The Wimbledon tennis tournament is taking place at the moment.
Today I’m going to share a little lesson from this.
I’m not going to say get your tennis racket out and start pretending to play guitar on it.
Although that is something my 7-year-old son, Archie, likes to do when we play tennis in the garden.
Instead, this is a little lesson inspired by one of the greats, Novak Djokovic.
The other day, I heard about a very specific daily routine he has.
Novak has a daily routine that consists of drinking a glass of warm water, a spoonful of honey and a whole lot of visualisation.
Of course, that’s just the start, he then goes through his rigorous training routine.
It is full of focused repetition of the basics – serving, forehands, backhands, sprints, volleys, fitness work, etc.
Now, you don’t have to have the same gruelling routine as Novak to get great at guitar, but having a daily routine is very powerful.
So many guitarists just pick up the guitar and hope for the best.
They have no real plan of what to practise…
Instead, they just hope something, just anything, will improve.
That’s like Novak waking up each day, jogging for a bit, hitting a few balls, then meandering around the tennis court frustrated with his practice.
He would never win Wimbledon doing that!
Do you have a daily routine on the guitar?
You might need a strict routine to follow or you might need something far more relaxed.
Either way, having something you do consistently each day is key.
That could be a technique builder or a little warm-up.
If you want a short, focused and very powerful routine that is only four minutes long but features the exact things I urge students to practise daily, check out my 7-day course.
There are 2 x four-minute practice routines you can do along with me.
They are short but powerful.
Once you’ve completed this four-minute routine, you can then get on doing whatever else you would like to on the guitar and have plenty of fun.
Find out more about the 7-Day Transformation Course
I hope you enjoyed that and happy practice!
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
Hi Dan,
This was a real eye opener for me. I am a guitar student of 4 years or so, but also a tennis player. (Social and USTA competitor). Before any match, I will stretch, drink plenty, and warm up. But, when it comes to practicing my guitar, I don’t have a warm up plan. Now it only seems to make perfect sense that this is something I should do everytime I sit down to practice. It can only help my playing and probably also help with a bit of frustration I often get with my progress. Thai you for this advice, and all your advice I find very helpful!
Hi Cindy, thanks for the comment. Wow, I bet that is loads of fun! Warming up is something so many guitarists neglect to do so you are not alone. Now though, you can develop a routine, even a short little routine, it can make a real big difference! Keep up the good practice 🙂