February 13, 2025 • 9 mins
Unlock the secrets to transforming your guitar practice from frustrating to fulfilling! Ever find yourself stuck in a rut, wondering why your skills aren't improving despite hours with your guitar? We're here to help you sidestep those common pitfalls and hone your practice routine for real progress. Say goodbye to aimless noodling and hello to focused sessions that emphasize quality over speed. We'll show you how to set clear goals and eliminate distractions, turning your practice time into a powerhouse of improvement. Whether you’re aiming to master chord changes or perfect your scales, this episode promises to equip you with practical solutions to elevate your musicianship.
Feel scattered trying to learn new skills? We've been there, and we understand the frustration. That’s why we've dedicated time in our discussion to address the importance of a structured practice routine that aligns with your personal goals. Learn how to balance technical prowess with creative expression in a way that keeps you motivated and on track. Plus, discover the Guitar Zoom Academy, a fantastic resource for those struggling with organization and goal-setting. With expert instructors and a variety of tailored classes, your path to guitar success has never been clearer. Get ready to transform your practice habits and achieve the musical aspirations you've always dreamed of.
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... .
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steve (00:02):
All right, in this video we're going to be talking about
five common guitar practicingmistakes that I think are fairly
straightforward and easy to fix, so let's just talk about those
a little bit.
Number one is going to be notfocused when you're practicing.
Being distracted this issomething I find very common
when people practice is that youknow they're watching TV or
their phone is on or you knowwhatever it might be.
(00:24):
Sometimes, when we're dealingwith a limited amount of time to
actually spend practicing, themost important thing that we can
do is really give 100% of ourconcentration to what we're
doing at the moment with thepractice of the guitar.
So avoiding, you know,distractions, staying focused.
I again, I've always taught itas focused practice, making sure
(00:45):
that when you do grab theguitar, even if it's for 10 or
15 minutes, you're givingeverything that you've got in
concentration to those 10 or 15minutes Okay.
Number two is going to bepracticing with a goal in mind.
Now, there's nothing wrong withrandom practice, meandering, if
you will Right and again thiswould go to you know the TV's on
(01:07):
and you're just kind ofnoodling on the guitar.
There's nothing wrong with that.
I just don't consider that apractice.
I just consider that holdingthe guitar and doing stuff and
there's nothing wrong with that,and noodling or meandering is
perfectly fine as well but youhave to understand that you're
not going to accomplish aparticular goal if you don't
have something specific to workon.
(01:27):
So you want to set yourself upwith some sort of a plan, right?
What are the goals that you'retrying to focus on?
Maybe you're trying to make achord faster, or you know chord
changes better, or you're tryingto develop your bar chord, or
you're trying to learn aparticular scale or a particular
position on the guitar, oryou're trying to work on a
particular technique.
Have these ideas, have thesegoals in mind when you're doing
(01:51):
this, and that way, when you sitdown and actually practice, you
know, you know exactly whatyou're going to work on.
And I always tell people onething that's really important to
do, which is going to be numberthree, is develop a practice
routine.
Now, you could develop a dailypractice routine, but I think
what works really great isdeveloping a weekly practice
routine.
So, let's say, your goal is toget better at your technical
(02:15):
skills, right?
You want to get faster, or youwant to get more articulate with
the things that you're learningmaybe some licks or the way you
move across the fretboard, youknow the positions of a
particular scale, whatever itmight be.
That becomes something thatmaybe you'd want to practice on
a daily basis.
You might develop a routine, a20 or 30 minute routine of just,
(02:36):
you know, running through aparticular scale or a particular
lick or pattern that you'reworking on, or a particular
technique, whatever those thingsmight be, and not overwhelming
yourself, but thinking aboutwhat are the, what are the core
basics that I need to practiceon a daily basis.
That will benefit everythingthat I do on the guitar.
You know, sometimes we find likeyou know some little lick or
(02:58):
you know some sort of thing, andthere's again, there's nothing
wrong with that.
But if you think aboutholistically trying to improve
on the bigger picture thingsthat you need as a player, let's
say it's not technique.
Let's say it's creative guitarsoloing, improvisation, right,
in a melodic sense, or you needto develop your phrasing better,
or whatever it might be.
Again, that might becomesomething that you need to do on
(03:20):
a daily basis and maybe yourtechnique isn't something that's
high on your, on your prioritylist, relatively speaking.
