Today 10, 20 or 30 minutes

A plan for the step of the book you are on. Pick the step, pick how long you have, and play down the column. Every row links to the drill or lesson card it means. Keep the same plan for a week before you change it.

1 · Start here 2 · Neck and names 3 · First lead 4 · Harmony 5 · Technique 6 · Styles

How a session runs: wake the hands first, spend the most time on the one thing the step is about, and end on music. Metronome on throughout — the practice bar below keeps it. If the 10-minute column is all you have, it is enough; done every day it beats an hour on Sunday.

Sources: Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1 (short daily sessions: warm-up, new material, review, a song) · Berklee practice guidance (one focus per session, metronome throughout).

1 · Start here

Hands, two chords, one strum, one song. Most of the time goes on changing chords without stopping the strum.

Block	10 min	20 min	30 min
Wake-up · chromatic1-2-3-4 on every string, slow	2	3	4
Chord changestwo shapes, one minute, count the changes	4	6	8
Strumdowns on the click, then the pattern	4	6	8
Boom-chick through a changeright hand never stops for the left	—	2	4
Play alongone song, start to finish	—	3	6

Move on when the step’s Ready when list is true on a normal day.

2 · Neck and names

Names on strings 6 and 5, then shapes that move. The quiz is short on purpose — do it every day this week.

Block	10 min	20 min	30 min
Wake-up · spiderone finger per fret, four strings	2	2	3
Find ita name appears, you click it on the neck	3	4	5
Power chordsroot on string 6, say the name as you land	3	4	5
Palm-mute eighthspitch stays, ring dies	2	3	4
Barrethe E shape, one fret at a time	—	4	6
Readingone line of TAB with its rhythm	—	3	4
Rock · two-chord vamppower chords in time	—	—	3

Move on when the step’s Ready when list is true on a normal day.

3 · First lead

Box 1, the left-hand slurs and a bend, then something that sounds like a phrase.

Block	10 min	20 min	30 min
Wake-up · alternateopen E, down-up to the click	2	3	3
Box 1 up and downA minor pentatonic at fret 5	3	4	5
Hammer / pull cellunpicked notes as loud as the picked one	2	3	4
Bend to pitchhear the target first, then bend to it	3	4	4
Call and responsetwo bars play, two bars rest	—	3	5
Blues shufflethe 12-bar under your own hand	—	3	5
Improv · one cellone idea, many places	—	—	4

Move on when the step’s Ready when list is true on a normal day.

4 · Harmony on the neck

The same chords in more than one place. Say the key and the chord number out loud.

Block	10 min	20 min	30 min
Wake-up · chromaticboth directions	2	2	3
Chords in a keyI–IV–V in two keys	3	4	5
Triads on D-G-Bthree strings, three inversions	3	4	5
CAGED · connect two formsone chord, two places, no gap	2	4	5
One mode’s colourthe note that makes it that mode	—	3	4
Arpeggio sequenceAm–C–Em, one note per chord tone	—	3	4
Thumb + i–mbass and treble, one hand	—	—	4

Move on when the step’s Ready when list is true on a normal day.

5 · Technique

One motion a day from the technique lessons. The rest of the session keeps the others from going stale.

Block	10 min	20 min	30 min
Wake-up · spiderslow and even	2	2	2
Today’s motionone lesson: Economy, Hybrid, Sweep or Tapping	5	8	10
Pick variantstriplets and sixteenths on one string	3	4	5
Loop cellsone cell that mixes two motions	—	4	6
Tremolo pickingsmall, even, from the wrist	—	2	3
Metal · sixteenthsalternate-picked, palm-muted	—	—	4

Move on when the step’s Ready when list is true on a normal day.

6 · Playing styles

A style a session and your ear every day. Solo lab is for when a style page feels easy.

Block	10 min	20 min	30 min
Wake-up · chromaticor one loop cell	2	2	3
One style pageFolk, Classical, Rock, Metal or Lead	4	6	8
Ear · match a phrasesing it, then find it	4	5	6
Solo labone path, one etude	—	4	6
A new tuningone open tuning, one song	—	3	4
Jazz shellsroot, third, seventh	—	—	3

Move on when the step’s Ready when list is true on a normal day.

The style pages

For step 6, or any day the hands want a change. Each page has a suggested order, the drills, variants on any chord or root, and a practice note.

Folk — boom-chick, alternating bass, Travis seed, lok.
Classical — pima, planted arpeggios, rest-stroke scales.
Rock — power chords, palm mute, vamps, box 1.
Metal — chug, gallop, muted changes, sixteenths.
Lead — box 1 to a phrase: articulations, arpeggios, colour.