Plant a Seed: Practice Tips for Beginner Guitar Players

Establishing a routine to reach your guitar practice goals can be hard, especially for beginners. I’ve outlined a few tips here to get in the habit of practicing that I hope you’ll find helpful.

I’ve never been much of an athlete, but lately I’ve been trying to exercise more (I hear it’s good for you). Like many people, I have a history of an on-again-off-again relationship with exercise. I’ll get excited about it, go full bore for a week or two and then burn out and neglect it for a few months until I decide to start the cycle again.

What does this have to do with guitar practicing habits, you ask? Don’t worry, we’re getting there.

Recently, I’ve been a lot more consistent with my exercise, and I think the reason is because I’ve adjusted my expectations. I’ve learned that when it comes to most skills in life consistency is the first order of business. Lasting growth (or perhaps the opposite… depending on your exercise goals!) comes slowly over days of consistently showing up to spend focused time developing whatever skill one is pursuing.

We all hear over and over that our society loves instant gratification. Delayed gratification seems to require more of us than we have, so most would rather kill ourselves to accomplish something in a week or two than have slow, moderate progress over the course of a year. When we don’t see the results we want in a week or two, we get frustrated and give up. The enthusiasm we feel at the beginning of an endeavor quickly sours, and we find that now we are enthusiastic about some other thing.

It’s true that learning the guitar or another musical instrument is a skill that you acquire. Some will acquire skill faster than others, but whatever the pace of your development, you are seriously undermining your efforts if you start regularly skipping days of practice. It can be difficult to make yourself practice if you’re discouraged or not seeing the results you want, so let me make a suggestion: if your enthusiasm is waning for your guitar (or your instrument or other pursuit of choice) practice routine, commit to five minutes a day of focused, dedicated practice.

“Five minutes isn’t enough to get any better!” some might say, and they’d be right if getting quick results is what we’re after. We’re doing something different. We’re planting a seed that will grow. I think that if you practice for five minutes a day you might be surprised at how much you grow; however, if you’re consistent with it, you’re probably going to end up wanting to practice guitar more. You don’t have to stop at 5 minutes if you want to keep going.

So, don’t think of learning the guitar as a skill that you will work on for a while, and then once you’ve “arrived” and acquired enough skill you can stop. If you do it right, it becomes a lifestyle, and you’ll keep looking for ways to keep that seed growing.

Have any tips to share for starting a successful guitar practice routine? Feel free to leave a comment below!

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Wes Freeman is private guitar lesson teacher in the Atlanta metro area of Georgia. He teaches lessons primarily in the cities of Lilburn, Snellville, Marietta, Decatur, and Brookhaven. Learn more about taking lessons with Wes on his Lessons page.