Your Practice Guidebook

Since the Classical Guitar Blog started, I’ve written a lot on practicing. With good reason: musicians spend a lot of time practicing. And everyone is looking for the secret. The real secret is that learning an instrument it’s not about the time between lessons with a great teacher. There’s only so much a teacher can do in one hour/week. The rest of it is on us, the students.

Here’s some reading on practicing.

1. Finding Time to Practice. Everyone is busy, but finding to practice does not have to be difficult. Set aside a time every day that’s always for practicing.
2. Micro-Practice for Big Results. Who says a fifteen minute practice session is a waste of time? This post explains how to make most of short practice sessions.
3. Deconstructing a Mistake. A technical or music event is something that gives you trouble. Breaking down that event and finding the elements with in it is the key to fixing problems. That’s what practicing should be about. It’s not just pure repetition.
4. Five Reasons to Start a Practice Log (today). Practice logs make you a better guitarist. I’ve written on this multiple times. Still need convincing? Read this article.
5. Goal Oriented Guitar Practice. How to use various goals to give your practicing focus and direction.
6. Refined Laziness. Everyone is lazy sometimes. That doesn’t mean laziness is bad for practicing.
7. Guitar Practice Schedules. Figuring out exactly how to spend your time practicing is difficult. This article contains some thoughts on how to set up practice schedules. Just remember: not everything can be fixed in one day.