How You Should Divide Up Your Guitar Practice Time

One of the most commonly asked questions among guitar players is about organizing their practice time.  Many guitarists wonder what they should be practicing on guitar every day and how much time to spend on each musical area.

The specifics of how and what you should be doing when practicing guitar depend on a variety of factors, such as your current skill level, your specific guitar playing challenges and what it is you are working towards as a musician.  That being said, there are several general concepts about organizing your guitar practice time that will make your practicing a lot more effective.  You can apply them right away, regardless of your current guitar playing ability or the amount of time you have available for practicing guitar. 

Here is what you need to keep in mind from now on as you are planning your guitar practice sessions:

Different Musical Skills Are Learned Best When They Are Practiced For Different Amounts Of Time And In Different Frequencies
Some areas of your guitar playing are best learned when you practice them less frequently but for longer periods of time during each practice session.  Examples of musical skills in this category include working on your improvising, songwriting and repertoire.  It is best to practice these areas a little less frequently (such as 3-4 days per week) to give yourself time to improve your general musical skills which you would then apply to creative activities such as songwriting and improvising.  If you practice improvising or songwriting too often, you won't give yourself enough time to improve as a guitar player and musician in a way that will enable you to be a more expressive improviser and composer.  Because you are working on these musical areas less frequently, you should dedicate a significant portion of your guitar practice time to these activities on the days when you do work on them. 

Other musical skills need to be practiced very frequently but can be practiced for only a few minutes each practice session.  Examples of such skills that need more frequent practice but can be worked on for only a few minutes per practice session include: ear training, vibrato/bending, fretboard note memorization, learning to read music (if that is part of your goals) and phrasing.  It is not necessary to practice these skills for too long, but if you set aside at least a few minutes of your guitar practicing time to work on them daily, you will see great improvement. 

Still other musical skills should be practiced as close to every day as possible for a moderate amount of your practice time.  General guitar technique, rhythm guitar playing and learning about music theory are examples of items in this category.

So as you are deciding on how to best allocate your limited guitar practice time, being aware of the concepts above will help you get the most from each minute you spend practicing guitar.  The specifics of how much "you" need to practice each of the musical skills listed above (or whether or not you need to practice all of them) is dictated by your specific needs, goals and challenges.  You should ask a more experienced guitar player (or a good guitar teacher) about how to create a highly specific guitar practice routine for you, however, the guidelines listed above will give you enough ideas to begin approaching this process on your own. 

To Make Your Guitar Practice Schedule More Flexible, Schedule Time In Percentages Rather Than In Hours And Minutes
This means decide exactly what part of your guitar practice you will spend on the musical skills you are looking to improve and use that guideline when creating your guitar practice schedules.  For example, if you know that roughly 10% of your guitar practice time on Wednesdays should be spent on practicing your vibrato technique, then regardless of the amount of practice time you have available on Wednesday, you will know to spend 10% of it on practicing vibrato.  This will help you to stay organized and on track with your guitar practicing even if your amount of available practice time varies from day to day. 

Create A Guitar Practice Routine That Will Have You Practicing A Variety Of Things Each Day
It is better for your guitar playing to practice a variety of skills each day instead of spending too much guitar practice time on one thing to the exclusion of all others.  Many guitar players make the mistake of focusing on 1 or 2 skills too much.  A very common example of this is lead guitar players who completely abandon working on skills such as rhythm guitar playing, vibrato and phrasing and spending all of their time on building their speed with advanced guitar techniques.  As a result, their playing sounds advanced only in a few areas but many other musical skills remain far behind.  By working on several musical areas during each practice session, your skills will all develop at the same time and will not get out of balance with each other. 

Applying the guitar practicing concepts outlined above will help you to get the most from every guitar practice session you have.

Learn how to practice guitar to become an awesome guitarist.