Whenever I’ve posted a tip on a guitar group, or promoted one of my courses, I almost always get some holier than thou picker who thinks it can demolish any discussion by saying……

PRACTICEEEEEEEEE!!!

“Just practice bro like it ain’t that hard bro get your style bro stop trying so hard bro” 

likelikelikelikelikelikelike what do I practice? 

That’s where the wise sage of the 6 strings usually go deaf and dumb. 

But for real. Yes you need to practice. 

The problem is that

1) they drastically over-simplify the problem of consistently getting better at your instrument or skill and
2) they are choosing a shitty take to feel superior for a moment over someone who just wants some honest-to-god insights. 

So in this article, I’m going to share my practice philosophy, how I make my own workouts, and I critique some of the best & worst pieces of advice when it comes to practicing on guitar and applying guitar music theory. 

1) The Problems I Always Ran Into While Practicing

In guitar there are several meta skills of listening, critiquing yourself, catching yourself when noodling, applying new theory concepts into songs you already know, etc…..

That often get overlooked or ignored when you’re told to “practice!!!”

When I first started playing, my goal was to learn enough theory to understand the songs and solos of Eddie Van Halen, Slash, and Marty Friedman. 

And I was doing this all by myself too…..

It took me years until I realized I was making lots of unwanted noise, didn’t use correct finger placements, couldn’t see how the chords and note choices worked within the context of the arrangement, and basically was just too impatient to get to that level…..

So It took me longer to get there than I wanted. 

This is because no one helped me see a lot of the problems I just mentioned. The guitar space on the internet too was just getting started, and there was no Justin Guitar or YouTube. 

I only learned from my own mistakes. 

A few specific problems I had included: 

• Not using my pinky when needed

• Using nothing but downpicking to play Marty Friedman solos

• Bad sweep picking mechanics

• Lots of problems moving between strings with my pick hand

• Having very little concept of muting with both hands

• No realization of what subdivisions of rhythm I was using while improvising

• And many many more things

 

The point is that…if someone had simply screamed at me to PRACTICE, then I would’ve probably quit and never figured out these problems. 

So at the very least, find someone like me who is going to give you more specific, constructive advice to get better at guitar in their online guitar course. 

2) The Noodling Trap, Which Is Not Practice

I put this up so high on the article because it’s what I’ve done, and what lots of other players do too. 

If you just shred a pentatonic scale for hours without thoughts of melodies you’re making or what chords you’re playing over…..then my friend you’re noodling. 

I get how it’s exciting to feel like you’re playing fast and moving across the fretboard with ease. 
I did this for awhile because I thought this was what slash and marty were doing! 

But now, I try to at least think in terms of chords, keys, and intervals as much as my scales. 

I’m often also trying to use them in a new song or chord progression. 

Closely related to noodling too is the tendency to replay a lot of songs you’ve learned from weeks or months ago. 

This is a good habit to have, but you should be learning new songs more than rehashing old stuff. 

Think of it this way……no wide receiver is running a 40 at just 6 seconds anymore if they’re in college or the pros. They are consistently trying to run at the high level they’re at, or faster, at that moment. 

3) Practicing With Guitar Exercises

Check out the youtuber Bernth’s 4 Practice Tips for Self Taught Guitarists: 
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fyQFPK79Q30

I like Bernth a lot and feel he has some great exercises, but a lot of his content can be boiled down to maybe 10 exercises, which I won’t repeat here cause that’s his stuff. 

My advice is to find specific exercises catered to your core problems at the moment. 

And to do this you don’t need to overcomplicate this and adhere to a strict guitar workout routine like I’m starting to see. 

Spend some time on legato, alternate picking, sweeping, tapping, etc. 

But that’s just lead guitar! 

To go even deeper……

Divide your practice into learning new songs, technique issues (which can be divided into legato, right hand picking, sweep picking, alternate picking, hybrid picking, tapping), theory issues (using a new scale, making chord progressions, expanding knowledge of the fretboard), and making music and improvising/jamming.

Another big thing about exercises is that they don’t necessarily train you to play every song better, but just certain songs. 

The best practice for many people will be to just learn new songs.

4) Stop Putting Yourself In Practice Time-Out

What I mean by this is stop telling yourself that you need to practice 5 hours, like this guy: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bzbOWm0q79c

And don’t give yourself a minimum either of 10 minutes, unless you’re just insanely busy and don’t have high goals. 

