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Part 01
Download the Intermediate Guitar Practice Routine PDF
Intermediate Guitar Practice Routine (PDF)
Two A4 pages: a 45-minute session, weekly rotation and seven-session log. No account needed.
Print the intermediate guitar practice routine PDF for the same five-block session used below: 5 minutes warming up, 10 on rhythm and chords, 8 on fretboard and ear, 12 on technique, and 10 on repertoire. Page one includes the daily instructions, a 20-minute fallback and the seven-day rotation. Page two is a blank session log and weekly review. Use your own drills or the named examples in this guide.
Print in grayscale at actual size, or fit to printable area if needed. Fill in the log by hand; it does not calculate totals or import notes into the app. For a more detailed session worksheet and a filled-in example, download the guitar practice journal.
Part 02
Tonight's Session: 45 Minutes, Filled In
This is the balanced track, the default if you have not picked one yet. Each block names a drill and a target, so you can start playing without deciding anything first.
The 45-minute intermediate session
| Minutes | Block | Play this | Pass mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Warm-up | Any spider or chromatic drill from the speed and sync exercises, 20 BPM under your clean tempo. | Hands warm, no buzz |
| 5–15 | Rhythm and chords | Funk 16ths on Monday, Smooth Changes on Wednesday. | Funk 16ths: accents clearly louder than the scratches, 8 bars at 60 BPM. Smooth Changes: 8 bars with no gap at the change |
| 15–23 | Fretboard and ear | Move the Melody, or Sing What You Play if your ear is the weaker half. | One phrase in three positions, notes named out loud |
| 23–35 | Technique focus | One drill from your current rotation, metronome on, BPM written down. | Three consecutive clean runs, then up 4–5 BPM |
| 35–45 | Repertoire | One section of a real song slightly above your level, from the song library. | Twice through, cold, no restarts |
On a 20-minute day, compress rather than skip. The order is what makes the routine work, so keep it and shrink the blocks:
- •3 minutes warm-up.
- •7 minutes on the current technique drill, tempo logged.
- •5 minutes rhythm or fretboard, whichever you touched least this week.
- •5 minutes repertoire.
These drills are examples, not the plan
Every exercise on this page is one example that fits its block. Your own plan should be built around what the honesty test below shows you, so swap any drill for one that targets your weak spot. The block order and the pass marks are the part to keep.
Build your own version in Riff Quest
Take this routine as a starting point, or build a plan from scratch: pick drills from the exercise library, set the minutes per block, and the app runs the session with a metronome and note detection, logging the clean BPM for you.
This routine as a plan
45 min
- Warm-up5 min
- Rhythm and chords10 min
- Fretboard and ear8 min
- Technique focus12 min
- Repertoire10 min
Part 03
Your Practice Week, Day by Day
A week of practice needs each area to come round at least twice, and the technique drill to repeat inside the same week. Second exposures are where the gain is, so Tuesday and Thursday run the same drill rather than two different ones.
The intermediate practice week
| Day | Focus | What you play |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Rhythm | Full session, rhythm block doubled: Funk 16ths, then Both-Hands Muting. |
| Tuesday | Technique | Full session. This week's rotation drill fills the technique block. Log the clean BPM. |
| Wednesday | Fretboard and ear | Move the Melody in the fretboard block, Sing What You Play in place of technique. |
| Thursday | Technique | Same drill as Tuesday, same metronome, one notch faster only if Tuesday was clean. |
| Friday | Control | Vibrato, bends in a phrase, subdivisions, then improvise over a backing track. |
| Saturday | Repertoire | No drills. One song start to finish, recorded once. |
| Sunday | Rest and review | Five minutes: write down the week's clean BPMs and listen back to Saturday's recording. |
Three tracks share that skeleton. Pick the one that matches the playing you actually do, and change only the blocks the table names:
Pick your track
| Track | Pick it if | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm and chords | You play in a band, hold down parts, or your solo playing is ahead of your groove. | Rhythm block runs Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday's technique slot goes to voice leading. |
| Lead and technique | You improvise and solo, and your picking hand is the bottleneck. | Technique block runs four days, rotating through the lead section. Rhythm keeps Monday only. |
| Balanced | You are not sure, or you want the plateau gone rather than one skill sharpened. | The week above, unchanged. |
Rotation rule: the technique block runs the same drill all week, and rotates weekly through three or four priorities. A drill leaves the rotation when it survives the honesty test below, not when you get bored of it.
