Practice Routine Generator

The Practice Routine Generator www.GuitarLessons.com

As guitar players we all want to get better! I know that our hectic lives and schedules can sometimes make it difficult to get in the practice time that we need in order to feel like we are making real progress on the guitar. This Practice Routine Generator is designed to help get the most out of your practice time even if you don’t have that much. It will help you build an efficient playing schedule that will maximize your practices and achieve lasting results! To get started, you will need to determine your short and long-term guitar goals. This might include anything from learning a few of your favorite songs to memorizing scales and playing leads. It’s really up to you to determine how much time and energy you want to invest in your abilities. Below you will find four practice routine options. Make sure you consider your schedule and goals in order to make a realistic selection from these four levels of commitment. It is better to start with something you know you will be able to stick with, than to over commit and set yourself up for failure. You can always change your mind in the future, and make adjustments if you need to.

Casual Practice Schedule 20 minutes each day practicing from one sub-category below.

Motivated Practice Schedule 40 minutes each day practicing from two sub-categories below.

Dedicated Practice Schedule 60 minutes each day practicing from three sub-categories below.

Virtuoso Practice Schedule 2 hours or more each day practicing from six or more sub-categories below.

Once you have selected a schedule, you can decide how you want to invest that time in the five basic core aspects of playing that are vital for any guitar player. These categories include: Musical Playing, Technical Playing, Styles, Theory Reading & Ear Training and Scales and Chords. By faithfully spending time in each of these areas, you will become a well-rounded guitarist. Each of these five categories contain five different ways you can improve your abilities. Feel free to choose the sub-categories that best suit your own specific playing goals. Depending on your guitar goals you may be able to completely ignore some of the sub-categories. Here are all of the options:

Practice Routine Categories www.GuitarLessons.com

This example schedule shows how planning your practice times can help you get the most out of your guitar playing. You can change it up however you like to make it personal. After day 5, you can chose to repeat the same routine, or pick different sub-categories from each main category.

Musical Playing

Chords & Scales

Technical Playing

Theory Ear Training & Reading

Learn New Songs

New Chords

Strumming

Building Scales

Jam With Friends

Chord Progressions

Alternate Picking

Building Chords

Pentatonic & Blues Scales Major & Minor Scales

Legato & Bending

Reading Notation

Finger Picking

Reading TABs

Listen to New Styles of Music

Left Hand Execises

Interval & Chord Recognition

Learn New Songs

Play-Along Songs Learn New Riffs Jam Track Improv

Modes

Styles Preferred Style Practice Listen/Watch Preferred Styles Favorite Player’s Licks

Building your custom practice routine is as simple as dedicating 20 minutes a day to any of the sub-categories to fill up your schedule. If you chose the Casual Schedule, you would practice a single sub-category each day, alternating between the five main categories from day to day. In other words, day one would start with something from Musical Playing, day two would build on something from Chords & Scales and day three would be spent working on your Technical Playing. When you get to day six you can choose to repeat the same schedule or pick something new from each category. If you have more than 20 minutes per day to practice you can either pick multiple sub-categories from each main category, or you can simply pick multiple sub-categories from two or more main categories. On the next page, we will take a look at a sample practice routine to show you how you might use the Motivated Practice Schedule option. Then, you can take and apply this system to reach your own goals!

Example Schedule www.GuitarLessons.com

This example schedule shows how planning your practice times can help you get the most out of your guitar playing. You can change it up however you like to make it personal. After day 5, you can chose to repeat the same routine, or pick different sub-categories from each main category. You should be aware that you don’t have to pick two items to practice form the same category. You can mix an match any item from different category to fill your pre-determined practice time.

Motivated Practice Schedule 40 minutes each day practicing from two sub-categories below.

Musical Playing - Day 1 Learn New Songs

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Chords & Scales - Day 2

Technical Playing - Day 3

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New Chords

Strumming

Jam With Friends

Chord Progressions

Play-Along Songs

Pentatonic & Blues Scales

Learn New Riffs

Major & Minor Scales

Finger Picking

Modes

Left Hand Execises

Jam Track Improv



Theory Ear Training & Reading - Day 4 Building Scales



Building Chords Reading Notation

Alternate Picking



Legato & Bending

Styles - Day 5 Preferred Style Practice Listen/Watch Styles





 

Favorite Players Licks

Reading TABs

Listen to New Styles

Interval & Chord Rec.

Learn New Songs

Now, it’s time to create your own Practice Routine! On the next sheet, you will find a blank chart for you to fill out your own schedule. You can print out as many as you wish!

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The Practice Routine Generator www.GuitarLessons.com

Musical Playing - Day 1



Learn New Songs

New Chords

Strumming

Jam With Friends

Chord Progressions

Alternate Picking

Play-Along Songs


Legato & Bending

Learn New Riffs


Finger Picking

Jam Track Improv

Modes

Left Hand Execises


Styles - Day 5 Preferred Style Practice

Building Chords

Listen/Watch Styles

Reading Notation


Reading TABs



Learn New Songs

Musical Playing - Day 1



Learn New Songs

New Chords

Strumming

Jam With Friends

Chord Progressions

Alternate Picking

Play-Along Songs


Legato & Bending

Learn New Riffs


Finger Picking

Jam Track Improv

Modes

Left Hand Execises


Styles - Day 5 Preferred Style Practice

Building Chords

Listen/Watch Styles

Reading Notation


Reading TABs



Learn New Songs

BPM

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

115

120

125

130

135

140

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5

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This simple bar graph can be used to track the progress of your exercises that involve a metronome. The column on the far left is for the beats per minute. For example, if the fastest I could cleanly play a picking exercise was 70 beats per minute, I would lable the far left column starting with 70 and go up in intervals of 5 or 10 beats per minute. The bottom row just keeps track of the days that you practice. For every day that you practice you should draw a bar on that day up to the BPM that you reached during your practice session. Remember, your playing should be clean and clear before increaseing the metronome speed. The BPM column has been filled in on this example sheet but you will be filling it out on the blank sheets to suit your own particular playing level and needs. You should be tracking your progress on every exercise that involves a metronome. Make sure to print out as many Progress Tracking Sheets as you need and label them for the exercise that they are tracking.

Progress Tracking Sheet

The Practice Routine Generator

BPM

1

2

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5

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Progress Tracking Sheet

The Practice Routine Generator

Practice Routine Generator Chord and Scale Library Index

This chart is a simple way to keep track of what chords and scales you have learned or are currently learning. Seeing just how many chords or scales that you have learned can be very encouraging. Filling this sheet out and keeping it current can also be a great reference tool for when you are trying to figure out songs or even write one of your own.

Chords

Scales

Practice Routine Generator

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