Right, everybody needs a littletechnique.
But, but just saying that youknow you're not trying to die
hard with your technique, youjust need it to supplement the
way that you like to play.
Well then, maybe your techniqueis something that you focus on,
you know, two or three or fourdays a week, but every single
(03:42):
day you work on creativepractice, right, or songwriting.
Or maybe you're learning songs,right.
You don't want to learn newsongs every single day.
You're gonna have to developcertain songs that maybe you
play with a band, or you knowyou're gonna be doing a
recording with somebody, orwhatever it might be.
So this weekly practice routinemight consist of one or two or
three things each day, but thethings that it pertains to or
(04:05):
the things you're going topractice on that day might
change, you know.
So you kind of hit multipledifferent things, from technique
to visualization, yourfretboard to music theory, to
creative practice, to, you know,memorizing, developing songs,
to songwriting.
There's all kinds of differentthings that you could do, but
having a plan in mind, ok.
So the fourth one for me ispracticing things too fast.
(04:28):
We don't have a lot of time orwe're just not paying attention
and we practice things too fastand we're not really developing
the quality of what we're doing,and so, again, it's not a
matter of I've got 20 minutes,so I'm going to try and pack 15
things in in 20 minutes.
It's be aware that, whatever itis that you've decided, from
the last thing we were talkingabout, you're going to spend
(04:51):
quality time trying to focus onthat and develop that and you're
going to slow it down as muchas you need to and try and be
very articulate about it anddevelop everything about it so
it's cleaner, it's more accurate, that sort of thing.
So it's not just thinkinghammer through as much stuff as
I can in the shortest amount oftime possible.
But if I don't have a lot oftime that day, I'm not going to
get to everything, but I'd stilllike to do a focused practice
(05:14):
on this thing that I really needto develop.
Okay, and then just another onewould be overlooking weaknesses.
Like this happens a lot, wherepeople find that they're really
good at pentatonic, for instance, or whatever it might be, and
they're really developing thatand it's coming along and it's
great and they're practicing andI think that's wonderful and
you want to keep trying to, youknow, develop that further and
(05:37):
further, absolutely.
But you also want to be awareof the other weaknesses you're
having, or maybe there'sweaknesses within that practice
structure.
You know, maybe moving betweenpositions is a problem or
certain fingers are a problem.
You know your pinky is reallyweak and you don't use it a lot.
Become aware of what yourweaknesses are and then you want
(05:58):
to make sure that you'repracticing those as well.
All right.
Another thing is just notsetting realistic goals is
another one.
This is one that just getspeople really, really frustrated
is you know, I've been playingthis long and I should be able
to do this.
Well, that's.
There's nothing further fromthe truth.
Just because you've beenplaying a long time, or you've
been on a guitar a long time, orit doesn't mean you're going to
(06:19):
just be good at somethingbecause you've you've been
playing for a long time.
If you focused on that thing ina focused manner and you've
really spent a lot of qualitytime and you've assessed it and,
just like we talked about you,you slow it down, develop what
(06:42):
you need to do and then startbuilding it back up.
That's what the process is.
But measurable goals are thingsthat you say okay, three months
from now, being realistic,being honest with myself, this
is where I am and what I want tobe able to do three to six
months from now is play thisthing better.
Play this thing cleaner.
Play this thing faster.
Memorize this thing cleaner.
Play this thing faster.
Memorize this thing better.
Understand this concept more.
Whatever this is, and thatbecomes a priority for your
daily practice routine.
(07:03):
You see where you're just.
What happens a lot is, peopleare just kind of all over the
place and they're just learningall sorts of random things, and
then they wonder why they're notreally getting anywhere.
Now, again, I'm not one to tellyou that you do or don't have to
do anything.
You can do whatever you want, aslong as it's making you happy,
but if you're feeling likeyou're not achieving your goals,
these are some things that Ithink could be really important
(07:24):
for you to start thinking abouta little bit, okay, and I also
want to remind you that you know, if you do struggle with trying
to organize yourself, get yourgoals set, how to practice
properly, what kinds of thingsthat you need to actually be
working on to achieve thesegoals that you have, you can
always check out the Guitar ZoomAcademy.
