Build Your Practice Routine with these 3 Steps

Ever feel like your guitar practice isn't getting you anywhere? You might be missing key components in your practice routine. 

Guitar practice isn't just about mindlessly repeating exercises—it's about strategically balancing three distinct levels of musical development. The first level, visualization and theory, might be the most overlooked yet powerful component. Imagine improving your guitar skills without even touching your instrument! By drawing fretboard diagrams, mapping scales, or studying chord relationships during downtime, you're building a mental framework that accelerates progress when you do pick up your guitar.

The second level focuses on execution—developing the physical abilities that translate your musical knowledge into sound. This encompasses everything from basic finger strength to advanced techniques like sweep picking or fingerstyle patterns. What's fascinating is how different playing styles require different technical emphasis; a blues player might focus on bending and vibrato, while a classical guitarist might prioritize right-hand independence.

The third level brings everything together through creativity—transforming technical proficiency into musical expression. Whether you're improvising solos, writing songs, or simply making dynamic decisions while playing a cover, this is where your unique voice emerges. Some players naturally gravitate toward creative exploration, while others benefit from structured approaches to developing musicality.

By thoughtfully balancing these three levels in your practice routine, you'll experience more consistent growth and satisfaction in your playing. If you're feeling stuck or uncertain about what to practice, the Guitar Zoom Academy offers personalized guidance to help develop a practice plan tailored to your specific needs. Search for the link online and schedule a call to see if it's right for you. Remember, effective practice isn't about quantity—it's about quality, strategy, and balance.

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... .

Chapters

• 0:00 Three Levels of Guitar Practice
• 2:48 Level One: Visualization and Theory
• 3:31 Level Two: Execution and Technique
• 4:57 Level Three: Creative Expression
• 6:53 Guitar Zoom Academy Introduction
• 7:54 Closing Thoughts and Encouragement

Transcript

Steve: 0:35

When you want to build a daily practice routine or even a weekly practice routine. What I try and get people to understand is really there's three levels that I want you to think about when it comes to practice. Level one is visualization and theory. Okay, so fretboard visualization and music theory, guitar theory, whatever you want to call it. So what's great about this level is that this is where all of your studying is your comprehension, memorization. So when you look down at your fretboard and you want to see a particular scale, whether or not you can actually see it clearly or whether or not there's certain spots that are a little bit fuzzy and what's great about this practice level is that this can be done when you don't have your guitar with you. You might be traveling or you might be at work or something like that. I used to do this a lot in my study halls when I was in high school, not even recognizing what I'm talking about right now, but I would take, you know, a chart and normally I'd have a piece of paper and I would draw out a fretboard while I was in my study hall and then, you know, put all the frets in and then I would start drawing out the scale that I was trying to learn, and then I would sit in my study hall and I would just study how the positions connect together, and then I would, you know, of course, keep that piece of paper and then you know, the next day I would do the same thing, I would keep studying it and then you know, the next day I would do the same thing, I would keep studying it. And what's great about this is a lot of times when people say well, you know, I don't have enough practice time or I'm not, you know, available to grab my guitar and practice enough. Totally get it, but this is something that you can do when you don't have your guitar with you. So you might be studying actual theory, like triads or the major scale, or you know, whatever it might be, you know. And then the other part is the visualization aspect. So, depending on if you're the kind of person that maybe practices you know a few times a day or you're just looking for different things to practice on different days, depending on what's you know, inspiring for you that day, this level is a really great one for spending quality time trying to visualize, trying to understand, trying to comprehend scales, chords, arpeggios again, fundamental theory, whatever it might be.

Steve: 2:53

The second level that I want you to think about is the executable level. So this is our ability of being able to have our fingers do the things we want them to do in the way we want them to do it right. So developing strength, developing speed, developing stamina, to the extent that we see the need right. A shred guitar player is going to try and develop those things, maybe further than you, further than a blues player might, but again, these are generalizations, but you get the idea Acoustic player might want to develop finger picking a little bit more than something else. Know this second level of what it is that you need to be able to get to the place you want to go with your guitar playing. So, developing these skill sets and it could be anything from, you know, rudimentary practice of exercises in some way to develop your picking or your, you know, flexibility of your fingers or the strength in your fingers or whatever it might be Synchronicity between the two hands, again, finger picking patterns, all that kind of stuff to bending, you know, and vibrato, and all of those kinds of techniques, anything that's an executable fits into this, and this is a pretty hefty category, of course, but that's something to think about. So you need to balance that as well.

Steve: 4:17

And then, for me, the third level of this whole thing is the creative aspect of playing. And again, not trying to be offensive in any way, but some people require more creativity and some people maybe require a little less creativity, although there's certainly, you know, musical creativity in all of us. You know, if you were playing a song and you know you're deciding when you want to strum a little bit harder or a little bit softer, you know the dynamic element of the song. That's a creative element, for sure. Or maybe you're embellishing those chords in a way that isn't in the original cover song, but you're doing it a certain way. You like the sound of that. Or you feel an impulse to want to adjust certain things while you're playing. Again, a creative element, musical element. But think about it even further down the line.

Steve: 5:09

If you were someone who's trying to learn how to improvise and you're trying to convert from visualizing scales and practicing these scales to making the scales actually sound musical, that's the creative level, for sure. Maybe you're a songwriter, right, and you're trying to figure out how to construct a song. You know that would be a creative level, if you're maybe visualizing the fretboard in level one. But now what you want to do is you really and you've been practicing navigating that visual in your head you're practicing navigating. That's level two. And now maybe what you want to do is you really want to start trying to just explore musicality and where you know, not necessarily the notes are, because that would be level one, but making musical connections to things on the fretboard. Right, maybe it's a chord progression and you're trying to connect to these things on a musical level or, you know, trying to find musical ways of being able to navigate around the fretboard. There's a whole host of different things and sometimes some of the things in your mind or some of the things that you're working on can kind of cross over these different levels. But it's worth thinking about when you're trying to develop a practice plan.

Steve: 6:18

Now here at the Guitar Zoom Academy, that's one of the things that we try and focus on is the first thing that happens when you join the academy is that you and I get together and we develop a game plan that uses this this three step idea, but certainly uses much more than that and then hyper focuses the things that you really need, uh, to kind of fill these three levels.

Steve: 6:42

So if you're interested, you know, and you feel like you're kind of frustrated with your playing and you don't really know what it is you should be working on, doesn't really feel like you're getting to where you want to go, just remember, all you need to do is just look, you know, find the link for the GuitarZoom Academy. You could just do a web search for that and, you know, get on a call and let's see if it's something that would fit you and if you'd be interested in signing up for. So anyway, take care, stay positive, think about this a little bit, see if you can use this in your playing and in your practice and help you a little bit in organizing yourself in what you're trying to accomplish with your practicing. All right, take care.