The honesty test
Record 30 seconds of improvisation this week and listen back. The licks you hear on repeat are your comfort zone. Whatever is absent, whether that is bends in tune, time feel, or position changes, is what belongs in next week's technique block.
Part 04
Rhythm, Chords and Groove
Most intermediate players are further ahead on lead than on rhythm, because lead practice sounds like progress and rhythm practice sounds like a metronome. These four drills cover the gap: 16th-note groove, string noise, chord changes, and voicings.
Strumming — Funk 16ths
Master 16th-note scratching, clean accents, and tight left-hand muting.
Constant 16th-note motion in the strumming hand, with the fretting hand deciding which strums ring and which turn into scratches. The strumming hand never stops, so the groove never breaks; the fretting hand squeezes on accents and releases everywhere else. Get this and your rhythm playing gains a percussion part.
Start at 60 BPM, well under the 90 the app suggests. Accented chords should be clearly louder than the scratches around them. If the scratches ring at all, the fretting hand is not releasing enough.
Pattern A: Classic Funk
Pattern B: Percussive 16ths
How to practice it
- 1Maintain a constant, rapid 16th-note strumming motion in your right hand.
- 2Squeeze the neck only on accented beats, relaxing instantly to create percussive scratches.
Muting — Both Hands
Eliminate unwanted string noise using systematic dual-hand muting.
String noise is what separates a recorded-sounding rhythm part from a demo. Two jobs run at once: the picking-hand palm covers everything below the note, the underside of the fretting index covers everything above it.
Play it with more gain than feels comfortable. Under high gain every accidental ring is audible, which is exactly the feedback the drill needs.
Show plain-text tab
e|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| B|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| G|------------------------------------------------|------0 ----------0 ----------2 ----------0 ----|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| D|------2 ----------0 ----------2 ----------0 ----|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| A|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------2 ----2 ----------------------|------------0 ----2 ----------------------------| E|0 ----------3 ----------0 ----------2 ----------|0 ----------3 ----------0 ----------2 ----------|0 ----0 ----0 ----------------0 ----3 ----2 ----|0 ----0 ----------------0 ----3 ----2 ----0 ----|
How to practice it
- 1Mute all strings below the active note with your picking-hand palm.
- 2Mute all strings above the active note with the underside of your fretting index finger.
Chords — Smooth Changes
Minimize finger movement and eliminate pauses during common chord changes.
Intermediate chord practice is not about learning new shapes, it is about closing the gap between them. Fix one string set, find every chord of a progression there, and change with the smallest possible movement while the strumming hand keeps going.
Common tones stay down. Only the fingers that must move, move. If a change needs every finger to lift and jump, you picked the wrong inversion, so find a closer one.
How to practice it
- 1Choose a simple looping chord progression with at least three chords (e.g. I–IV–V in any key).
- 2Decide on one fixed string set to use for all chords (e.g. strings 5–4–3 for triads or 4–3–2–1 for seventh chords).
- 3Find chord shapes on those strings only — do not switch string sets even if a chord feels uncomfortable.
- 4Change chords using the smallest possible finger movement: keep common tones held whenever possible.
- 5Move only the fingers that must change, and shift them by the shortest distance available.
- 6Play full chords (triads or seventh chords as planned) — do not omit notes to make transitions easier.
- 7Set a steady rhythm with a metronome and change chords every fixed number of beats (e.g. every 2 or 4 clicks).
- 8If a transition requires lifting all fingers or jumping positions, stop and find a closer inversion.
Chords — Least Finger Motion
Arrange chord voicings to minimize finger movement between transitions.
