Last week we talked about 6 of the most common mistakes guitarists make with their practice.  It’s obviously very useful to know what not to do.  But, more importantly, you need to know what you should do instead.  

I’m putting together a checklist here to help you make sure you are optimizing your practice time.  If you follow these strategies to the letter, you will see tremendous growth in your playing abilities in an amazingly short period of time. It just works.  

Practicing what you feel like can be fun, but it’s not enough.  

If you’ve been curious about what separates you from the masters, one big difference could be that they know something that you don’t.  But if you know this stuff and you still don’t apply it then that is the biggest difference. 

So let’s take a look at everything that you should already have figured out before you practice each day.

Reason/Motive

Before you even consider anything else on this list, you have to know your reason for pursuing the guitar.  What are you trying to accomplish?  What drew you to the guitar in the first place? 

We’ve talked about this before and we’ll talk about it again.  This is the single most important determiner in regards to the results you will get with the guitar.  

Have you ever been amazed by a person’s determination, tenacity and sticktuitiveness?  Do you know where they got those traits from?  There is only one place: they had a strong reason for doing what they do. 

Here is a simple way of thinking about it:

What do you want more at any given moment?  

a. comfort and enjoyment 

b. the fulfillment of a long-term goal

If you have a tendency to choose option “a,” then you don’t have a strong enough reason.  So dig deep and find the reason that will drive you to sacrifice the present for the future.  

It’s in there.  You just have to find it.

Overarching guitar goals

This one may seem self-explanatory, but this list would be worthless without it.  While finding your reason might also encompass setting a long-term fulfillment goal (achieving a certain status, state of mind, lifestyle, etc.), it’s now super important to set a specific long-term guitar goal.  This goal will determine your overall trajectory with your practice. 

Who are the guitarists you’d like to be able to play like?  What kind of styles and techniques would you like to be able to master?  

Now, this goal should evolve over time.  The more you learn, the better you can hone in on where you want to go.  But, for now, it’s important to come up with some definition of where you want to go with your practice in the long-term.

What do you imagine yourself playing and being able to play on the guitar in 10 years?

Clear plan

Now that you have a powerful reason and a long-term guitar goal, it’s time to get to work.  However, you never want to pursue action at random.  You will require some kind of structured plan that will tell you what you need to do each day and let you know if you’re slacking.  While this is all about ensuring consistent progress, it’s also hugely about self-accountability.  

In order for this to work well, you need to set yourself up to succeed.  In other words, don’t get too ambitious with your practice schedule at first because you’ll only end up burning yourself out.  You need to work your way up to the practice “big leagues.”  

Set an amount of time that you intend to practice each day.  How do you want to break up that time?  This could also be seen as setting midterm goals, such as learning a certain song or specific techniques.  

Give yourself a week to fine tune and modify this plan to make sure that it will really work and that you can stick to it.  If it turns out that planning to practice 3 hours a day is just too much to juggle with your job and family, be willing to trim that down a bit.  Figure out what you can and will stick with and then lock that in by the end of the week. You may also need to give yourself a day off from practice as part of your weekly schedule.

Remember that this is all about ensuring that you keep to the schedule and don’t get burned out.  Think about the type of things that cause you to procrastinate and take those into account.  Don’t worry, once you’ve been keeping up with the routine for awhile it will be difficult to break.  

Okay, here is an example of a Practice Plan:

1. 10 minutes of scale warm-ups with sequences

2. 10 minutes of improvisation with backing track

3. 30 minutes of repetitive metronome work for alternate picking speed

4. 30 minutes of repetitive metronome work for sweep picking

5. 30 minutes of repetitive metronome work for song section with alternate picking and sweep picking

6. 20 minutes to an hour of “jam practice” or playing whatever you feel like 

Proper practice method

I’ve talked about this a lot in the past, so I won’t overdo it here.  To put it simply, you need to make sure you’re practicing using practice methods that ensure optimal results.  

When you’re learning something new that is at the limits of your playing ability, practice with a metronome and follow the step by step process I’ve laid out below.  There are no two ways about it. 

Do you want to master the guitar? 

Then you must do this:  

1. Memorize the pattern you will be practicing

2. Find a BPM setting that is so slow that it is easy for you to play the pattern perfectly

3. Run the pattern with the metronome until you get 5 renditions in a row without a single mistake.  Be hard on yourself with this!  You should be starting the 5 over again with even the slightest mistake.  

4. Increase the metronome by 2 BPM

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you can’t get 5 renditions perfectly in a row

6. Stop practicing that pattern for the day

With each subsequent day, you should be starting and ending at higher BPMs than you did the day before.  You will be tempted to rush it and skip upwards.  Do NOT rush it.  The BPM you start with must always be super easy for you and the BPM you end with must always be at the very limit of how fast you can play it that day without making a mistake.  

