GUITAR

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01

General Practice Sections & Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 03

Practice Breakdown #1 – 30 Mins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06

Practice Breakdown #2 – 60 Mins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 07

Practice Breakdown #3 – 2 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 08

Practice Breakdown #4 – 3+ Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 09

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
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Introduction
Hello! My name is Dominic Cheli, and I am a professional musician and Content Lead at tonebase.

For many of us, the largest barrier to improving at our instrument is also one of the most basic: knowing
how to practice effectively and what to do during our precious practice time.

While educational resources like tonebase and private instructors are wonderful for teaching you the actual
skills you need to learn in order to develop, they often don’t go as far as explaining exactly what you should
be doing in your practice. To remedy this, I wanted to create a tool that would help you organize your time
and make progress in every session, regardless of how much time is available in a given day.

Where did this idea come from? Well, in one of our most popular live-streamed events last year, I discussed
the process of reaching your practice goals through specific systems and routines. After the live-stream
ended, I wanted to take it a step further and put them down in writing for passionate classical guitarists like
you to easily reference at any time.

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In this PDF, I first provide some general guidance and practice advice for guitarists of any level. These cover
the 3 primary components of any good practice session
Warming U
Technique wor
Repertoire work

Additionally, you will learn about what kind of tempo to practice in (and the exact, different benefits of slow/
medium/fast practice) as well as learning systems that professionals follow, such as the 7/5 or 20/10
systems.

Then, we’ll get into the actual Practice Breakdowns themselves!

Every time you sit down with your guitar to start practicing, all you will need to do is ask yourself, “How much
time am I committing to practicing today?” and you will be able to follow a template depending on these
following options
30 minutes (Yes! You can see huge benefits even with such short amount of time!
60 minute
2 hour
3+ hours

You can feel free to adjust these templates to taste, but they are all organized methods that are guaranteed
to keep you on track, while moving across the core aspects of guitar playing to make sure your practice
sessions are efficient AND well-rounded!

Happy practicing and stay tuned for many more Practice Breakdowns from your favorite tonebase artists
coming your way!

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General Practice Sections & Advice for Any Level

1. Warming U
Warm up your body – stretch forearms, back, and nec
Consider making sure that you are “literally” warmed up. Drinking hot tea, taking a shower, turning on a
heater, etc… It can all help
Start by playing through a few easy warm up exercises that get your fingers reaquatinted with the strings
and fretboar
Recommended tonebase video: Warming Up with Thomas Viloteau

2. Techniqu
Always recommended to warm-up before technique work. Technical exercises, scales, and arpeggios are
demanding on the body, so do not underestimate them
For the most part, classical guitar technique can be broken into left and right han
Left Hand: slurs, shifting, stretching, vibrato, barre, trills, etc
Recommended tonebase Course: Complete Guide to Left Hand Virtuosit
Right Hand: rest stroke, free stroke, alternation, arpeggios, tremol
Recommended tonebase Course: Complete Guide to Right Hand Virtuosit
It’s important to identify and work on exercises that develop the particular techniques that you need to
improv
Look to your repertoire to identify techniques that you need to develop. For instance, if you’re playing
a piece with lots of large, difficult stretches in the left hand, it would be good to focus your technique
practice on stretching
In addition to focusing in on specific techniques that you need to develop, it’s also good to dedicate a
portion of your technique practice to more general exercises like scales and arpeggios which can help
keep your technique “tuned up” and overall functioning efficiently
Don’t just mindlessly play through your scales and arpeggios. For examples, use scales to developing
the coordination between your left and right hand. Look for moments of tension (shifts for example)
and find ways to execute them more relaxed. Develop your speed by playing with a metronome and
gradually increasing the tempo. Those are just a few ideas of ways to get benefits from scales and
arpeggios – there are many more!