The same principle applied to single notes: at each chord change, land on the nearest tone of the next chord rather than restarting a shape. It is the fastest way to make a rhythm part sound composed instead of strummed.
Decide the landing note before the change arrives. Guessing at the last second is what produces the big jumps this drill removes.
How to practice it
- 1Choose a looping chord progression (3–4 chords) or any backing track with clear chord changes.
- 2Improvise with a constant focus on minimal movement: at every chord change, move to the closest possible chord tone of the next chord (preferably a common tone, otherwise a half-step; whole-step only if needed).
- 3Keep your note choices mostly to chord tones so the harmony stays clearly implied; you may use passing notes only if they preserve minimal motion between targets.
- 4During the first pass, play only the connections: sustain a note into the chord change, then shift minimally to the next chord’s nearest tone (avoid extra notes).
- 5On the next pass, add short motifs between changes, but ensure the last note before the change connects minimally into the first note of the next chord.
- 6Increase difficulty by changing chords every bar (or every two bars at most) and staying in one fretboard area instead of jumping positions.
- 7Before each chord change, decide in advance which nearest tone you will land on for the next chord (no last-second guessing).
- 8If you make a large jump at a chord change or hit a wrong tone, restart the loop and solve that transition with a smaller movement.
Part 05
Fretboard and Ear Training
Two blind spots keep intermediate players inside the same two positions: not knowing the notes under the fingers, and not hearing a phrase before playing it. Ten minutes a week on each is enough to move both.
Fretboard — Move the Melody
Take a short melodic phrase you know and play it in multiple positions across the neck, navigating by note names instead of shapes.
Take a phrase you already know, name its notes out loud, then play it somewhere else on the neck using those names rather than the shape. Repeat across positions and single strings.
This is the drill that turns five pentatonic boxes into one fretboard. If you want the pattern side of the same problem, the scale practice routine covers positions and connections.
How to practice it
- 1Choose a short melodic phrase or riff (3–5 notes) that you know well by ear and can clearly name by note (e.g. C–D–E–G).
- 2Play the phrase in one familiar position, making sure you know the exact note names.
- 3Find another position on the fretboard where the same notes can be played and repeat the phrase there.
- 4Continue moving the phrase systematically across the fretboard, shifting to higher positions or different strings.
- 5Do not change note order or intervals — the melody must remain identical, only its position changes.
- 6Avoid tabs or fretboard diagrams; rely on note names and your ear.
- 7Try playing the phrase on single strings when possible to force non-standard positions.
- 8Switch randomly between low, middle, and high positions while keeping steady timing.
- 9Start the phrase from different notes of the melody when possible (e.g. begin on G instead of C).
Sing What You Play
Sing pitches out loud simultaneously as you play them on the guitar.
Sing the pitch as you play it, then reverse: sing a short phrase first and find it on the neck. Vocal quality is irrelevant, only pitch accuracy matters.
Three minutes of this does more for improvisation than an hour of scale runs, because it attacks the actual bottleneck, which is the delay between hearing a line and locating it.
How to practice it
- 1Select a scale or a single string to limit the initial complexity.
- 2Play a short 3- to 4-note melodic phrase on the guitar.
- 3Sing the exact pitches out loud while playing them, using syllables like 'la', 'da', or the note names.
- 4Reverse the process: sing a short, spontaneous melody first, then immediately locate and play those notes on the guitar.
Part 06
Control: Bends, Vibrato and Time
Listeners do not hear your picking system. They hear whether bends land in tune, whether vibrato is even, and whether the time feels good. These three get their own block rather than leftover minutes.
Vibrato — Speed & Width
Control the speed, width, and depth of your pitch modulation by sustaining notes and bent pitches across multiple strings.
Vibrato is the most identifying sound in your playing, and even beats wide: controlled width at a controlled rate, repeatable on demand. This drill locks the pulses to a metronome, which feels mechanical and is how players with recognizable vibrato built it.
