Guitar Lesson - How To Practice In 20 MinutesPosted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010 Many guitarists don?t have enough time to practice for long periods of time. But if you want to progress fast, you need the guitar in your hands as regularly as possible. It?s better to practice for 10-20 minutes every day, than 4 hours on just one day of the week.Getting into a rhythm of regularly picking up your guitar for a quick practice session is a great habit to get into. So if you don?t have enough time for a full practice session, and you have 10-15 minutes to spare, here?s some ideas for what you should practice: Practice a chord change. The key is to focus, and hone in on one skill that you can improve in a short period of time. Work on a song you want to memorize. Listen to a song on a CD and jam along. An important part of learning guitar is to train your ear, and jamming along to a CD is the perfect way to do it. Work on a lick you want to learn. This will improve your skills in a short period of time. Work on picking skills - do drills up and down the neck. Work up and down a scale. Remember to use a metronome when you?re trying to build speed though. Because you want a smooth rhythmic sound to your speed picking, not a struggling, hurried sound. So build up gradually. Be Creative! Okay, that?s all the ideas I?m going to give you for now. Use your imagination to come up with more things you could try, and mix it up so it doesn?t get boring. Also, keep your guitar ready and set-up. Sure, it?s protected all hidden away in your case, but if it?s ready for you to have a short practice session, then you?re more likely to pick it up and practice, even if it is just for a short time. So keep that guitar out and ready to practice! You may not think these short practice sessions help much, but doing this builds up your skills fast ? and you?ll surprise yourself by how much you improve just be having the guitar in your hands regularly. However, you don?t want to solely rely on these quick practice sessions. Like most things, you need to strike a balance. A good way of finding that balance is to set a routine. When you have a routine, you will find it gets easier to find the time for practice. Once you?re in a habit of practicing regularly, you?ll find it harder to break out of, and that?s a good habit to have! Like it? Share it!More by this author |