Practice Vs. Progress For Guitarists

Want real progress instead of the same comfortable loops? We break down the simple shift that turns practice from maintenance to elevation, so your time actually maps to your goals. It’s not about grinding more minutes; it’s about choosing what to grow and building a plan that sticks.

We dig into the core idea of intentional practice—defining the exact skill you’re training, measuring something tangible like BPM or clean reps, and applying constraints that force better form. You’ll hear why random YouTube rabbit holes stall progress, how to decide what to ignore, and the questions that filter out noise: does this solve a bottleneck, can I apply it this week, and does it fit the music I want to make? From timing and fretboard mapping to chord fluency and ear training, we show how to pick the two or three sub-skills that unlock your next level.

Then we stack those choices into a lean, realistic routine. We outline short, focused blocks for technique, musical application, and theory that fit inside 30 to 60 minutes, plus a weekly review loop using recordings for honest feedback. We also talk about the power of coaching—surfacing blind spots, confirming form, and sequencing your path—so you stop guessing and start integrating. The goal is clarity, not complexity: fewer inputs, better reps, and consistent wins that compound.

If you’re ready to stop circling and start climbing, this one gives you the framework to make every session count. Subscribe for more practical guitar growth strategies, share this with a player who’s stuck, and leave a review telling us the one skill you’re committing to elevate this week.

Thanks for being here!! I will continue to do my best to bring you the best, most informative guitar discussions to help you along your guitar journey!

The more you share this podcast with others, the more I can continue to grow this channel and offer the best information and advice I can to you.
Thank you!
Steve

Links:

Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:
https://academy.guitarzoom.com/

• Steve’s Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus...
• GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0...
• Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .

Chapters

• 1:11 Setting The Goalposts
• 1:54 Intentional Practice Defined
• 2:55 Maintenance: Holding Your Ground
• 3:47 Elevation: Choosing What To Grow
• 4:42 The Trap Of Random Information
• 6:39 Building A Practical Plan
• 8:37 Realistic Time And Patience
• 10:47 Coaching And Feedback Loops
• 12:06 Commit To The Path

