Becoming a better guitar player requires lots and lots of practice, that much is obvious. But figuring out how to practice can be a bit of a challenge.   I believe you will find the following post very helpful.  Below are 10 awesome guitar practice exercises that you can fit into your daily practice routine.

These guitar practice exercises target a variety of different areas including finger strength and dexterity, soloing, barre chords and more.  Some of the videos below are demonstrated on electric guitars, but you can do the same exercises on acoustic guitar.

Practice Exercise 1 – Justin Sandercoes’s  Finger Gym

The practice routine below is a brilliant one from Justin Sandercoe.  This exercise alone will greatly improve your guitar playing. This routine really works out your hands and fingers, so in the beginning, you may tire quickly. This is normal. The more you do this exercise, the longer you will be able to last.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7OTbl__aU

Visit Justin’s YouTube Profile Here for more great video lessons

Practice Exercise 2 – Chord Change Exercise

This exercise will give you practice playing and changing between your basic, but essential open chords.

Learn more about this guitar practice routine here

Practice Exercise 3 – 7 Strumming Patterns & Techniques for Acoustic Guitar

Learning how to properly strum your acoustic guitar does not come easy to all of us.  The video lessons on the following page will hopefully make you a strumming master.  Add these strumming exercises to your practice routine today.

Follow this link to reach this post on strumming patterns & techniques for acoustic guitar

Practice Exercise 4 – Pentatonic Scale Pattern Practice For Solos

This is a great practice exercise from Marty Schwartz that will show you how to get more out of your scales. This is great practice if you want to play lead guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf_2eodyR_0

Practice Exercise 5 – Finger Dexterity Exercise

This practice exercise has multiple benefits.  It builds strength and dexterity and helps familiarize yourself with the guitar fretboard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkezJz_ibuk

Watch more of Anthony’s videos over at his YouTube Page

Practice Exercise 6 – Barre Chord Changing Exercise

Here is a great exercise from Next Level Guitar to help you practice those challenging barre chords.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdofq_TQbZY

Practice Exercise 7 – Strength &  Dexterity Exercise For Solos

Here is another great exercise from Next Level Guitar for building finger strength and dexterity for soloing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjwsLWBukzg

Practice Exercise 8 – Right Hand Picking Exercise

This exercise is great for practicing your right hand picking.  Its made especially for Bluegrass Guitar, but it will benefit any guitar player of any genre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H598k-8ZtEU

See more of Adam’z guitar videos over at his YouTube Page.

Practice Exercise 9 – Collection of Great Warmup Exercises

Here is a collection of excellent warm up exercises for guitar. Several of these exercises are done without a guitar, so you can do them anywhere, which is a real plus for those of us who are on the go or don’t always have the time to devote to practice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H353MZ6dtI

See more of Rob’s videos over at his YouTube Page

Practice Exercise 10 – Paul Gilbert Speed Building Exercise

Here is a great exercise for building up speed on the guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZURmRPQPjA

Guitar Practic Routine for Beginners

A difficult hurdle to overcome as a beginner guitar player is mastering your chord changes. You must be able to change from one chord to another quickly and without error.

You are likely to get frustrated in the beginning as your fingers won’t do what you want them to do.  This is normal and it will take time for you to develop what’s called “Muscle Memory”.  Muscle Memory develops from performing an activity over and over again.  You perform an activity so often, that eventually it becomes second nature and you don’t even think about it. This is what will happen eventually with your guitar playing.

Here is an excellent chord practice routine that you can add to your daily practice sessions.  This is a great way to improve your chord changes and develop that muscle memory.  This is a wonderful exercise that will help you become better at learning how to change between all of your open chords.

What  you do is play the following chords, in the order they are listed (I have provided links to lessons on how to play each chord) :

G Major , C Major,  E Minor,  C Major, A Minor ,E Major , A Minor , D Major, G Major, A Minor, C Major, G Major, A Major, D Minor, G Major, E Minor, C Major, D Major, D Minor, C Major, G Major

Play each chord above in the order they are listed using the following strumming pattern:

DOWN/UP/DOWN/UP

Go very very slowly at first so that you are playing each chord accurately and your changes are precise and not sloppy.  Do not rush through these chord changes.