Improve Your Classical Guitar Playing
May 03, 2025You’re interested in improving your classical guitar playing, but you've hit a plateau.
How do you take your playing to the next level?
I recommend 7 things that will help:
1. Start Strong
Each time you sit down with the guitar, take a few minutes for a simple warmup. This habit will help you get each practice session off to a great start so you can accomplish more.
2. Enjoy Beautiful Music
To enhance your enjoyment, select music that is the right level for you. Look for something that is a step up in difficulty, not a giant leap.
3. Upgrade Your Learning Process
As you learn a piece, move through 5 stages:
- Mapping – clarify your fingerings and expressive elements like dynamics.
- Ingraining – train your mind and hands to play the piece according to your map.
- Memorizing – if you wish to memorize a piece, take time to memorize it confidently.
- Polishing – once a piece is well-learned, look for small details to improve.
- Sharing – when the piece is polished, share it with others.
4. Improve Your Arpeggios
To make your arpeggio playing better, practice planting the right-hand fingers. For ascending arpeggios, use group planting. For descending arpeggios, use sequential planting.
5. Elevate Your Scales
To improve your scale playing, work on consistency of i,m alternation in the right hand. Also, prepare each left-hand finger and right-hand finger on the string before playing. This creates efficiency of technique.
6. Enhance Your Slurs
To make your hammer-ons better, use a quick snapping motion.
To make your pull-offs better, do a rest stroke motion with the left-hand finger.
7. Redesign Your Practice
Think through the amount of time you want to practice each week.
Practice with focus. If your mind wanders, either gently bring your focus back to the guitar or take a break.
Think through the elements you want to include in each practice session, and create a structure for your daily practice.
If you apply the steps listed above, you will improve your classical guitar playing.
By the way, I've created a mini-course called 7 Steps to Next Level Classical Guitar Playing. It includes short videos and downloadable PDFs that walk you through each of the above steps.
As a special offer to you, I'm opening up the opportunity to go through the first 2 steps of the course for free! Just go to this link and enter your email address and you will have free access.
Let me know if you have questions.
Keep making music!