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2. Technique (cont.
Recommended Technique Book: Pumping Nylon by Scott Tennan
Great for learning about technique and finding exercises to help develop specific area
Recommended tonebase Interview: The Origins of Pumping Nylo
Recommended tonebase Technique Courses
On Scales with Vladimir Gorbac
Techniques for the Adult Learner with Carlos Bonel
Advanced Barre with Thomas Viloteau

3. Repertoir
Consider choosing and practicing from one of these 3 general tempo options. In addition, pay attention
to the benefits found in each type of tempo practice
Slow (Best for Analytical, Visual Practice
Moderate (Best for Analytical, Visual, Aural, Muscle Memory Practice
Fast (Best for Muscle Memory, Visual, Aural Practice, and building confidence leading to
performance
For Slow Pieces
(Practicing at Slow tempo) Practice under tempo, even if it is extremely slow. It allows the brain to be
analytical and track fingerings, harmony, dynamics, articulation (and more) in a controlled way
(Practicing at Moderate tempo) This may be close to “in tempo” but should be a hair slower than your
desired tempo. This allows you to process information at a similar speed to performance but still
have the extra amount of time for the brain to be very actively thinking about what is happening on
the fretboard
(Practicing at Fast tempo) Yes, it is sometimes good to practice “slow pieces” at “fast tempos” -
playing them faster than you normally would. It actually forces your brain and fingers to be sharp and
fast thinking! It can also show the piece in a different light, illuminating structure, macro harmonies,
and phrase lengths.

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3. Repertoire (cont.
For Fast Pieces
(Practicing at Slow tempo) Practice under tempo, even if it is extremely slow. It allows the brain to be
analytical and track fingerings, harmony, dynamics, articulation in a controlled way
(Practicing at Moderate tempo) For Fast pieces, it is GREAT and actually ideal to practice under
tempo, at a comfortable tempo. This way you can develop confidence that you DO have a tempo that
is comfortable and acceptable for performance
(Practicing at Fast tempo) This would be “in tempo” practice or even practicing fast pieces at a
higher tempo to build greater technical “bandwidth”. For example, if your goal tempo is 140bpm,
consider practicing at 150-160bpm to push yourself, and then have 140 feel even more comfortable
Consider using a “learning rule
7/5 rule: Practice a section for 7 minutes, take a 5 minute break, practice a DIFFERENT section for 7
minutes, 5 minute break, practice a DIFFERENT section for 7 minutes, etc… (you can revisit a previous
section after cycling through 2 other sections
20/10 rule: Practice 20 minutes, take a break for 10 minutes. This is ideal for those that may be
struggling with stamina, injury or looking for variety in their practice. After each break, try and start
from a different spot in your piece
Recommended tonebase LIVE workshop: Organizing a Practice Routin
Consider spending time doing the following
Record yourself during practice and listen back (either in excerpts or in “play throughs”
Play for someone (friend, family, etc…)

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Practice Breakdown #1 – 30 Minutes
With this short amount of time to practice, you should be hyper-focused in moving through all the below
sections in this session! In can be very easy to spend too much time in one section (which you can still do if
you really want) but consider that your brain continues processing information/developing even after you
have moved on from something that you just worked on

Warmup and Technique (5 minutes

Warm up before you sit down with your guitar
Choose one exercise to practice that focuses on a technique you need to develo
If there is available time, practice your scales and arpeggio
Repertoire (20-25 minutes
With only 30 minutes of practice (overall) we need to get to your repertoire quickly
Tips
Ask yourself which part you are most nervous or concerned about (That is a good place to start!
Don't always start at the beginning of the piec
Consider sectionalized practice: spending 5 minutes each on 4 different sections (or any other
division of time by section…this allows you to cover more ground and it is proven that your brain
continues processing information/developing even after you have moved on from a passage). This
is efficient practice.