Transcript

Steve: 0:35

Hey, Steve Stein here from Guitar Zoom Academy. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we're going to be talking about the difference between maintenance and elevation in your guitar playing. Sometimes people don't quite understand this and they get frustrated because they're not making the progress that they want to make. And what we have to understand is there's got to be an even balance between the things that you want to be able to do, the goals that you have, and the amount of time that you're actually spending practicing, as well as having a practice plan that actually makes sense to progress. So maintenance, for me, maintenance is if you practiced. Now again, let me just start off by saying this. This isn't about 15 minutes a day or 30 minutes a day or an hour a day or two hours a day. Needless to say, the more time you could practice would probably be beneficial as long as whatever it is that you're working on is intentional. It's focused. You know it's something that you need. If you spend two hours noodling, it's not necessarily going to get you any better. It might. Everybody's different. It depends on what your plan is. I always tell people there's a difference between practice and focus practice, or practice with intention. Intention. Thinking about what it is that you're trying to get better at. You're trying to physically play better. You're trying to understand or comprehend better. You're trying to visualize better, right? Whatever these things are, it's not just practice, but what are we doing and why are we doing it? And then do our goals equal the amount of time that we're actually putting into trying to develop these goals. So maintenance happens oftentimes when you don't have a lot of practice time, or you're not trying to further your skills. You're just going through the same motions over and over and over. The speeds are the same, the songs are the same, the general construct is the same all the time. Now, maintenance can be a really good thing. Maintenance is certainly better than backsliding, right? I mean, to maintain is better than getting worse, for lack of a better word. So maintenance can be a good thing. And maintenance happens a lot when you get to a place where you're feeling really good about what you're doing and you're kind of cool with where you are and you want to hang out. That's okay. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Unless there is, unless you look at that and go, well, I want to get better. I want to understand this better. I want to be able to play this better. Okay, well, then you need elevation. You don't need maintenance, you need elevation. So, needless to say, elevation is taking what it is that you already can do and moving to a new level in your skills, in your understanding, right? Whatever it might be. And so you really have to spend some time thinking about what it is that you want to elevate in. Now, some people don't know. The truth is, is you're not, you don't always have the answers. You don't know what you don't know. And that's not a bad thing. That's that's not a negative thing. It's just the reality. You don't know what you don't know. Your experiences as a guitar player come from the things you've watched, the things you've studied or read, the people you've talked to, the lessons you've taken. These have all accumulated to who you are at this point. That doesn't necessarily mean you have all the right information. Again, maybe you do, but maybe you don't. And so it's trying to figure out what's missing. Well, what happens so often is guitar players try and figure that out on their own. And how do they do that? They sift through 80 billion videos on YouTube trying to find something to watch. And then when they watch it, because they spent the time actually watching it, they feel obligated to practice it, even though it might not be what they actually need to elevate. It's just another piece of information. And it's very important to understand that information doesn't necessarily isn't necessarily a good thing. It depends on the information. Just because you're learning things doesn't mean that it's it's all coming together to become something real that gets you to the next level. Just because I learned some, you know, swear words in Spanish or something like that doesn't mean I can speak the language. It doesn't mean I can find water or food or bathroom or whatever, right? And even if I learned those phrases, it doesn't mean that I can talk, you know, in a in a conversational way to somebody who speaks Spanish. It all depends on what I need. You see, that's the whole point. Is nothing is necessarily right or wrong. It's it's what is it that I need to get to where I want to go? So watching a bunch of random videos may not get me there because I might not be getting the right information. It's just the algorithm told me to watch this, so this is what I watched. And then even after I've watched it, is it the right thing that I should have watched in the first place? And the second thing is, am I even doing it right? Am I applying it right? Is the concept something that I can actually use in my playing? Does it fit my style, my interest, the way I think? You see, that's the problem. And so what you have to understand about practice is we can't just use it as this generic word. Practice needs to be something that we understand they're the tools or resources that we are in need of to get us from point A to point B to point C to point D. That's how you start making logical progress. That's how you elevate. Sometimes fast, sometimes not. But that's how you do it. And so what you need to do is start figuring out what is the plan? What is it that I'm trying to do? And how do I get there? What do I need to be studying? What do I need to be working on to get out of this place that I've been in for a year, two years, five years, 10 years, 20 years, 40 years? How do I get out of this? And then you have to start understanding that to get out of that is going to take some work on your part. Even if somebody could build you that perfect plan, there's no magic pill to this stuff. Okay? You got to spend time working, you got to spend time practicing. The hope is that you would love the time that you're spending working on this stuff. You learn to be passionate about your guitar practice because it's something real now. It's something that can really get you from where you were to where you want to go. You can ask any, you know, guitar player that plays guitar for a when I say a living, I don't just mean, you know, making money. I mean you, you wake up every day and you know you're gonna grab that guitar. We grab that guitar on the good days and we grab it on the bad days. We just we practice. That's what we do. We we engage with the guitar, engage with the environment of learning, right? Studying theory, learning about ear training, learning more about my fretboard, the cage system scales, blah, blah, blah. Whatever it is that I need. Maybe it's bar chords, maybe it's, you know, whatever, maybe it's strumming, maybe it's timing. Whatever it is. It's identifying what it is that you really need. And unfortunately, what happens all too often is, you know, because I I obviously teach for a living. That's what I do here at the Guitar Zoom Academy. And I'll talk to students oftentimes about all kinds of different subjects. And all of a sudden they'll go, Oh, I never thought about it that way before. Oh, that's really interesting, you know, or oh, I never tried that before. That's the stuff you don't necessarily know. And that's the stuff that can really elevate you. Now, I'm not saying that I or guitar zoom is the answer. What I'm saying is sometimes that's what you need is you need the stuff that you don't necessarily know exists. And trying to surf around on the internet and find those answers is pretty random because you don't know the question. You don't know what it is that you're looking for. Okay. Now, again, you could argue and say, I know exactly what I'm looking for. Well, that's great. Then there's no argument. Then you're doing exactly what you need to do the way you want to do it, and you're reaching your goals, and everything feels great, and there's no problem. And the point of listening to this probably is pointless, right? But if you're in the other category of people that that isn't necessarily true, which is a lot of people, that's what you need to start figuring out is what is the plan? How do I get from where I am to where I want to go? What is it that I need to be focusing on, right? Trim the fat and focus on the lean meat. That's what you need. And then put things in a logical order to get you from where you are to where you want to go. The next step is you got to put in some time. You got to develop these things, maintenance versus elevation. You got to spend time with this stuff. Okay. And you need to be patient. Because if you're putting in 30 minutes a day, you're going to get 30 minutes out of it. That's okay. That's great. I'm just saying you have to be realistic. You can't expect six hours a day in 30 minutes. It doesn't work that way. Okay. And again, I've already mentioned to you, most people don't have six hours to practice anyway. Okay, that's a that's probably way too much for most people. 30 minutes or 60 minutes is fine. As long as you're doing the right thing, as long as you're working on the right stuff. If you're just noodling or you're, you know, you all of a sudden start drifting during that 30 minutes or that 60 minutes, again, your elevation capability starts going down. So we have to be careful about that. And for us in the Guitar Zoom Academy, there's a third level to this. Once you've got the plan, once you are understanding what you need to do, then we work together. So myself and other instructors are in here to help you. Like literally talk to each other. You tell me what's on your mind. Let me let me see you play. Let me help you. Let me show you what you're doing right. Let me show you what you need to work on. Let's have those conversations where you go, oh, I never thought about it that way. Yeah, now you get it. Now you see it. Now get to work. And then when you have another question, let's have another conversation. So, anyway, elevation versus maintenance. So you understand the difference between those two and start being realistic about what it is you're doing and why it is you're doing it and what you really, really want to do. Sometimes I like to tell people be careful what you wish for, because you might get it, right? If you all of a sudden start getting a real plan and it's really working, then you really need to spend time working on it. You need to really practice. You need to spend time in that environment. And yet you need to stop pretending, yeah, it doesn't mean you can't still go play golf and you can't still go do whatever. Of course, you should do all those things. Live your life. But you are going to have to devote some time to your practice. So, anyway, take care, stay positive, and uh, I'll talk to you soon, okay?