# Learn Guitar — Today

> Interactive page: [`routine.html`](routine.html)

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.

**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. 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 · chromatic](drills.md#hands) — 1-2-3-4 on every string, slow | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| [Chord changes](chords.md#six) — two shapes, one minute, count the changes | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| [Strum](strumming.md#pattern) — downs on the click, then the pattern | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| [Boom-chick through a change](drills.md#coord-boom-gcd) — right hand never stops for the left | — | 2 | 4 |
| [Play along](songs.md#songs) — one song, start to finish | — | 3 | 6 |

Move on when the step’s *Ready when* line on the [home page](index.html) 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 · spider](drills.md#hands) — one finger per fret, four strings | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| [Find it](notes.md#quiz) — a name appears, you click it on the neck | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| [Power chords](power-chords.md#six) — root on string 6, say the name as you land | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| [Palm-mute eighths](drills.md#pick-pm) — pitch stays, ring dies | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| [Barre](barre.md#e-shape) — the E shape, one fret at a time | — | 4 | 6 |
| [Reading](reading.md#rhythm) — one line of TAB with its rhythm | — | 3 | 4 |
| [Rock · two-chord vamp](drills-rock.md#twochord) — power chords in time | — | — | 3 |

Move on when the step’s *Ready when* line on the [home page](index.html) 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 · alternate](alternate.md#lesson1) — open E, down-up to the click | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| [Box 1 up and down](drills-solo.md#updown) — A minor pentatonic at fret 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| [Hammer / pull cell](drills.md#left-hopo) — unpicked notes as loud as the picked one | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| [Bend to pitch](bends.md#half) — hear the target first, then bend to it | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| [Call and response](drills-solo.md#call) — two bars play, two bars rest | — | 3 | 5 |
| [Blues shuffle](blues.md#shuffle) — the 12-bar under your own hand | — | 3 | 5 |
| [Improv · one cell](improv.md#cells) — one idea, many places | — | — | 4 |

Move on when the step’s *Ready when* line on the [home page](index.html) 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 · chromatic](drills.md#hands) — both directions | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| [Chords in a key](keys.md#progressions) — I–IV–V in two keys | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| [Triads on D-G-B](triads.md#dgb) — three strings, three inversions | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| [CAGED · connect two forms](caged.md#ladder) — one chord, two places, no gap | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| [One mode’s colour](modes.md#mode-dorian) — the note that makes it that mode | — | 3 | 4 |
| [Arpeggio sequence](drills-solo.md#arpseq) — Am–C–Em, one note per chord tone | — | 3 | 4 |
| [Thumb + i–m](drills.md#coord-indep) — bass and treble, one hand | — | — | 4 |

Move on when the step’s *Ready when* line on the [home page](index.html) 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 · spider](drills.md#hands) — slow and even | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| [Today’s motion](economy.md) — one lesson: Economy, Hybrid, Sweep or Tapping | 5 | 8 | 10 |
| [Pick variants](drills.md#pick-variants) — triplets and sixteenths on one string | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| [Loop cells](warmups.md#cells) — one cell that mixes two motions | — | 4 | 6 |
| [Tremolo picking](drills-solo.md#trem) — small, even, from the wrist | — | 2 | 3 |
| [Metal · sixteenths](drills-metal.md#tremolo) — alternate-picked, palm-muted | — | — | 4 |

Move on when the step’s *Ready when* line on the [home page](index.html) 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 · chromatic](drills.md#hands) — or one loop cell | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| [One style page](#the-style-pages) — Folk, Classical, Rock, Metal or Lead | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| [Ear · match a phrase](ear.md#match) — sing it, then find it | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| [Solo lab](solo-lab.md#path-a) — one path, one etude | — | 4 | 6 |
| [A new tuning](tunings.md#open-g) — one open tuning, one song | — | 3 | 4 |
| [Jazz shells](jazz.md#shells) — root, third, seventh | — | — | 3 |

Move on when the step’s *Ready when* line on the [home page](index.html) 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](drills-folk.md) — boom-chick, alternating bass, Travis seed, lok.
- [Classical](drills-classical.md) — *pima*, planted arpeggios, rest-stroke scales.
- [Rock](drills-rock.md) — power chords, palm mute, vamps, box 1.
- [Metal](drills-metal.md) — chug, gallop, muted changes, sixteenths.
- [Lead](drills-solo.md) — box 1 to a phrase: articulations, arpeggios, colour.