Basically, don’t time yourself. 

I really believe you’ll drive yourself crazy if you force yourself to practice x amount of time. I think it’s better to just pick a time or two everyday where you have the freedom to play. 

And then, either work on whatever you’re working on, or just play and have no expectations. 

5) I Particularly Hate These Generic Pieces Of Advice

Use a metronome! Turn off the TV! Practice scales! Record yourself! 

None of this tells you WHAT to play or what to work on, which goes back to the meta skills I referenced earlier. 

A metronome will probably be frustrating to use with Cory Wong Riffs, while a metronome may help when it comes to playing some John Petrucci shred licks. 

I personally work fine with TV and distractions as long as it’s not at its top volume. 

I can go on and on but my point is that the really hard work of practice and getting better is being able to see where you want to go. 

For instance, right now I envy Tom Quayle’s legato skills, Jason Richardson’s clean sweeps, and an instagram guitarist’s ability to take pop songs and add percussive guitar elements. 

There’s all sorts of exercises and little problems each player is making me aware of, and thus I create a practice routine around that. 

Some things will take weeks to see improvement, while others may just need a simple tweak I can instill in my muscle memory over a few minutes. 

6) The Music Theory Ambush Problem

This is basically my way of saying how prevalent it is that you get slammed with chord shapes and scale patterns, and few examples of how to apply them in a song. 

I see this every day in guitar groups I’m a part of. 

Someone selling a guitar course hopes to bring you under their sphere of influence by posting a somewhat well-design image of a mixolydian scale pattern. 

Will they tell you how it’s used in country solos, in classic rock songs, or how to use to make a specific chord sound….

NOPE! 

And that’s partly what happened to me. 

I got so giddy seeing the pentatonic scale everywhere that I thought I had seriously cracked the code to music. 

That’s because guitar music theory is taught so badly. They’ll teach you lots of chords and scales, but cannot tell you how they work together with other concepts to make music. 

So if you’ve read this far…..to practice guitar music theory…..

You must start identifying what key a song is, what chord tones a lead player is hitting, how a new chord voicing is working in a guitar part you’re learning, and when the arpeggios are outside of a musical key, amongst other things involving music theory. 

Like many say, it’s like learning a language, except this language allows you to talk with music. 

7) What You Should Be Practicing The Most At Each Stage Of Guitar

I’m at a really advanced stage now where I’m playing my own guitar arrangements that require awkward chord shapes and advanced fingerpicking, while also delving into the catalogs of a few players I’ve already mentioned.

I’m always trying to find things that challenge me, and I like to use my practice time to strive to improve on those things, while taking a minimal amount of time on things I’m confident on. 

So again, each of you will have to decide what inspires you and what challenges you. 

But I believe this is a good starting place for each of the following phases of guitar: 

What Beginners Should Practice

• Find more and more ways to change chords

• Practice recalling the notes of the fretboard

• Learn songs that use new techniques to you, like fingerpicking maybe

• Learn all the types of pick hand techniques and use them in songs you’re learning

• Progress through the standards of the guitar repertoire like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Metallica, Nirvana, and Black Sabbath

 

What Intermediates Should Practice

• You should be analyzing songs to see how they work if your goal is to be a musician or songwriter

• Start becoming more aware of up-down picking patterns in your licks you’re learning

• Improve your guitar music theory knowledge as you start studying and learning solos

• Find songs that have you change picking methods throughout the song like Metallica’s early records

• Learn basic subdivisions of lead licks like 16ths, sextuplets, and triplets

• Begin improvising over 1 chord, 2 chord, and 3 chord vamps in diatonic harmony

 

What Advanced Players Should Practice

• By now you should be learning songs outside your main genres

• Begin improvising over jazz progressions or those with more chromatic harmony

• Attempt solo guitar pieces like those of Chet Atkins and Joe Pass

• Start arranging your own songs into solo arrangements, whether difficult or simple 

• Create licks with advanced and exotic scales like lydian dominant or altered scales

This is only a sample and not meant to be a strict pathway to mastery. 

Remember remember that you must start to become aware of what your own goals are, and then you’ll be able to decide what to practice. 

I hope this article was worth your time and helped you see how much further you need to go than just “practice.”