Steve Krenz' Learn & Master Guitar Monthly

Establishing a practice routine is one of the best things you can do for your guitar learning (emphasis on "routine"). The reason is that you just get so much more footing under you if you visit your guitar regularly, rather than in fits and starts.

But many people just don't know where to start when it comes to building that routine. Questions like "what should I practice?" or "how long should I practice?" are common themes. Here are my best simple guidelines for a building a regular 30-minute practice time. Keep in mind that everyone is different so you should feel free to vary this to meet your preferences and learning style.

In my experience, there are four important sections to a good practice session - Warm-Up, Technique Practice, Song Practice, and Creative Free Play.

Here is a sample 30 minute practice session:

5 Minutes - Warm Up (Getting the Muscles Ready to Work)

A time to get the fingers and muscles stretched and moving
Hand & Finger Stretches
Finger Exercises (as seen in Session 1 of L&MG)

10 Minutes - Technique Practice (Becoming a Better Guitar Player)

Whatever technical issues you are currently working on
Scale Exercises
Chord Exercises

10 Minutes - Song Practice (Applying the Technique to a Song)

Working on a song.

5 Minutes - Creative Free Play (Exploring on the Guitar)

Time to put the books away and explore creatively
Improvisation
Make up melodies on your own
Explore variations of a chord or idea in different parts of the guitar

I've found these four sections to be vital to a good practice time. If you don't know where to start, use the above as a simple guideline. As I said, the best practice is regular. You will accomplish more in smaller daily practice times than one large practice time once a week.

You can be the guitar player that you want to be. Don't look for each practice session to be flashy and exciting - some of them will be dry, but they are doing their work. Real learning takes time. So relax and enjoy the journey.

Keep Learning & Growing!
Steve Krenz

P.S. Voting has begun for the 2011 Acoustic Guitar Magazine Player's Choice Awards. Gibson's Learn & Master Guitar was nominated, and your support in the voting is appreciated. You can vote here. Thank you!

January Featured Student Profile

Greg Name: Dalton McNally

Screen Name: "Foot Tapper"

Gender: Male

My city: Lake Wylie, South Carolina

My instruments/gear:
* Epiphone Les Paul Standard (honeyburst finish)
* Maestro Acoustic guitar
* Squier Affinity strat (my first guitar I got when I was 7 years old)
* My very own HOMEMADE Stratocaster guitar that I built--(natural finish)
* VOX Valvetronix 15w Tube-Modeling amplifier
* Fender Frontman 15G (crappy guitar amp, however, good amp for plugging a mic into)
* Line 6 POD HD300---an amazing multi-effects/amp modeling pedalboard
* Shure SM58 Mic

Favorite Artists/Bands: LOTS...Bon Jovi, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, CCR, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, KISS, Journey, The Beatles, Guns N' Roses, Eric Clapton, Creed, Boston, Bob Marley, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones, Blues Brothers, Poison, Queen, Scorpions, Shinedown, Van Halen, The Black Crowes

Favorite style(s) to play: Rock, Blues, sometimes a little jazz and fingerstyle

What made me want to play music?: Not really sure, I guess it was just my love for music and my interest in the guitar.

Previous music experience: Not much musical experience at all before L&MG. Maybe like, 2 or 3 chords.

If your house was on fire, which one piece of gear would you grab and why?: Let's see, well my mic is pretty much indestructible, so it would be ok... I guess I would grab my Epiphone Les Paul, or my Strat that I built. I'd probably run out of the house with both of them.

My favorite place to be when I'm playing music: Hmm... probably on a stage, with thousands of people cheering me as I solo. (although I haven't gotten there yet)

My highest musical moment: My highest musical moment would be singing the Hallelujah Chorus with about 200 other people on stage in my high school's huge auditorium full of people at our Christmas Concert... the sound of all the other people around me made me feel like I was in heaven, singing with the angels. (my school is very well known for our excellent choral program).

Other than that, my highest musical moment while actually playing guitar would have been at the 2010 Guitar Gathering playing on stage in Nashville, TN. I was doing a solo, so all eyes were on me. I was nervous, and my vocals weren't nearly as good as they are now, but it was my first time ever playing on stage, and it was a big breaking point. I got up there, played, sang, didn't perform as well because of the nerves, but it was a great experience.

Hobbies: Guitar, Singing, Tae Kwon Do, Scuba Diving

Current Job:I am 15 and a freshman in High School, so no job for me. The only jobs I have coming up are rocking local gigs with my band. :)