Show plain-text tab
e|------------------------------------------------|------------------------5 ~---------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| B|8 ~---------------------------------------------|5 ~---------------------------------8 ~---------|7 ~---------------------5 b---------------------|7 b---------------------------------------------| G|------------------------7 ~---------------------|------------5 ~---------------------------------|------------9 ~---------------------7 ~---------|------------------------7 b---------------------| D|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| A|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| E|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
How to practice it
- 1Sustain each note cleanly before starting a steady, controlled pitch modulation.
- 2Maintain consistent width and speed throughout the duration of the note.
- 3Keep the pitch modulation symmetric to ensure perfect intonation.
Bending — Inside a Phrase
Integrate whole-step and half-step bends into melodic phrases with precise pitch control.
Hitting the target pitch is assumed at this level. What is left is phrasing: pre-bends, releases, held bends with vibrato on top, strung into vocal lines. Record yourself and check the releases, which untrained players throw away by dropping the bend instantly.
Show plain-text tab
e|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| B|8 ----------8 ----------5 ----------5 ----------|------------------------------------------------|8 b---8 ~---------8 ----5 b---5 ~---------5 ----|------------------------------------------------| G|------------------------------------------------|7 ----------7 ----------5 ----------5 ----------|------------------------------------------------|7 b---7 ~---------7 ----5 b---5 ~---------5 ----| D|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| A|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| E|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
How to practice it
- 1Support the bending finger with your adjacent fingers to maximize control and stability.
- 2Rotate your wrist and forearm rather than pushing with fingers alone to drive the bend.
Timing — Switch Subdivisions
Transition smoothly between different rhythmic subdivisions at a constant tempo.
Switching between eighths, triplets and sixteenths on command without the tempo drifting. Practice it with the accent moving, first note of each group, then the second, and your time feel gains a dimension most intermediate players never develop.
Show plain-text tab
e|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| B|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| G|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| D|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| A|0 ----------0 ----------0 ----------0 ----------|0 ----0 ----0 ----0 ----0 ----0 ----0 ----0 ----|0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -|0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 -| E|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
How to practice it
- 1Switch between quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes without changing your speed.
- 2Keep your hand relaxed during rapid subdivision shifts.
Part 07
Lead Track: Advanced Picking Techniques
Optional. These five belong in the technique block only once rhythm, fretboard and control are covered, or if lead playing is the track you picked. One drill per week, ordered roughly by what they demand from the picking hand.
Diagonal Runs — Chromatic Box
Practice angular economy picking to minimize picking hand movement and transition fluidly across adjacent strings.
Economy picking replaces strict down-up with the shortest path: on a string change the pick keeps travelling and sweeps through. This angular study forces constant choices between the two systems, which is the real skill. Fluency is picking the right one per phrase.
Show plain-text tab
e|1 ----2 ----------3 ----------------4 ----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------1 ----------------2 ----------3 ----4 ----|4 ----3 ----------2 ----------------1 ----------------------------------------------------------| B|------------1 ----------2 ----------------3 ----------------4 ----------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------1 ----------------2 ----------------3 ----------4 ----------------|------------4 ----------3 ----------------2 ----------------1 ----------------------------------| G|------------------------------1 ----------------2 ----------------3 ----------------4 ----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------1 ----------------2 ----------------3 ----------------4 ----------------------------------|------------------------------4 ----------------3 ----------------2 ----------------1 ----------| D|------------------------------------------------------1 ----------------2 ----------------3 ----|------------4 ----------------------------------------------------------------1 ----------------|2 ----------------3 ----------------4 ----------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------4 ----------------3 ----------------2 ----| A|------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 ----------------|2 ----------------3 ----------4 ----------------------------1 ----------2 ----------------3 ----|------------4 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 ----------------| E|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------1 ----------------2 ----------3 ----4 ----1 ----2 ----------3 ----------------4 ----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
How to practice it
- 1Let the pick continue in the same direction when crossing onto an adjacent string.
- 2Use a tiny sweeping motion for sequential notes falling on adjacent strings.
