Practice routine and guitarist's health
Guitar · Theory on the fretboard and practice routine · Level 2 · 10 min
Progress on the guitar depends less on talent than on regularity. Twenty minutes a day beat three hours on Sunday: fingers and brain consolidate during rest.
A typical 30-minute session
| Time | Content |
|---|---|
| 3 min | Tuning and warm-up: slow chromatic 1-2-3-4 on each string, gentle stretches |
| 7 min | Technique: scales, arpeggios, chord changes (the one-minute drill) |
| 15 min | Repertoire: one piece in progress, in small sections, then all the way through |
| 5 min | Fun: improvise over a backing track, or play a piece you already know |
M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/4=60 K:C clef=treble-8 F, ^F, G, ^G, A, ^A, B, C | ^C D ^D E F ^F G ^G | A ^A B c ^c d ^d e | f ^f g ^g a4 |]
Practising efficiently
- Isolate the difficulty: two bars, slowly, ten perfect times rather than fifty sloppy ones.
- Use the pieces' Wait mode: the app waits for the right note before moving on.
- Record yourself every week: it is the best free teacher.
Health
- Take a 5-minute break every 25-30 minutes; shake out your hands, stretch your forearms.
- No “character-building” pain: sharp pain in the wrist, elbow or shoulder means stop.
- Relaxed fretting thumb, low shoulders, straight back; a strap or footstool at the right height.
- Protect your ears when playing amplified: keep a sensible volume and wear earplugs at rehearsals.
Keep a notebook: date, duration, tempo reached on each exercise. Seeing your progress in black and white is the best motivation.