It's a new thing that we've got,where it's basically an entire
(07:46):
guitar ecosystem with a bunch ofdifferent instructors and class
times where you're able to justshow up and we work through
everything.
We build a framework for youand of what your practice goals
are, how you're going to getshow up and we work through
everything.
We build a framework for youand of what your practice goals
are, how you're going to getthere, what kind of things you
need to work on, and then you'vealways got different points of
contact to to help develop allof these things that you're.
You know that you've alwayswanted to do so check out the
(08:08):
Guitar Zoom Academy and see ifit's something that you might be
interested in.
So, take care, stay positiveand I'll talk to you soon, okay,
All right, in this video we're going to be talking about
five common guitar practicingmistakes that I think are fairly
straightforward and easy to fix, so let's just talk about those
a little bit.
Number one is going to be notfocused when you're practicing.
Being distracted this issomething I find very common
when people practice is that youknow they're watching TV or
their phone is on or you knowwhatever it might be.
(00:24):
Sometimes, when we're dealingwith a limited amount of time to
actually spend practicing, themost important thing that we can
do is really give 100% of ourconcentration to what we're
doing at the moment with thepractice of the guitar.
So avoiding, you know,distractions, staying focused.
I again, I've always taught itas focused practice, making sure
(00:45):
that when you do grab theguitar, even if it's for 10 or
15 minutes, you're givingeverything that you've got in
concentration to those 10 or 15minutes Okay.
Number two is going to bepracticing with a goal in mind.
Now, there's nothing wrong withrandom practice, meandering, if
you will Right and again thiswould go to you know the TV's on
(01:07):
and you're just kind ofnoodling on the guitar.
There's nothing wrong with that.
I just don't consider that apractice.
I just consider that holdingthe guitar and doing stuff and
there's nothing wrong with that,and noodling or meandering is
perfectly fine as well but youhave to understand that you're
not going to accomplish aparticular goal if you don't
have something specific to workon.
(01:27):
So you want to set yourself upwith some sort of a plan, right?
What are the goals that you'retrying to focus on?
Maybe you're trying to make achord faster, or you know chord
changes better, or you're tryingto develop your bar chord, or
you're trying to learn aparticular scale or a particular
position on the guitar, oryou're trying to work on a
particular technique.
Have these ideas, have thesegoals in mind when you're doing
(01:51):
this, and that way, when you sitdown and actually practice, you
know, you know exactly whatyou're going to work on.
And I always tell people onething that's really important to
do, which is going to be numberthree, is develop a practice
routine.
Now, you could develop a dailypractice routine, but I think
what works really great isdeveloping a weekly practice
routine.
So, let's say, your goal is toget better at your technical
(02:15):
skills, right?
You want to get faster, or youwant to get more articulate with
the things that you're learningmaybe some licks or the way you
move across the fretboard, youknow the positions of a
particular scale, whatever itmight be.
That becomes something thatmaybe you'd want to practice on
a daily basis.
You might develop a routine, a20 or 30 minute routine of just,
(02:36):
you know, running through aparticular scale or a particular
lick or pattern that you'reworking on, or a particular
technique, whatever those thingsmight be, and not overwhelming
yourself, but thinking aboutwhat are the, what are the core
basics that I need to practiceon a daily basis.
That will benefit everythingthat I do on the guitar.
You know, sometimes we find likeyou know some little lick or
(02:58):
you know some sort of thing, andthere's again, there's nothing
wrong with that.
But if you think aboutholistically trying to improve
on the bigger picture thingsthat you need as a player, let's
say it's not technique.
Let's say it's creative guitarsoloing, improvisation, right,
in a melodic sense, or you needto develop your phrasing better,
or whatever it might be.
Again, that might becomesomething that you need to do on
(03:20):
a daily basis and maybe yourtechnique isn't something that's
high on your, on your prioritylist, relatively speaking.
Right, everybody needs a littletechnique.
But, but just saying that youknow you're not trying to die
hard with your technique, youjust need it to supplement the
way that you like to play.
Well then, maybe your techniqueis something that you focus on,
you know, two or three or fourdays a week, but every single
(03:42):
day you work on creativepractice, right, or songwriting.
Or maybe you're learning songs,right.
You don't want to learn newsongs every single day.
You're gonna have to developcertain songs that maybe you
play with a band, or you knowyou're gonna be doing a
recording with somebody, orwhatever it might be.
