Practice plans
Daily routines for 30, 60 and 120 minutes, and how they change as you move through the course.
Practice is where the course happens. Three principles underlie every plan below.
- Rotate, don't pile up. Each session has fixed slots (technique, harmony, improvisation, repertoire, ear). Fill each slot with the current lesson's assignment.
- Measure. Write the tempo you achieved. Tomorrow's job is +2 bpm or one more key.
- Keep a log. Date, slots, tempos, what was hard. A log makes a month of work visible and keeps you honest.
The 30-minute plan (minimum effective dose)
| Minutes | Slot | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Warm-up & fretboard | fretboard trainer two minutes, chromatic exercise with the metronome |
| 10 | Current lesson | the lesson's exercise at the assigned tempo |
| 5 | Harmony | voicings through ii–V–I in two new keys |
| 5 | Improvising / vocabulary | one phrase in three keys over a backing track or the metronome on 2 & 4 |
| 5 | Repertoire | one tune from memory, melody and chords |
Ear training (5 min) goes on the commute, in the ear trainer.
The 60-minute plan (serious hobbyist / student)
| Minutes | Slot |
|---|---|
| 10 | Technique: chromatic and scale exercises, picking patterns, with metronome (log tempo) |
| 10 | Fretboard & reading: sight-read 8–16 bars of new material (any book of melodies) |
| 15 | Harmony: current voicing lesson in all 12 keys, one string set |
| 15 | Improvisation: current concept over one tune; record 2 choruses, listen back |
| 10 | Repertoire: one new tune by ear, one old tune reviewed |
Plus 10 minutes of ear training and 20+ minutes of focused listening every day.
The 120-minute plan (conservatory / professional preparation)
| Minutes | Slot |
|---|---|
| 15 | Technique and time (alternate picking, legato, sweep, chord-tone arpeggios across the neck, metronome on 2 & 4 at slow and fast tempos) |
| 15 | Sight-reading (single lines and chord charts; Module 15 lesson on reading) |
| 20 | Harmony: voicings, voice-leading, chord melody arranging |
| 20 | Vocabulary: transcription and transposing phrases through 12 keys |
| 20 | Improvisation over tunes (play-along or looper), recorded and reviewed |
| 20 | Repertoire: learning and maintaining a list of 50+ tunes |
| 10 | Ear training and singing |
How the slots change through the course
| Modules | Technique | Harmony | Improvisation | Repertoire |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | chromatic/major scales, picking, note names | triads and seventh chords in root position | none yet: sing scales and arpeggios | learn 3 melodies by ear (simple songs) |
| 4–7 | arpeggios in position, swing eighths | shell voicings, Freddie Green comping | chord tones and guide tones over blues and ii–V–I | Stage 1 list, 5 tunes |
| 8–9 | 3-notes-per-string scales, position shifts | drop-2 / drop-3 through tunes, inversions | chord-scale practice, modes of melodic minor | Stage 1 list complete (10 tunes) |
| 10–12 | bebop lines at tempo, articulation | reharmonisation, substitutions on tunes | bebop vocabulary, transcription | Stage 2 list, 25 tunes |
| 13–15 | chord melody technique, hybrid picking | chord melody arrangements, modern voicings | motivic development, odd meters, free playing | 40–60 tunes, including Stage 3 |
Practice log template
Date: ____ Total: ____ min
Technique: ______________________ tempo ____ → ____
Harmony: ______________________ keys done ____
Improv: ______________________ recorded? y/n one thing to fix: ________
Repertoire: new ____________ reviewed ____________
Ear/listen: ______________________
Tomorrow: ______________________
Print this page or copy the template into a notebook. Review the log every Sunday and set three targets for the week.