice routine now to become the guitarist you want to be in the future.

Ok - that's pretty much it; those are the six areas of guitar practice you should be exploring. The way you'll organize them within each other will vary according to your guitar affinities.

🚨 Many guitar players spend far too long practicing their technique! They develop incredible chops but have nothing to say, no understanding of what they’re saying, and no songs to say it in! Practicing your guitar technique is important, but it’s just part of your development. Without the other elements, you’re unlikely to feel satisfied.

Now, you're asking...

How should you organize your practice?

Well, if you're following this Beginner Guitar Course, you'll find a suggested practice routine by the end of each module, just like we did in Grades 1 & 2. For Grade 3, you'll get suggestions of two elements for each of these six areas. Each element has 5 minutes of duration, which means you'll get an an-hour routine.

You can adapt the routine to fit your guitar needs!

What if you can't practice for a full hour? 🥺

Nothing to be sad about! An hour is quite a lot - and sometimes I do not have a full hour to practice either! So, if you can't do an hour's practice a day, which is quite a lot, break it down into two practice sessions. You can do half an hour on one day and the other half on the next day.

💡 Try and remember to spend as much time on the fun playing as you can, though! At this stage, it's important to spend as much time on the fun playing as you do on focused practice.

Make sure you make time to just play your guitar. Sometimes, instead of dedicating your practice time to a set schedule, you'd be better off just playing songs or doing whatever. You should enjoy your instrument!

Particularly as we leave the beginner levels and reach the intermediate stages, it's important to focus on getting some fun with your guitar time. If you stay super focused on a routine without doing the fun stuff, you're likely to get bored - and that's the last thing you want!

Keep that fun element in your practice routine even if you're through the Intermediate stages. Suppose you plan to be a professional guitar player; in that case, you might need to practice like 8 hours a day. But, if that's not your case, if you don't aim to be a professional musician, just balance between developing your guitar skills and having fun!

Getting a better understanding of these areas will help you wisely use your guitar time. As you develop as a musician, you'll naturally adjust your time to fit your needs. Sometimes, you'll find yourself transcribing for a few hours a week because you really enjoy it or because you really need to develop that skill! For now - just make sure you focus on finding what works best for you.

💡 Practicing a bit every day is better than practicing a lot at once and then spending days without any practice at all. ;)

If you struggle with your practice's regularity and consistency, try the 5-minute practice trick! I'm sure you can find five minutes every day, so try and sit with your guitar for at least those five minutes.

Keep Your Motivation High!

As we go through our Practice lessons, at the beginning of each module of this Grade 3 course, we'll learn my secrets to keep motivation high and stick with your practice schedule. For now, trust the process, and remember that this Holistic Practice Routine is here to help you!

Now, we'll get into Chord Manipulation! Let's turn your D Chord into something AWESOME.