So this weekly practice routinemight consist of one or two or
three things each day, but thethings that it pertains to or
(04:05):
the things you're going topractice on that day might
change, you know.
So you kind of hit multipledifferent things, from technique
to visualization, yourfretboard to music theory, to
creative practice, to, you know,memorizing, developing songs,
to songwriting.
There's all kinds of differentthings that you could do, but
having a plan in mind, ok.
So the fourth one for me ispracticing things too fast.
(04:28):
We don't have a lot of time orwe're just not paying attention
and we practice things too fastand we're not really developing
the quality of what we're doing,and so, again, it's not a
matter of I've got 20 minutes,so I'm going to try and pack 15
things in in 20 minutes.
It's be aware that, whatever itis that you've decided, from
the last thing we were talkingabout, you're going to spend
(04:51):
quality time trying to focus onthat and develop that and you're
going to slow it down as muchas you need to and try and be
very articulate about it anddevelop everything about it so
it's cleaner, it's more accurate, that sort of thing.
So it's not just thinkinghammer through as much stuff as
I can in the shortest amount oftime possible.
But if I don't have a lot oftime that day, I'm not going to
get to everything, but I'd stilllike to do a focused practice
(05:14):
on this thing that I really needto develop.
Okay, and then just another onewould be overlooking weaknesses.
Like this happens a lot, wherepeople find that they're really
good at pentatonic, for instance, or whatever it might be, and
they're really developing thatand it's coming along and it's
great and they're practicing andI think that's wonderful and
you want to keep trying to, youknow, develop that further and
(05:37):
further, absolutely.
But you also want to be awareof the other weaknesses you're
having, or maybe there'sweaknesses within that practice
structure.
You know, maybe moving betweenpositions is a problem or
certain fingers are a problem.
You know your pinky is reallyweak and you don't use it a lot.
Become aware of what yourweaknesses are and then you want
(05:58):
to make sure that you'repracticing those as well.
All right.
Another thing is just notsetting realistic goals is
another one.
This is one that just getspeople really, really frustrated
is you know, I've been playingthis long and I should be able
to do this.
Well, that's.
There's nothing further fromthe truth.
Just because you've beenplaying a long time, or you've
been on a guitar a long time, orit doesn't mean you're going to
(06:19):
just be good at somethingbecause you've you've been
playing for a long time.
If you focused on that thing ina focused manner and you've
really spent a lot of qualitytime and you've assessed it and,
just like we talked about you,you slow it down, develop what
(06:42):
you need to do and then startbuilding it back up.
That's what the process is.
But measurable goals are thingsthat you say okay, three months
from now, being realistic,being honest with myself, this
is where I am and what I want tobe able to do three to six
months from now is play thisthing better.
Play this thing cleaner.
Play this thing faster.
Memorize this thing cleaner.
Play this thing faster.
Memorize this thing better.
Understand this concept more.
Whatever this is, and thatbecomes a priority for your
daily practice routine.
(07:03):
You see where you're just.
What happens a lot is, peopleare just kind of all over the
place and they're just learningall sorts of random things, and
then they wonder why they're notreally getting anywhere.
Now, again, I'm not one to tellyou that you do or don't have to
do anything.
You can do whatever you want, aslong as it's making you happy,
but if you're feeling likeyou're not achieving your goals,
these are some things that Ithink could be really important
(07:24):
for you to start thinking abouta little bit, okay, and I also
want to remind you that you know, if you do struggle with trying
to organize yourself, get yourgoals set, how to practice
properly, what kinds of thingsthat you need to actually be
working on to achieve thesegoals that you have, you can
always check out the Guitar ZoomAcademy.
It's a new thing that we've got,where it's basically an entire
(07:46):
guitar ecosystem with a bunch ofdifferent instructors and class
times where you're able to justshow up and we work through
everything.
We build a framework for youand of what your practice goals
are, how you're going to getshow up and we work through
everything.
We build a framework for youand of what your practice goals
are, how you're going to getthere, what kind of things you
need to work on, and then you'vealways got different points of
contact to to help develop allof these things that you're.
You know that you've alwayswanted to do so check out the
(08:08):
Guitar Zoom Academy and see ifit's something that you might be
interested in.
So, take care, stay positiveand I'll talk to you soon, okay,
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