Build Your Practice Routine with these 3 Steps

Send Steve a Text Message

Ever feel like your guitar practice isn't getting you anywhere? You might be missing key components in your practice routine. 

Guitar practice isn't just about mindlessly repeating exercises—it's about strategically balancing three distinct levels of musical development. The first level, visualization and theory, might be the most overlooked yet powerful component. Imagine improving your guitar skills without even touching your instrument! By drawing fretboard diagrams, mapping scales, or studying chord relationships during downtime, you're building a mental framework that accelerates progress when you do pick up your guitar.

The second level focuses on execution—developing the physical abilities that translate your musical knowledge into sound. This encompasses everything from basic finger strength to advanced techniques like sweep picking or fingerstyle patterns. What's fascinating is how different playing styles require different technical emphasis; a blues player might focus on bending and vibrato, while a classical guitarist might prioritize right-hand independence.

The third level brings everything together through creativity—transforming technical proficiency into musical expression. Whether you're improvising solos, writing songs, or simply making dynamic decisions while playing a cover, this is where your unique voice emerges. Some players naturally gravitate toward creative exploration, while others benefit from structured approaches to developing musicality.

By thoughtfully balancing these three levels in your practice routine, you'll experience more consistent growth and satisfaction in your playing. If you're feeling stuck or uncertain about what to practice, the Guitar Zoom Academy offers personalized guidance to help develop a practice plan tailored to your specific needs. Search for the link online and schedule a call to see if it's right for you. Remember, effective practice isn't about quantity—it's about quality, strategy, and balance.

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):
When you want to build a daily practice routine or even a
weekly practice routine.
What I try and get people tounderstand is really there's
three levels that I want you tothink about when it comes to
practice.
Level one is visualization andtheory.
Okay, so fretboardvisualization and music theory,
guitar theory, whatever you wantto call it.

(00:20):
So what's great about thislevel is that this is where all
of your studying is yourcomprehension, memorization.
So when you look down at yourfretboard and you want to see a
particular scale, whether or notyou can actually see it clearly
or whether or not there'scertain spots that are a little
bit fuzzy and what's great aboutthis practice level is that

(00:44):
this can be done when you don'thave your guitar with you.
You might be traveling or youmight be at work or something
like that.
I used to do this a lot in mystudy halls when I was in high
school, not even recognizingwhat I'm talking about right now
, but I would take, you know, achart and normally I'd have a
piece of paper and I would drawout a fretboard while I was in
my study hall and then, you know, put all the frets in and then

(01:05):
I would start drawing out thescale that I was trying to learn
, and then I would sit in mystudy hall and I would just
study how the positions connecttogether, and then I would, you
know, of course, keep that pieceof paper and then you know, the
next day I would do the samething, I would keep studying it
and then you know, the next dayI would do the same thing, I

(01:26):
would keep studying it.
And what's great about this isa lot of times when people say
well, you know, I don't haveenough practice time or I'm not,
you know, available to grab myguitar and practice enough.
Totally get it, but this issomething that you can do when
you don't have your guitar withyou.
So you might be studying actualtheory, like triads or the
major scale, or you know,whatever it might be, you know.

(01:48):
And then the other part is thevisualization aspect.
So, depending on if you're thekind of person that maybe
practices you know a few times aday or you're just looking for
different things to practice ondifferent days, depending on
what's you know, inspiring foryou that day, this level is a
really great one for spendingquality time trying to visualize
, trying to understand, tryingto comprehend scales, chords,

(02:12):
arpeggios again, fundamentaltheory, whatever it might be.
The second level that I want youto think about is the
executable level.
So this is our ability of beingable to have our fingers do the
things we want them to do inthe way we want them to do it
right.
So developing strength,developing speed, developing

(02:35):
stamina, to the extent that wesee the need right.
A shred guitar player is goingto try and develop those things,
maybe further than you, furtherthan a blues player might, but
again, these are generalizations, but you get the idea Acoustic
player might want to developfinger picking a little bit more

(02:55):
than something else.
Know this second level of whatit is that you need to be able
to get to the place you want togo with your guitar playing.
So, developing these skill setsand it could be anything from,
you know, rudimentary practiceof exercises in some way to

(03:15):
develop your picking or your,you know, flexibility of your
fingers or the strength in yourfingers or whatever it might be
Synchronicity between the twohands, again, finger picking
patterns, all that kind of stuffto bending, you know, and
vibrato, and all of those kindsof techniques, anything that's
an executable fits into this,and this is a pretty hefty

(03:37):
category, of course, but that'ssomething to think about.
So you need to balance that aswell.
And then, for me, the thirdlevel of this whole thing is the
creative aspect of playing.
And again, not trying to beoffensive in any way, but some
people require more creativityand some people maybe require a
little less creativity, althoughthere's certainly, you know,

(03:57):
musical creativity in all of us.
You know, if you were playing asong and you know you're
deciding when you want to struma little bit harder or a little
bit softer, you know the dynamicelement of the song.
That's a creative element, forsure.
Or maybe you're embellishingthose chords in a way that isn't
in the original cover song, butyou're doing it a certain way.

(04:19):
You like the sound of that.
Or you feel an impulse to wantto adjust certain things while
you're playing.
Again, a creative element,musical element.
But think about it even furtherdown the line.
If you were someone who's tryingto learn how to improvise and
you're trying to convert fromvisualizing scales and

(04:39):
practicing these scales tomaking the scales actually sound
musical, that's the creativelevel, for sure.
Maybe you're a songwriter,right, and you're trying to
figure out how to construct asong.
You know that would be acreative level, if you're maybe
visualizing the fretboard inlevel one.
But now what you want to do isyou really and you've been

(05:00):
practicing navigating thatvisual in your head you're
practicing navigating.
That's level two.
And now maybe what you want todo is you really want to start
trying to just exploremusicality and where you know,
not necessarily the notes are,because that would be level one,
but making musical connectionsto things on the fretboard.
Right, maybe it's a chordprogression and you're trying to

(05:21):
connect to these things on amusical level or, you know,
trying to find musical ways ofbeing able to navigate around
the fretboard.
There's a whole host ofdifferent things and sometimes
some of the things in your mindor some of the things that
you're working on can kind ofcross over these different
levels.
But it's worth thinking aboutwhen you're trying to develop a
practice plan.

(05:42):
Now here at the Guitar ZoomAcademy, that's one of the
things that we try and focus onis the first thing that happens
when you join the academy isthat you and I get together and
we develop a game plan that usesthis this three step idea, but
certainly uses much more thanthat and then hyper focuses the
things that you really need, uh,to kind of fill these three

(06:06):
levels.
So if you're interested, youknow, and you feel like you're
kind of frustrated with yourplaying and you don't really
know what it is you should beworking on, doesn't really feel
like you're getting to where youwant to go, just remember, all
you need to do is just look, youknow, find the link for the
GuitarZoom Academy.
You could just do a web searchfor that and, you know, get on a
call and let's see if it'ssomething that would fit you and

(06:29):
if you'd be interested insigning up for.
So anyway, take care, staypositive, think about this a
little bit, see if you can usethis in your playing and in your
practice and help you a littlebit in organizing yourself in
what you're trying to accomplishwith your practicing.
All right, take care.