Practice Templates Are (Usually) Bullsheet – Here’s Why
They are guidelines, not to-do lists
Hey Friends,
Last week, we touched on a very important topic of why we should slow down our practice if we want to make music, which I was really excited to rediscover in my practice routine too. And I felt that since we're talking about practicing, I’d like to tackle a common issue that many of us face: practice templates and why they often fall short.
I think when someone shows you a practice plan to get good, and they say “start with these 5 arpeggio exercises, do these scales and this other something”, that should already be suspicious, but I see an overwhelming amount of those types of stuff all over the internet. I think the closest we can do is to explain what worked for us personally, and make suggestions based on our experiences.
Let’s get this straight: practicing and playing an instrument is a highly personal experience. No one can tell you exactly what to practice and for how long (not even me), especially because we all have so many different goal with playing music. For example, I use different methods to teach my students who want to be proficient at playing classical guitar music exclusively and the ones who are trying to find their voice on this instrument and express themselves. The best practice planners provide guidelines to follow, not a precise recipe for success. Everyone's goals and areas for improvement are unique, so your practice routine should reflect that.
So, here’s an idea that may help you to figure out your new routine: Consider all the areas you want to improve and set a realistic amount of time you can dedicate to practice each day (as I mentioned earlier when I talked about planning your ideal day and setting your habits). Divide that time among the different areas you want to focus on. For example, my current morning practice routine looks like this: a few minutes of warm-up, playing one guitar piece, practicing two pieces for 2x15 minutes each, and improvising a bit or writing eight bars of music regardless of how long it takes and how terrible it sounds. This routine takes around 1,5 hours in total, and I like to take a few notes at the end, maybe another 5 mins.
You are more than welcome to customize your practice routine with any tasks you want to improve. But regularly revise your practice plan every few weeks, adding or discarding elements as needed and upgrading the ones where you've made progress. Remember, it's important not to just practice pieces all the time. Improve adjacent areas of music like theory and improvisation as well. Music analysis is also often forgotten by self-taught guitarists, but should also be part of your process.
Here are some main areas you can target (these are just examples you can try on):
Technique
Musicality
Repertoire
Theory
Ear training
Sight reading
A well-rounded, balanced practice plan might look like this (1.5-2 hours per day – again, this is just one example):
5 min warm-up of personally selected exercises
2-3 min performing a piece of your repertoire
10 min sight-reading
20 min exercises on fundamental techniques, with a little extra focus on the stuff you feel bad about (e.g., hammer-ons, pull-offs, barre chords, stretching, scales, arpeggios, tremolo, etc.)
2x15-20 min on a piece, combining technical practice with musicality, slow practice with speedbursts, and a final try at a challenging pace to see where you are and improve stamina and reaction time
10 min analyzing a piece or learning a new chord and all its positions on the fretboard
10 min free improvisation or composing 4–8 bars of music
Sounds great, right? But keep in mind that your practice routine should be as unique as you are. It's about finding what works best for you and sticking with it. Don’t be afraid to make changes and adapt as you grow as a musician. The goal is to keep improving and enjoying the process. Personally, I don’t do tremolo exercises when I don’t play tremolo pieces. There’s just no time for it. You need to set priorities based on your goals.
New Video
Speaking of practicing: it’s never going to be perfect. We all make mistakes, smalls or bigger ones. In my latest video, I collected six big mistakes guitarists tend to make, whether beginners or professionals. Many of these points are mistakes I also make! Check it out and let me know how you like this slower, more conversational and less edited video style.
Customized Guitar Lessons
If you want to experience what it's like to practice and improve your guitar playing in a personalized way, feel free to book a lesson with me – I'm more than happy to help you put together a customized practice plan, supervise and aid your progress.
Have a great week!
Beatrix