- 3Maintain uniform tone, volume, and metronomic timing on every note.
Legato — Sextuplets 4-5-7
Execute fast, even six-note patterns using legato phrasing.
Sextuplet legato in a 4-5-7 spacing, wider than the chromatic patterns you know. The stretch is the exercise: six even notes per beat with the fingers travelling further between them. Watch the middle notes, which collapse into ghost notes the moment attention drifts.
Show plain-text tab
e|------------------------------------------------------------------------| B|------------------------------------------------------------------------| G|---------4 ----------------4 ----------------4 ----------------4 -------| D|4 h5 h7 h---7 h5 h4 h5 h7 h---7 h5 h4 h5 h7 h---7 h5 h4 h5 h7 h---7 h5 h| A|------------------------------------------------------------------------| E|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
How to practice it
- 1Focus on equal spacing between all six notes, keeping the subdivisions perfectly even.
- 2Drive the hammers and pulls with equal force to maintain uniform volume.
Sweep — 3 Strings, Hand Sync
Practice clean 3-string sweep picking arpeggios to coordinate your pick stroke with sequential finger lifts.
Three strings, not six. The core skill is the roll: each fretting finger lifts as the next lands so the notes never bleed into a chord. One connected motion in the picking hand, three separated notes from the fretting hand. Clean at 60 BPM before adding strings.
Show plain-text tab
e|------8 -12h8 p------------8 -12h8 p------------|8 -12h8 p------------8 -12h8 p------------8 -12h|------8 -12h8 p------------8 -12h8 p------------|8 -12h8 p------------8 -12h8 p------------8 -12h| B|---10----------10-------10----------10-------10-|---------10-------10----------10-------10-------|---8 ----------8 -------8 ----------8 -------8 -|---------8 -------8 ----------8 -------8 -------| G|9 ----------------9 -9 ----------------9 -9 ----|------------9 -9 ----------------9 -9 ----------|9 ----------------9 -9 ----------------9 -9 ----|------------9 -9 ----------------9 -9 ----------| D|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| A|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| E|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
How to practice it
- 1Perform 3-string triad shapes using a single, continuous sweeping motion in one direction.
- 2Synchronize the pick stroke with the exact moment each fretting finger presses the fret.
- 3Ensure notes do not ring out together — mute each note instantly as you transition to the next.
String Skipping — Spread Triads
Play wide-interval arpeggios using clean string-skipping mechanics.
Spread triads sound enormous because nobody's hands default to them. The picking hand clears a string silently mid-arpeggio while the fretting hand makes wide jumps. Practice slowly with fretting-hand muting on the skipped string.
Show plain-text tab
e|------------8 ----------------------8 ----------|------------3 ----------------------10----------|------------5 ----------------8 ----------------|---------------8 -------------8 ----| B|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------9 -------------9 -------------| G|------9 ----------9 ----------9 ----------9 ----|------4 ----------4 ----------12----------12----|------5 ----------------9 ----------------4 ----|------------9 -------------9 -------| D|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|---10-------------10-------------10-| A|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|---------10-------------------------| E|8 ----------------------8 ----------------------|3 ----------------------10----------------------|5 ----------------8 ----------------3 ----------|8 ----------------------8 ----------|
How to practice it
- 1Use alternate picking or hybrid picking to cross wide string gaps cleanly.
- 2Roll your fretting fingers to prevent notes from bleeding together.
Hybrid Picking — Wide Intervals
Combine your pick and fingers to play wide-interval string-skipping lines.
Pick plus middle and ring fingers, which lifts the one-attack-at-a-time limit of flatpicking: simultaneous non-adjacent strings, country pops, effortless wide intervals. Expect the plucked notes to be too quiet for the first week. Equal volume is the finish line.
