Top 6 Guitar Practice Tips

Here’s my ultimate guitar practice breakdown. These are the things you should cover when you practice. I have also included a rough percentage of time that you should spend on them. I find that it’s easy to get into bad habits when practising. These can include overplaying, poor technique, practising too fast, and avoiding some important musical considerations.

 1. Some Technique 20% 

• scales

• arpeggios

• slurs

• finger independence

• plating/preparation

• speed

2. Difficult Passages 20%

• with metronome

• be playful and inventive

• try not to get bogged down

3. Musicality 20%

• Story

• contrast

• tension/release

• phrasing

• dynamics

• tonal contrast

• articulation

4. Learning new repertoire 20%

•  Try and learn a variety of styles

• research the context and composer/player

• memorisation

• ensemble or chamber repertoire

5. Stretching/relaxing/thinking/planning 10%

•  Take regular breaks, clear your mind

• Stand up and stretch, relax your body

• Plan a little, ask yourself “is this the best use of my time?”

• organisation

• Think about what you want to do, and how you can have fun

6. Older repertoire 10% 

•  keep older pieces active, its always good to maintain a solid repertoire for gigs, concerts and dinner parties!

• Sometimes you can revisit pieces with new insights