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Practice Breakdown #2 – 60 Minutes
This is the most typical practice routine for guitarists. It is important to get good at maximizing this
particular practice breakdown for great benefits

Warmup and Technique (10 minutes

Warm up before you sit down with your guitar
Choose one exercise to practice that focuses on a technique you need to develo
If there is available time, practice your scales and arpeggio
Repertoire (45 minutes
Tips
Ask yourself which part you are most nervous or concerned about (That is a good place to start!
Don't always start at the beginning of the piec
Consider sectionalized practice: spending 10 minutes each on 4 different sections (or any other
division of time by section…this allows you to cover more ground and it is proven that your brain
continues processing information/developing even after you have moved on from a passage). This
is efficient practice
If you have 2 pieces to work on, consider focusing on 1 today, 1 tomorrow, or bouncing between
both pieces (around 20 minutes each
IMPORTANT: after practicing for 30 minutes take a 5 minute break! It will keep your brain fresh and
allow you to be hyper focused when you jump back into practicing!

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Practice Breakdown #3 – 2 Hours
This practice time is for intermediate to advanced students. The longer the practice sessions get, the easier
it is to “waste time” and play “in circles”. In other words, getting stuck playing the same passage over and
over with diminishing results, vs. working on many aspects of our technique and repertoire

Warmup and Technique (20 minutes

Warm up before you sit down with your guitar
Choose one exercise to practice that focuses on a technique you need to develo
If there is available time, practice your scales and arpeggio
Repertoire (90 minutes
It is assumed that most likely you are playing more than one piece! The breakdown of these 90
minutes could be
all 90 minutes spent learning one new piec
45 minutes spent on each piece (2 total
For More than 2 pieces (or pieces of varying levels) break down the 90 minutes into prioritizing
one piece (maybe the most difficult or weakest piece for you) for 45 minutes, and use the
remaining 45 minutes on the other pieces
Tips
Ask yourself which part you are most nervous or concerned about (That is a good place to start!
Don't always start at the beginning of the piec
Consider sectionalized practice: spending 10-20 minutes each on several different sections (or
any other division of time by section…this allows you to cover more ground and it is proven that
your brain continues processing information/developing even after you have moved on from a
passage). This is efficient practice
Remember you don't have to play each piece, every day. You can focus on multiple pieces across
multiple days
IMPORTANT: after practicing for 30 minutes take a 5 minute break! It will keep your brain fresh and
allow you to be hyper focused when you jump back into practicing
Consider using one of the following learning rules, explained in the “General” sectio
7/5 rule, 20/10 rule

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Practice Breakdown #4 – 3+ Hours
For advanced or very serious players, this is a substantial amount of time! It’s important to take frequent
mental and physical breaks if your practicing goes much over 3 hours in a day

Warmup and Technique (20-30 minutes

Warm up before you sit down with your guitar
Choose one exercise to practice that focuses on a technique you need to develo
If there is available time, practice your scales and arpeggio
Repertoire (2.5+ hours
It is assumed that most likely you are playing more than one piece! The breakdown of this time could
be the followin
all the time spent learning one new piec
45 minutes spent on each piec
Any other time breakdow
Tips
Ask yourself which part you are most nervous or concerned about (That is a good place to start!
Don't always start at the beginning of the piec
Consider sectionalized practice: spending 10-20 minutes each on several different sections (or
any other division of time by section…this allows you to cover more ground and it is proven that
your brain continues processing information/developing even after you have moved on from a
passage). This is efficient practice
Remember you don't have to play each piece, every day. You can focus on multiple pieces across
multiple days
IMPORTANT: after practicing for 30 minutes take a 5 minute break! It will keep your brain fresh and
allow you to be hyper focused when you jump back into practicing
Consider using one of the following learning rules, explained in the “General” sectio
7/5 rule, 20/10 rul
Remember: Work (sometimes) takes as long as you plan for it, try and practice as efficiently as
possible!

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Conclusion
We hope you get a lot of value out of this resource and find it useful for getting the most out of every
practice session!

We at tonebase are committed to helping you achieve your musical goals and we are so excited about our
recent launch: tonebase Practice Plans. Drawing from our library of 100s of videos, across repertoire,
technique, and musicality lessons, we curate a plan that is specially designed for you, with a focus on
improving BOTH your strengths and weaknesses.

Start your free trial of tonebase today to get your personalized Practice Plan and unlock access to 100s of
courses from the world’s best guitarists!

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