Show plain-text tab
e|------5 ----------5 ----------5 ----------5 ----|------------------------------8 ----------------|------5 -------5 ----------------5 -| B|------5 ----------5 ----------5 ----------5 ----|------------------8 ----------------------8 ----|------------5 ----------5 ----------| G|------------------------------------------------|------7 ----------------------------7 ----------|---5 ----------------5 -------5 ----| D|------------------------5 ----------------------|------------------------7 ----------------------|------------------5 ----------------| A|------------5 ----------------------5 ----------|------------7 ----------------------------------|---------5 ----------------5 -------| E|5 ----------------------------------------------|7 ----------------------------------------------|5 ----------------------------------|
How to practice it
- 1Use the pick for lower strings and pluck higher strings with your middle and ring fingers.
- 2Maintain a consistent volume balance between picked and plucked notes.
Part 08
Measuring Progress
Measurement is what separates a practice routine from a superstition. Three numbers and one recording, five minutes every Sunday:
- •Clean tempo per drill: the BPM of three consecutive perfect runs, for whatever is in the technique block.
- •Sessions completed: four honest 45-minute sessions beat seven fictional ones.
- •Repertoire count: pieces you can play start to finish, today, cold.
- •The weekly 30 seconds: one recorded improvisation, compared against last month's.
Here is what a real quarter looks like on those numbers. I ran this on the lead track, four technique days a week with sweep picking in the rotation, and logged it: week 1, 62 BPM clean on the three-string sweep and a recording full of the same two pentatonic licks. Week 4, 78 BPM, and the recording still had the same licks, which is normal, because technique moves before vocabulary does. Week 8, 92 BPM, and the improvisation had arpeggios in it for the first time. Week 12, 96 BPM, which is where the tempo stalled, and the interesting change was elsewhere: chord changes on the rhythm block had gone from audible gaps to none.
Two things to take from that. The tempo curve flattens after about eight weeks, so a stalled BPM is not a failed routine. On the balanced track, with two technique days instead of four, expect the same curve stretched over roughly twice the time. And the block you were not tracking is usually where the visible progress shows up, which is the argument for keeping rhythm and fretboard in the week even when technique is the thing you care about.
When a plateau hits anyway, the cause is usually upstream: hand synchronization (speed and sync exercises), fretboard blind spots (scale practice routine), a week that never actually happened (daily practice plan), or simple under-recovery.
FAQ
What should an intermediate guitarist practice?
Five areas, weekly: rhythm and chord changes, fretboard knowledge, ear training, one rotating technique, and repertoire. Advanced picking techniques such as sweeping or hybrid picking belong in the technique slot, not in place of the other four. A routine built only from lead technique is the most common reason intermediate players plateau while their picking speed keeps rising.
How long should an intermediate guitarist practice daily?
Forty-five focused minutes covers warm-up, rhythm, fretboard, one technique block and repertoire. More is fine if the structure holds, but two structured 45-minute sessions beat one unstructured three-hour marathon.
How do I know if I'm actually intermediate?
A practical bar: clean open and barre chords, comfortable pentatonic improvisation in at least one position, alternate picking with a metronome, and a handful of songs you can play cold. If most of that feels shaky, the beginner exercises will serve you better than this routine.
How often should I change my practice routine?
Change the content weekly, the structure almost never. Rotate one technique drill per week, and audit the whole rotation every six to eight weeks against a recording of your playing.
Should I practice advanced techniques I might never use?
Rotate them in occasionally. Sweep picking or hybrid picking may never define your style, but each one forces coordination your main techniques inherit. One week per quarter outside your lane is cheap insurance against a narrow ceiling.
What if I only have 20 minutes some days?
Compress, do not skip: 3 minutes warm-up, 7 on the current technique drill, 5 on rhythm or fretboard, 5 on repertoire. The blocks shrink and the order survives. Keeping the shape on short days is what keeps the habit alive.
Questions about the app rather than the practice — how sessions are scored, what it costs, what you need to plug in — are answered on the frequently asked questions page.
About the Author
Michael Apfel
Guitarist & Creator of Riff Quest
Has been playing guitar for 14 years, including time performing live in two bands. Built Riff Quest to solve his own practice-tracking problems, and writes about practice and learning guitar drawing on hands-on experience with the instrument.
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