Granular Guitar Habits
Chapters 5 - 8
Chapter 5
Building Guitar Playing Habits – Making Practice Automatic
* Make your practice cues obvious. If you don’t set a clear time and place to play, it’s easy to let practice slip. Tie your guitar habits to specific moments in your day.
* Use implementation intentions. Instead of saying, “I’ll practice more,” say:
“I will practice guitar for 30 minutes at 7pm in my bedroom (or wherever!)” Specificity makes it real.
* Stack new guitar habits onto existing ones. Build on things you already do daily:
* “After I make my morning coffee, I’ll run through scales for 5 minutes.”
* “After I close my laptop at the end of work, I’ll pick up my guitar.”
* Use habits that already happen as triggers. Things like getting dressed, finishing a meal, or making tea can all be cues to remind you to play.
* Be precise with your cues. Vague goals like “play more” won’t cut it. Instead:
* “After I brush my teeth in the evening, I’ll spend 10 minutes working on a song.”
* Time and place matter. Make practice easy to start by linking it to a location that works—your usual playing spot, where your guitar is already set up.
* Stack habits that match in frequency. If a habit happens daily (like making coffee), it’s a great anchor for a daily guitar habit. If it’s weekly, stack it with a weekly habit.
The key is automation. If practice is the obvious next step in your routine, you won’t have to rely on motivation—you’ll just do it.
I have managed to get into a good habit of getting my guitar practice completed at around 7.30am every day. I’m generally up at 6.30am, spend some time with the family, have breakfast then practice. Get the 30 minutes done (breakfast as part of this analogy), take a break, see family, do the school run. When I get back home do the next two chunks of daily practice (theory and then fun - the lunch and dessert part of this analogy). I find this time is good for me, I’m mentally fresh, there are built in breaks between sections and it then doesn’t need doing in the evening - this allows me to concentrate on writing or recording.
The triggers and cues in the above are linked to my general morning routine and my family understand the importance of this to me. I have a number of places around my house I can do my practice (as I am currently only practising on an acoustic guitar, I only then need a metronome).
I have built this into my daily routine through repetition to the point where if it doesn’t happen it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable - I am drawn to wanting to do it at this time. This is a key part of the 66 day bootcamp - get to the point where the habit is so ingrained it just happens, every day.
Chapter 6
Developing Effective Guitar Playing Habits – Shaping Your Environment for Success
* Make practice cues obvious. Keep your guitar out where you can see it, ready to grab. If it’s tucked away in a case, you’re adding unnecessary friction to your habit.
* Your environment shapes your habits. Over time, your practice space becomes mentally linked to playing guitar—just stepping into that space can put you in the right mindset.
* Separate practice from everything else. If you play in the same place you watch TV or scroll your phone, distractions will creep in. Create a dedicated practice zone so when you’re there, you’re focused on playing.
* New environments help new habits stick. If you’re struggling to practice consistently, try playing in a different room or setting up a fresh practice area free from competing distractions.
* Use activity zones. One area for playing guitar, another for listening to music, maybe a separate spot for recording or writing. This keeps your focus sharp and prevents habits from bleeding into one another.
* Technology is a double-edged sword. Your phone, computer, or tablet can be an incredible practice tool—but they also pull you towards social media, emails, and distractions. Dedicate specific devices or apps for guitar practice to keep yourself on track.
* A stable practice habit needs a stable environment. Keep your practice space organized, inviting, and set up for success. If your gear is always in place, you eliminate the excuses that stop you from playing.
Your environment should make good habits easy and bad habits hard. Set things up so that when you step into your practice space, picking up the guitar is the natural next move.
As noted in the last chapter - I am currently mainly playing and practising acoustic guitar. This does make it easier to practice in a number of locations and have the guitar to hand. I have previously found that plugging in an electric guitar, switching on an amp or running the computer (into a DAW) are extra steps, though very minor, that do add friction. They also limit where I can practice. Mixing up the place I practice seems to mentally help me want to practice as well.
I fully agree that technology can be distracting. However, I only use the same metronome app and practice apps (noted here) and because my exercises are all time bound (as per the 7 points) I just focus on getting them done, this seems to keep my mind from wondering or being distracted (can’t say the same applies for other parts of my life..).
Chapter 7
Breaking Bad Guitar Habits – Remove the Triggers, Not Just the Temptation
* Bad guitar habits don’t just disappear—you have to disrupt the cues that trigger them. If your environment encourages sloppy playing, mindless noodling, or skipping practice, those habits will keep repeating.
* Cues trigger cravings. Just seeing your guitar might make you want to play, but if you always pick it up and noodle aimlessly instead of practicing properly, that habit reinforces itself. You play poorly, feel bad, and repeat the cycle.
* Willpower alone won’t cut it. If you’re constantly resisting distractions or battling the urge to avoid proper practice, it’s only a matter of time before you give in. You need to change your environment instead.
* Reduce exposure to bad habit triggers.
* If you tend to waste time aimlessly strumming when your guitar is in the living room, move it to your practice space.
* If watching random YouTube videos distracts you from structured learning, unsubscribe from channels that pull you off track.
* If a particular routine leads to procrastination, change it up.
* Make bad habits invisible. If something triggers unproductive playing, remove the trigger. The less you see or engage with it, the less power it has over you.
* Good habits naturally replace bad ones. When distractions are gone, productive habits take over. A well-set-up practice space leads to intentional playing. A structured warm-up prevents mindless noodling. Shape your environment so the right habits take over.
The goal isn’t to fight bad habits—it’s to design your space and routine so they fade away on their own. If you remove the cues, you remove the problem.
My bad guitar practice habit was definitely random noodling and lack of structure. I think this is a problem for a lot of guitarists. The 7 points here clearly address this and once I had settled into using these it reinforced the positive habit of structured practice.
I have yet to apply a proper structure to my songwriting so can still fall into the trap of noodling / random strumming when wanting to write songs. However, having a structured guitar practice routine allows me to disentangle guitar practice from songwriting as a previous bad habit was the two blurring into each other.
Chapter 8
Making Guitar Practice More Attractive – Hook Your Brain on Playing
* Make guitar practice something you can’t resist. Your brain craves pleasure and rewards. If playing feels like a chore, it won’t stick. If it feels exciting, you’ll keep coming back.
* Dopamine fuels habits. Just thinking about playing—anticipating that feeling of nailing a riff or locking into a groove—fires up your brain’s reward system. The trick is to harness that anticipation.
* Use "temptation bundling" to make practice more enjoyable. Link guitar to something you love:
* Want to listen to new music? Only do it while practicing guitar.
* Pair what you want to do with what you need to do.
* “After I practice for 20 minutes, I’ll listen to my favourite album.”
* “I can only explore new songs while jamming on guitar.”
* This rewires your brain to crave practice. Over time, the cue (picking up the guitar) becomes attractive on its own because your brain expects the reward.
* Make guitar practice feel like a reward in itself. If you look forward to playing, you won’t need discipline—you’ll just do it.
The key is to hook yourself on the habit by attaching it to things you already love. Anticipation is as powerful as the reward—use it to your advantage.
I have found it is definitely more easy for me to harness anticipation in the morning. After a day of work it can much harder. I have told myself enough times that I want to practice in the morning, this has now become automatic and I can then often feel that pull to needing and wanting to practice.
Temptation building is linked to my breakfast, lunch, dessert analogy. Save the exciting things (new songs, new riffs, blues jams) until the exercises are done.
I genuinely crave and enjoy practice, it isn’t a chore - this is where I think people really need to get to if they want to improve. Use the 7 points, the bootcamp if required - get that anticipation going !