95% of Guitar Players Fail This 30 Day Challenge

Personalised feedback from ME on YOUR playing: https://www.joerowleymusic.co.uk The Ultimate Guitar Practice Tool: https://www.joerowleymusic.co.uk/reso... 0:00 The 30-Day Challenge 0:49 What the Challenge Is 1:09 Isn't It Just Practise More? 1:49 Remove the Limiting Factor 2:20 The Water Weight Phase 3:59 Make It Your Identity 4:59 Why 30 Days? 5:49 What to Practise 6:07 Away Days and Missed Days 7:06 Start Today 8:02 More Tips If you’re not getting enough out of your guitar practice, or you’re simply not practising enough because the motivation isn’t there, this one’s for you. I’ve set out a simple 30-day challenge that should completely change how you approach the guitar. The challenge: for 30 days, practise either an hour a day or twice as long as you normally practise, whichever of the two is higher. If you genuinely don’t have time for that, that’s up to you, but this is for people who are serious about making progress. Now, you might be thinking this is the most unoriginal challenge ever invented. It’s just “practise more”. In a way, yes, but it’s a short, manageable burst of practising more, and it changes a lot more than the number of hours. To explain it, I’ve related it to a 30-day diet I went on recently. I think people struggle to pick the guitar up because they don’t feel they’re as far along the road as they’d like to be, and they don’t feel they’ll make any progress in the time they sit down for. This challenge goes after both. First off, it removes practice time as the limiting factor. If you don’t spend time practising what you watch, it doesn’t matter what you’re watching. The first week is your water weight. On a diet you lose quite a lot early on, relative to the whole month. With guitar, the first few days might feel a bit rough, but you’re starting the snowball: You get rid of the relearning tax. No more “where was I again? How do I play that part?” every time you pick the instrument up. You build up the conditioning in your fingers, your muscle memory and your fingertips. You get properly warmed-up playing time. I’d argue it takes 15 or 20 minutes before you’re firing on all cylinders, so an hour gives you at least half an hour to 40 minutes of prime playing time. Then we get into the meat and potatoes (no pun intended). On the diet I ate the same thing every day, and for the first week or two I really didn’t enjoy it. But as time went on it became normal, part of my identity. The same happens here: being a regular guitar player becomes part of who you are. You get in from work and you pick the guitar up. Why 30 days? If I set you a one-year challenge, there’s no way you’d do it. One week, and you’d think, what’s that going to achieve? Thirty days is a nice middle point, with an end in sight. What should you practise? No more than one topic per half hour, so with an hour a day that’s two topics max, whether that’s a song, improvisation, theory or anything else. The rules: Away for a day? Do some music theory, ear training, or at the very least some educational guitar content, for as long as your practice period is meant to be. Not every day, though. You’re allowed one missed day. Two in a row and you start again. Start today. Don’t start in a week or two weeks, because it won’t happen. Keep a little note (a notepad, Apple Notes, whatever works) and tick off each day. Take a short video at the start and the end so you can see where you’re at. If you get to the end and you’re still feeling good, try 66 days. They say it takes 66 days to build a habit, so that’s the way to really cement things. Let me know in the comments what you’re going to be working on for the next month, and add another comment as you go to update me and everyone else that’s watching. I’d love to hear from anyone who gets to the end of the 30 days and feels better about their playing as a result. Check out my music Channel:    / @joerowleymusic   Follow me on socials:   / jrguitarmentorship     / jrguitarmentorship   My Music / Band Socials:    / @pluviamband     / joerowleymusic     / pluviamband