#5 Sample Daily Ritual

Here are some examples of guitar rituals to give you an idea of how to construct one.

Guitar Ritual #1 (15 min.)

• Warm-up
  • Accuracy/Speed Developer #1  (lesson)
• Daily Development
  • D, & A7 Chords (lesson)
• Final Closing
  • By Copy Playing 1st 3 Strings (lesson)

Notes:

This is for brand-new beginner. I’ve used 5-Minute Practice Sessions that you can follow along with to help guide your practice. This will get you started and give you a foundation to adjust and build on as you establish the Daily Guitar Ritual habit.

If you follow the “Roadmap” you’ll find lessons for each technique that’s represented here. If you’d like to get a head start I’ve included a link to the lesson in parentheses next to each 5-Minute Practice Session.

Guitar Ritual #2 (25 min.)

• Warm-up
  • Accuracy/Speed Developer #1
• Daily Development
  • G, A, C & D Chords Practice
  • By Copy Playing 1st 3 Strings
  • Mute Strum
• Final Closing
  • C & G with Mute Strum

Notes

I used 5-Minute Practice Sessions exclusively to create this example. This would likely be for someone who’s been learning for around three to six months.

It probably would be more fun to include something else for the Final Closing, but since I wanted to create one example with only 5-Minute Practice Sessions this was the best I could do.

Guitar Ritual #3 (20 min.)

• Warm-up
  • Accuracy/Speed Developer #1
• Daily Development
  • Bar Chord Exercise
  • C-E7-C7-F-C-G7-C-G7
• Final Closing
  • #11 Oh Pretty Woman Lick

Notes:

This one’s a little more interesting. I’ve used mostly 5-Minute Practice Sessions, but I added a riff at the end is a little more fun.

This should be for someone a little more advanced than example #1. I’ve included exercises with bar chords and a little more challenging chord exercise.

I stuck with the same warm up, but I might want to start thinking about substituting Speed Developer #2 which is the same exercise but adds the little finger.

Guitar Ritual #4 (22 min.)

• Warm-up
  • Speed Developer #2 (4 min.)
• Daily Development
  • 3 Chord Key Change (5 min.)
  • Hammer On/Pull Off Exercise (5 min.)
  • Play Fingerpicking Exercise #3 (4 min.)
• Final Closing
  • Playing the A Minor Scale With The Jam Track (4 min.)

Notes:

In this example I’m mixing it up a bit more. I’ve included a couple of 5-minute practice sessions, but I’m also using exercises from other lessons.

I’ve ended this session with a jam using a backing track that’s available on Real Guitar Success.

It’s hard to say exactly how long a student would be playing to do this sample ritual because it depends on how much they have been practicing and what they’re focusing on. It’s definitely not for brand-new beginner. I’ll guess a general ballpark from six months to a year.

Guitar Ritual #5 (25 min.)

• Warm-up
  • Chromatic Exercise (Speed Developer #3) (4 min.)
• Daily Development
  • Minor Bar Chord Progression Exercise (5 min.)
  • Calypso Strum Practice (5 min.)
  • Famous Up/Down/Up Pattern (3 min.)
  • “The Boxer” Inspired Fingerpicking Pattern (4 min.)
• Final Closing
  • – Malaguena (4 min.)

Notes:

Here’s a little more advanced one. You’ll notice I’m using a warm-up that extends up and down the entire neck of the guitar.

For the Daily Development section I’ve included a variety of things to work on including strumming, fingerpicking and bar chords. The idea is to make incremental improvements on each of these over a period of time.

I’ve chosen the song for the final closing. If I’m not ready to play the entire song all the way through I would just pick a part of the song and add to it a little at a time. Again, it’s important not to choose something that’s too much of a struggle.