• a. Play scales and arpeggios very slowly, use a metronome to govern your speed
• b. Play some easy chords or melodies slowly to warm up
• c. Emphasize intonation as you play slowly, get the best tone from your instrument that you can. The major scale, the pentatonic scale and the chromatic scale are common in pop music, always include them in your practice routine
• 2) Play through some songs you know (or parts of songs you know) starting with the easiest and ending with the most difficult!
• 3) Practice technique. Keep in mind what your musical goals are and practice the things that will get you there!

Practice scales, arpeggios and finger exercises, gradually building up speed, emphasize fluidity.

Use a metronome to build up speed gradually (this is critical)

Play more complex voicings of chords. Four note chords like dom7th , maj6th, min6th, maj7th, min7th etc…(single note instruments play these chords as arpeggios) It is important to memorize the names of chords so they can be used in a musical context

• If you read music practice sight reading
• Practice as many rhythm figures as your time budget will allow ( in many cases changing rhythms are part of an exercise)
• Play difficult solos, difficult parts of songs you know or learn a new song(s)
• Use a metronome during all of the above steps

• Learn or write a song
• Come up with a riff, lick or melody
• Find a new sound
• Learn a new chord/chord progression/song
• Try applying music theory, keep it in a practical context
• Mimic an influence, or another instrument, try to play beyond the traditional limits of your instrument
• Anything goes in this step, try to enjoy this part of practicing it is a reward for making it through the above steps. If you are not feeling creative go back to step 3 and put a little extra time in!

• It is not necessary to do every aspect of every step. When you leave something out make a mental note to practice it the next time. If you are avoiding something in the routine then you have identified a weakness.
• It takes a minimum of 20 minutes to benefit from this routine (5 minutes playing time in each step) to experience any benefit. If you do it every day you will improve dramatically each week. Try to spend at least 10 minutes on each step at first (that is less than an hour of practice)