The 10-Minute Guitar Practice Revolution: Making Every Second Count

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Finding yourself with only 10 minutes to practice guitar today? Don't put that instrument down! In this enlightening episode, Steve Stein tackles one of the most common challenges guitarists face: how to make meaningful progress when time is scarce and motivation fluctuates.

Steve dismantles the harmful "all-or-nothing" mindset that prevents many players from maintaining consistency. Drawing a powerful parallel to health maintenance, he explains how even brief, focused practice sessions serve as essential "maintenance" for your guitar skills—much like those daily two-mile runs your doctor might prescribe for heart health. On busy days, Steve recommends zeroing in on fundamentals: legato warmups, picking exercises, and other rudimentary techniques that prevent backsliding. When more time becomes available, that's when growth-oriented practice can take center stage.

Particularly valuable is Steve's advice on breaking practice into multiple short sessions throughout your day and following your natural motivation rather than forcing rigid routines. "I don't shut down my technique because I'm supposed to go do creative practice," he explains, emphasizing the importance of riding waves of inspiration when they come. This flexible yet disciplined approach forms the foundation of the Guitar Zoom Academy methodology, where students receive daily guidance rather than traditional weekly lessons.

Whether you're struggling to find time in a packed schedule or battling motivation issues that keep your guitar in its case, this episode provides practical strategies to ensure your progress continues—even if it's just ten minutes at a time. Remember Steve's simple but profound advice: "Practice on the days that you eat." Your future guitar self will thank you for establishing this relationship with your instrument, no matter how brief your daily sessions might be. Ready to transform your approach to practice? Grab your guitar and press play!

Links:

Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/

• Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
• GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
• Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .

Episode Transcript

Steve (00:00):
Hey, steve Stine from Guitar Zoom Academy.
Here and today we're going tobe talking about how to practice
when you have no time or anymotivation.
Okay, so let's just take anexample here.
Let's say you said to me look,I only have 10 minutes today to
practice.
Okay, sometimes that can bethis all-or-nothing attitude
that we get where, well, unlessI can practice three hours a day

(00:21):
, I'm just not even going topick up the guitar, and that's a
really, really bad way ofapproaching this.
If you only have 10 minutestoday, or 30 minutes today, or
whatever it might be, the mostimportant thing is making sure
that you spend that time wisely.
You can make good timeeffective time, I should say, or

(00:44):
effective practice out of that10 minutes or out of that 15
minutes that you might have.
You just have to have the rightmindset and understand what is
it that you need to focus onmost.
What I usually try and tellpeople is, if you have a minimal
amount of time in a day topractice, okay, saturday you're
going to have two hours topractice, but today is Friday,
it's a busy day, you don't havea lot of time.

(01:05):
You've only got 10 or 15minutes.
So let's be smart about whatwe're going to work on that day.
So, for instance, if I onlyhave 10 or 15 minutes, I'm
probably not going to startsomething new right?
Or go into a topic of practicethat's going to require more
time than 10 or 15 minutes.

(01:25):
Okay, I might just try and hitthe rudiments, and that's often
what I will tell people is onthe days when you have less time
, focus on fundamentals, focuson rudiments that you know you
need to do.
And think of it this way If youwere told by your doctor that
you should run two miles a day,okay, for whatever reason, you

(01:48):
need to maintain this level ofhealth for yourself, and so you
need to eat less red meat andyou need to practice, or you
need to run two miles a day orsomething like that.
Okay, so in order to maintain,you need to do that two miles a
day and then eat less red meat,or whatever it might be.
So on Saturday, maybe youdecide you want to run three

(02:11):
miles because you have extratime and you enjoy running,
right, if you hate it, you'reprobably not going to do it, and
let's hope you don't hateguitar playing.
So if you decide you want torun three miles that day because
you have more time and you wantto elevate.
You don't just want to maintain, but you actually want to
elevate.
So on the days when you havemore time, you want to run a

(02:31):
little bit longer and yourdoctor's like that's okay, you
should do that, that'sbeneficial for you.
Okay, so on the 10 minute daysin our example, we're running
those two miles.
Okay, we're not necessarilygetting faster or running longer
, but we're maintaining becausethe only other option is is that

(02:53):
we don't run two miles a dayand then, unfortunately, we
don't have a heart attack orwhatever.
It might be something terrible.
Right, like the doctor said, weneed to be doing this and we
don't do that.
So that's how I think aboutfundamental or rudimentary
practice.
When you have minimal amount oftime, do focus, practice, turn
off the TV, don't be on yourphone, all these kind of things.

(03:16):
Even if you only have 10minutes, spend it with a quality
routine.
That will get you some sort ofmaintenance, right, if that
makes sense.
So you know, for me it would belike my legato warmups.
That's something that I woulddo every day in my picking Okay,
alternate picking, that sort ofthing.
There's just a basic routinethat I run through all the time.

