Do you know exactly how much your guitar practice exercises are helping you to improve your guitar playing (or if they are at all)? Most guitarists tend to think that MORE exercises will help them improve…this is false. To start seeing big improvements in your guitar playing, you need to follow these 5 steps and start using the most effective guitar practice exercises available, instead of simply increasing the amount of exercises you have:

STEP 1: Determine Your Guitar Playing Goals

Before you even play a note on guitar, you absolutely MUST set clear and defined musical goals for yourself. Doing this will motivate you to take focused and consistent action towards improving your guitar playing. Would an airplane pilot ever take off without clear coordinates? No. The same concept applies to your guitar playing. Failing to set goals for yourself means you set yourself up to fail before you even begin. Even more important is the simple fact that once you set your goals, you will be able to clearly see the areas of your guitar playing that need most of your attention.

If you are unsure how to get started with this, get help determining your long-term musical goals.

STEP 2: Thoroughly Assess Your Current Skill Level

Once you’ve set your goals, you need to assess your current skill level so you can determine exactly how large of a gap exists between your ideal guitar playing ability and where it is now.

Many guitar players think that “assessing their current skill level” means tracking their maximum speed on guitar with a metronome. Just as the airplane pilot would never accept “Just go West” in place of precise coordinates, you shouldn’t ONLY track your maximum guitar speed if you hope to become a truly awesome guitarist.

Instead, focus on tracking ALL of the elements that go into making you a great guitarist:

• Lead guitar ability (your maximum speed on guitar PLUS many other elements of lead guitar technique)

• Rhythm guitar playing

• Ability to fluently integrate many different guitar techniques easily

• Music theory knowledge (including intervals, scales, key signatures, rhythm and meter, chords, chord progressions)

• Ability to visualize scales, chords and arpeggios on the fretboard

• Aural skills (your “musical ear”)

• Musical creativity (yes, this can and SHOULD be tracked and measured)

Use the Guitar Playing Accelerator to make tracking all of these “precise coordinates” in your guitar playing quick and easy.

STEP 3: Close The Gap Between Your Ideal And Current Skill Levels

Once you determine the size of the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, you need to start using only the best guitar practice exercises so you make huge improvements quickly. Most guitar teachers struggle to provide these kinds of exercises to their students and instead give all of their students the same exercises (without even customizing them for each student).

If you are serious about reaching your guitar playing goals, you need to seek out a qualified guitar teacher who can customize the guitar practice exercises he/she gives you to your every musical need. Once you implement these highly effective exercises in your practice routine, you will being to make progress towards reaching your musical goals much faster.

STEP 4: Organize Your Guitar Practice

After receiving the most effective and customized guitar exercises possible, you need to organize them in a way that enables you to progress in many different areas of your guitar playing simultaneously. The best and most logical way to organize your guitar practice exercises is to implement an effective guitar practice schedule. Imagine the process of reaching your musical goals as a road trip and your practice schedule is the road map that leads straight to guitar playing greatness. It is the key to actually benefitting from the highly effective practice exercises you now have. Learn how to implement a customized practice schedule (unique to YOU) that virtually guarantees you reach your musical goals.

STEP 5: Keep Track Of The Progress You Make

Just as the airplane pilot must be in constant communication with air traffic controllers to make sure he stays on course, you need to be constantly tracking and assessing the progress you make in your guitar playing. Understanding exactly how much you know and exactly how much you are improving is the absolute quickest way to reach your long-term musical goals. To effectively track the progress you make in your guitar playing, use the most powerful tool for helping guitar players reach their goals since the invention of guitar lessons and make tons of guitar playing progress fast.

These 5 steps combine to make a recipe for becoming an insane guitarist faster than you thought possible. Take action now and start experiencing massive results in your guitar playing.

Author's Bio: 

Tom Hess is a highly successful guitar teacher, touring musician and composer. He teaches electric guitar online lessons to guitarists around the world. On his website tomhess.net, you can find guitar playing tips, free guitar resources and more guitar articles.