How to schedule your practice sessions
As a classical guitarist or musician in general, practicing regularly is essential to improving your skills and achieving your musical goals.
To optimize your practice time, it is important to create a schedule that allows you to focus on specific aspects of your playing while also giving your hands and mind adequate rest.
Here are some tips to help you create a practice schedule:
Set goals: Start by setting specific goals for what you want to achieve in your playing. For example, you may want to improve your finger speed, accuracy, or tone. These goals will guide your practice schedule and help you measure your progress.
Divide your time: Divide your practice time into sections, focusing on different areas of your playing. For example, you may allocate time to scales and technical exercises, sight-reading, and repertoire.
Be consistent: Try to practice at the same time each day, as this will help establish a routine and make it easier to stick to your schedule. This isn’t completely necessary because I certainly make allowances for my busy schedule, but I have times I prefer to practice! Consistency is key when it comes to developing muscle memory and building new skills.
Take breaks: Taking short breaks every 20-30 minutes can help prevent fatigue and improve your focus. Use this time to stretch, hydrate, or simply rest your hands.
Track your progress: Keep a record of your practice sessions and note your progress towards your goals. This will help you stay motivated and make adjustments to your schedule if needed.
When it comes to practicing as a classical guitarist, dividing your practice time into sections can be an effective way to focus on specific areas of your playing and achieve your goals.
Here are some tips on how to divide your practice time:
Technical exercises: Allocate a section of your practice time to technical exercises such as scales, arpeggios, and finger-strengthening drills. These exercises can help improve your finger speed, accuracy, and dexterity.
Repertoire: Set aside time to work on your repertoire. Choose pieces that challenge you and push you outside of your comfort zone. Spend time breaking down difficult passages, working on phrasing and dynamics, and mastering the piece as a whole.
Sight-reading: Sight-reading is an important skill for any musician, and dedicating a section of your practice time to it can help improve your ability to read music and play it on the spot.
Performance practice: Practice playing in front of an audience, whether it be in front of friends or recording yourself. This can help you overcome performance anxiety and improve your stage presence.
I like to follow this scheduling in the majority of my practice sessions. Consistency is essential to my confidence in performing so I will try to keep my practice regular and not make drastic changes when I have recordings and performances coming up. That being said, I am guilty of not including sight reading often in my practice, but it is something I do in lessons with my students every week. In this way I encourage others to sight read to build up this skill which is helpful when having to learn many pieces quickly.
In terms of practice duration, this will vary for different people and on different days. Everyone gets busy so you just have to adjust to suit your own life. I aim for 30-40 minutes of scales and arpeggios, then splitting up my day with smaller practice sessions working on repertoire, totalling another 2-3 hours. This is what an ideal day looks like for me but as I get busier with teaching this is regularly a lot less than this but I try to maintain the same proportions and take breaks to stretch and rest.
Remember, the key to effective practice scheduling is to focus on specific areas of your playing and allocate enough time to each one. By dividing your practice time into sections and following a clear plan, you can make the most of your practice time and achieve your musical goals as a classical guitarist.
All the best for now - see you in the next blog!