You now have the ultimate secrets of mastery.  The question you have to ask yourself is, will you use them or will you continue with the same old habits?

Dan Mumm

Ready for that next challenge?  Check out my massive catalog of guitar related products, covering everything from Metal versions of Classical pieces, Neo-Classical Shred technique, Sweep Picking, and more!  See what’s on sale today at the link below:

www.Sellfy.com/DanMumm

…that are holding you back

So we’ve talked quite a bit about practice in these articles.  We’ve gone over how practice is a skill in itself and, if you’re looking to master guitar, the simple act of practicing is not enough.

It’s important to pay attention to your practice methods and determine what is working and what is not.  If you’ve been practicing the same way for years and you haven’t seen serious progress, it’s clear that you haven’t approached practicing correctly.  Thankfully, it’s never too late to remedy.  

Let’s take a look at what most guitarists get wrong about practice…

1. Jam Practice

If you practice the guitar by picking it up when you feel like it and then only “practice” what you feel like – you aren’t practicing.  You’re jamming.

Now, “jamming” has its own benefits and isn’t something you should stop doing.  Beyond being enjoyable, it allows you to think more laterally and make connections you might not make otherwise.  However, it can never be seen as a replacement for actual practice.

If you don’t dedicate consistent time to honing in on specific techniques or sections, you will never master the instrument. 

2. Rushing

If you try to increase your speed by simply attempting to play something as fast as you can, you’re actually doing serious harm to your ability to play the guitar with any degree of accuracy or fluidity.  It would be better to never try to play anything quickly then to attempt to force it.  Whatever way you repeat something is how you teach your muscle memory and subconscious to learn it.  

If you cement bad playing habits, your playing will always be sloppy.  

There is a correct way to increase your speed and you should never ignore it.  Practice with a metronome and always begin with a speed that makes it easy to play something 100% perfectly and then gradually increase the speed. 

If you practice it “perfectly,” you will play it “perfectly.” 

3. Sans Compass

If you don’t have a clear direction of where you’re going, you’ll never get there.  Having some kind of structure that tells you what you should be practicing, how much and when, is very important.  But setting clear goals for your guitar practice is absolutely critical.  

If you don’t have something in place that lets you know immediately if you are achieving the proper results or not, the future of your guitar skill is like a feather in a windstorm.  

4. Leaving things unfinished

If you’re in the habit of jumping from one thing to the next without ever perfecting anything, it’s important to stop and reevaluate your approach. 

And I mean, like right now. 

This habit simply destroys your ability to progress on the guitar.  Don’t allow it to continue for even one more moment.  You must clearly define what you’re working towards, hone in on it and stick to it until you’ve reached the finish line.

This problem is extremely common and there are a number of potential causes of it.  One is that you probably don’t have a clear hierarchy of goals.  It also could be the result of attempting things that are either too difficult or too easy for your current skill level.   And that brings us to… 

5. Practicing outside your skill level

The only time you should ever leave something unfinished on the guitar is when you’ve recognized that you’ve started on something too difficult for your current skill level.  

It’s critical that you find the right level of difficulty for your practice.  If it’s too challenging, you’ll get frustrated.  If it’s too easy, you’ll get bored.  The more you pay attention to this, the better you will become at judging what you should be practicing and how you should be formatting your practice. 

If you are constantly working on things that are frustratingly difficult for you, all you will achieve is an association of frustration with practice. 

When that happens, you’re in trouble. 

6. Trying to learn it all at once

For the final entry here we have a category that can apply to two separate practicing mistakes.  The first is overloading yourself with too many different techniques to learn all at one time.  The second is trying to learn an entire song or solo without breaking it up into digestible sections.  

Training your muscle memory requires a great deal of repetition on its own.  If you never take the time to hone in on one technique or section, you never give your brain the ability to lock it into place.  

Another thing that’s important to understand about how practice leads to mastery is the mind’s ability to continue practicing something after you put down the guitar.  This has been studied extensively.  If you practice one thing with extreme repetition, you will double the benefit of that practice time when you sleep on it.  However, if you split your focus among a wide variety of things, your mind will have no direction to focus on and you’ll simply miss out on the most powerful tool for mastery there is.  

Next week I’ll be back with a “practice check list” to help ensure that you are utilizing your practice time correctly and help you to get optimal results. 

If you need some new inspiration, check out my brand new album “Nonlinear Evolution” released just this past week.  It can be found on Spotify, iTunes and most digital distribution platforms.  I also have put together a package that contains the album, the complete lead guitar tabs and backing tracks which you can get here.

Dan Mumm

Check out last week’s article here: How to improvise without scales

Ready for that next challenge?  Check out my massive catalog of guitar related products, covering everything from Metal versions of Classical pieces, Neo-Classical Shred technique, Sweep Picking, and more!  See what’s on sale today at the link below:

www.Sellfy.com/DanMumm