(03:37):
It's not that I'm necessarilygoing to get faster or stronger
because of that, but at the veryleast I'm certainly not going
to slip backwards, and that'svery important.
And then, on the days when I dohave more time, now I can make
some choices on well, I'm goingto do my routine.
Obviously I'm going to do thatbecause I always do this,
because that's my maintenance.
But then I'm going to do thisand I'm going to work on this,

(03:57):
I'm going to work on this right,and some days I'm going to do
my routine and then I'm justgoing to my routine and then I'm
just going to dive intosongwriting or dive into
improvisation, or it's a reallygreat technique day.
So I'm diving into techniqueand I'm going to do that for a
long time.
These are all choices that Ican make.
So it's easier when you havemore time, but when you have
less time, you have to reallystart making some some you know

(04:21):
conscious decisions on what todo with that time, versus I just
don't have enough time, so I'mnot going to pick it up.
That's a bad way of looking atit.
Okay, now, if it's somethingthat's very casual maybe the TV
is on it.
Maybe you're just runningthrough some you know scratching
or something like that Ifyou've heard me talk about that
sort of thing, which we do allof that in the academy as well
but maybe you're doing somethinglike that, or maybe you're

(04:42):
doing a finger picking thing, ormaybe you're running through an
exercise, or you know a lift, ariff that you're learning for a
song or you know whatever itmight be, and that's fine,
there's nothing wrong with that.
But the most important thing isis that you're grabbing that
guitar every day and and andmaintaining that friendship with
that guitar.
Right, you have the guitarsomewhere where, just every

(05:02):
single day, you tell yourself Ineed to practice on the days
that I eat, and so you pick upthat guitar, even if it's only
five or 10 minutes.
Okay, some people practice fiveor 10 minutes throughout the
day, so they might grab it rightbefore.
You know.
Grab the pick up the guitarright before work or something
and just warm up a little bit,or before school or whatever it

(05:23):
might be.
And then, after you get home,you know you play a little bit
and do whatever hang out withthe family, whatever it might be
and then in the evening yougrab the guitar again and play a
little bit.
So maybe you're only gettingfive or 10 minutes throughout
the day, but maybe each one ofthose you're focusing on
something a little bit different.
In the morning you were justdoing some legato warmups, and
then you know when you got homeyou know the first thing you do

(05:43):
is you do some scale or some.
You know technique things withum, you know picking and
whatever it might be.
And then maybe in the afternoonor in the evening when you grab
the guitar, the third time youknow maybe that's when you're
trying to work on some sort ofsong thing or whatever it might
be.
And you know none of these arelong periods of time, but you're
still getting regular practice,intervals of practice

(06:05):
throughout the day, which isgreat.
So some people are really goodwith a two hour practice.
Some people are really goodwith just, you know, a few 20
minutes here and there, thatthat kind of work.
And then you know when Saturdaycomes along and you've got more
time, maybe that's when you hitit.
The other thing I'll remind youtoo that I think is really
important is motivation and theway you're feeling that day.
So when I was younger I used tohave kind of a routine that I

(06:31):
had set up on a daily basis of Iwas going to do this for 20
minutes and then this for 20minutes and this for, you know,
30 minutes and all that sort ofthing.
And again, if that works foryou, I think that's great and it
certainly worked for me for awhile.
But what I started recognizingis that it's almost easier for
me to go with the way I'mfeeling that day.
I'm not making choices based onbeing lazy, I'm making choices

(06:55):
based on the productivity ofthat day and how I feel.
So if I feel on fire fortechnique that day, I don't shut
down my technique because I'msupposed to go do creative
practice or something like that.
I don't shut down my techniquebecause I'm supposed to go do,
you know, creative practice orsomething like that.
I don't shut it down, I go.
And if I'm having a morecreative day and you know the
creative juices are flown andI'm feeling really good about my

(07:16):
practice, I don't shut thatdown just because I'm supposed
to go practice technique Now, Idon't do that.
The difference here is I'm notavoiding one or the other
because I don't want to do it.
The difference here is is thatI'm I'm on a roll that day, I'm
feeling good about something andI want to keep working through
this experience that I'm havingthat day, and so you know that,

(07:38):
to me, can be very motivatingversus forcing myself to do
something on a day when it'sjust not really working for me.
All right.
So remember, if you'reinterested, do me a favor, check
out the Guitar Zoom Academy.
Learn what it's about, see ifit's something that might work
for you.
You know we work personallywith each and every student on a

(07:58):
daily basis.
You know setting up a practiceplan for you, keeping you
accountable, assessment time, oryou play for me, you, me.
You grab your guitar, we gettogether, we talk about what
you're doing, what's working,what's not working, and we do
this again.
It's not a 30-minute lesson orsomething like that a week.
We do this on a daily basis, soyou know exactly what you're
supposed to be doing, you knowexactly how to do it, and when

(08:19):
you feel like you're a littlestuck, you just have a
conversation that day and thenget right back to work.
It's an amazing thing.