304 - What Should You Practise Right Now?

When you sit down with your guitar, having too many options can make practice harder, not easier. In this episode, Paul Andrews shares a simple way to choose what deserves your attention right now, so your practice sessions become more focused and productive.In this episodeWhy more lessons, exercises, and guitar information can create confusionHow to start with your current goalHow to identify the bottleneck holding back your playingWhy smaller practice actions lead to clearer progressHow to isolate difficult chord changes, rhythm patterns, transitions, and tempo increasesThe three parts of a useful practice session: progress, maintain, and playWhy balance should be considered across weeks and months, not forced into every sessionHow long to keep working on the same priorityHow to avoid constantly switching to new riffs, songs, and exercisesWhat to do when you don’t yet have a clear guitar goalThe three questionsUse these questions to decide what to practice:What am I trying to achieve?What is stopping me from doing it?What is the smallest action that would improve it?Instead of choosing a broad goal such as “get better at guitar,” identify a specific action, such as changing from G to C four times without pausing.Build your practice sessionA balanced session can include:Progress: Work on your current bottleneck with your greatest concentration.Maintain: Revisit skills and material you already know so you don’t lose them.Play: Make music by playing a song, revisiting a riff, or improvising over a backing track.For a 20-minute session, you might spend 10 minutes on progress, 5 minutes on maintenance, and 5 minutes playing. The exact timings can change, but each section should have a clear purpose.This week’s challengeChoose one practice priority and write down your answers to the three questions. Give that small action focused attention during each practice session this week.Your priority could be:Changing between two chords smoothlyPlaying a rhythm consistently with a metronomeLearning four bars of a songWorking through a difficult exercisePlaying a song from beginning to end without stoppingKeep it specific enough that you know exactly what to do when you pick up the guitar.Beginner Guitar AcademyBeginner Guitar Academy provides a five-level curriculum covering seven essential guitar skills: picking, chords, arpeggios, scales, rhythm, notes, and ear training.Members also receive focused exercises, songs, progress checks, assessments, unlimited teacher support from Paul Andrews, and access to the Practice Studio.Join for a $1 two-week trial at beginnerguitaracademy.com.