Go From Strum To Shred With This 30 Day Guitar Challenge For Beginners

If you’ve ever looked up how to learn guitar on the internet, you’ve likely found an endless supply of resources.

There are YouTube channels, online tutors, music academy websites, books, PDFs, and more.

The problem with trying to learn an instrument online, though, isn’t the lack of information. It’s action!

As a serial starter, one of my favorite ways to approach any new idea is to design a challenge. This helps remind me to take what I need from the glut of information and get straight to the fun parts: the actual doing of the activity.

So if you’ve been watching your guitar gather dust while you search for the just-right spark or inspiration, we’ve got you covered. Today we’re sharing a 30-day guitar challenge for beginners that’s sure to take you from strumming to shredding (or at least sliding!) in a month.

So, just how good could you get in a month? We scoured the depths of the internet (read: we headed over to YouTube) and found some examples of new musicians who shared their 30-day guitar challenge progress. 

Check out a few of these for some inspiration:

• My 1 Month Guitar Progress During Quarantine (Self-Taught)
• 1 Month Guitar Progress 
• 1 Year Self Taught Guitar Progression (Adult Beginner)

Not too bad! As is to be expected, your mileage will vary depending on the time you put in and how you focus your efforts. 

Before we get into the 30-day guitar challenge for beginners, let’s break down how best to approach it.

30-day challenges are a great way to motivate yourself to take on something new. Sticking to these challenges can be difficult, though, especially since you’re adding a completely new task to your schedule. 

Below we’ve got six tips to help you get from Day 1 to Day 30 – and beyond. Make sure to consider these beforehand to set yourself up for success!

1. Set a specific goal - Define what you want to achieve in 30 days. Do you want to learn a particular song, master a particular chord progression or strumming pattern, or improve your fingerpicking skills? Having a specific goal will give you direction and motivation.
   
   
2. Create a practice schedule - Dedicate a specific amount of time each day to practice. Start with a realistic amount of time, such as 30 minutes per day, and gradually increase it as you progress. Consistency is key when learning to play any instrument.
   
   
3. Gather learning resources - There are many resources available to learn guitar, such as online lessons, tutorial videos, and books. Choose the ones that work best for your learning style and level of experience. Don’t overthink it!
   
   
4. Start with the basics - If you are a beginner, start with the basics of guitar playing, and get comfortable with them before trying to get too fancy.
   
   
5. Track your progress - Keep track of your progress by recording yourself playing or keeping a journal of the skills you have learned. Seeing your progress can be a great motivator and help you stay on track. Plus, maybe your YouTube video could be the next one we link to in this blog!
   
   
6. Reward yourself - Set up rewards for yourself for each milestone achieved, such as learning a new chord, playing a song without mistakes, or completing a week of practice. Celebrating your achievements can help keep you motivated.

For many of us, learning to play an instrument is on our bucket list, so learning to play a guitar could be your chance to move one step closer to achieving something you’ve dreamt about for years.

Day 1: Set your goal and create a practice schedule. 

Spend some time thinking about what you want to achieve in 30 days, and then create a practice schedule that works for your schedule. Set aside 30 minutes to an hour per day for practicing.

Day 2: Gather learning resources. 

Find your guiding resources. Maybe it’s a YouTube series, maybe it’s a blog article. Find one that has reference photos and videos to make sure you’ve got some visual clues to help you along the way.  

Day 3: Start with the basics. 

Begin your guitar journey by learning the basics of guitar playing, as well as how the guitar works. This is a good day to practice tuning your guitar, too.

Day 4: Learn the open chords. 

We’re keeping it simple here. Let’s focus on learning the open chords such as G, C, D, Em, and Am.

Day 5: Practice chord transitions. 

Spend your practice working on transitioning between the open chords you learned yesterday.

Day 6: Learn a strumming pattern. 

Look up a simple strumming pattern and practice it with the open chords you learned. 

Day 7: Practice playing a song. 

Put the open chords, chord transitions, and strumming pattern you learned into practice by playing a simple song. With G, C, and D above, you can already play more than 20 popular songs!

Day 8: Track your progress. 

Take some time to record yourself playing and compare it to your first day of practice. Celebrate any improvements you've made. You’ll want this for your 30-day guitar challenge for beginners Youtube video!

Day 9: Practice fingerpicking. 

Begin practicing fingerpicking techniques, starting with simple exercises. If you have a metronome around, it can be a helpful guide (even at its slowest setting) to help you find a rhythm.

Day 10: Learn the notes on the guitar. 

Use today’s session to learn some of the notes on the guitar, both on the fretboard and the strings.

Day 11: Practice scales. 

Start practicing the major and minor scales, which will help improve your finger dexterity and overall guitar playing abilities.

Day 12: Learn a new chord. 

Let’s take a look at a new chord, such as F or B7, and practice transitioning between it and the other chords you know.

Day 13: Practice barre chords. 

The focus for today is barre chords, which will help you play songs in different keys. Be gentle with yourself, as these can take time for both dexterity and getting your fingers toughened up. It’ll be worth it for how easy it makes playing later on!

Day 14: Practice playing a song with barre chords.

Put your new barre chord skills into practice by learning and playing a song that uses them.

Day 15: Join a community. 

Sign up for an online guitar community or forum and ask a question that’s come up over the past few weeks. Getting used to reaching out for help – or helping others who need it – will accelerate your own learning.

Day 16: Learn a new strumming pattern. 

Play around with a new strumming pattern and practice it with the chords and songs you know.

Day 17: Practice playing a song with a new strumming pattern. 

Put your new strumming pattern skills into practice by learning and playing a song that uses it.

Day 18: Review your progress. 

Take some time to review your progress so far and identify areas where you can continue to improve. You can even review your Day 1 video.

Day 19: Practice fingerpicking a song.

Choose a song that you can practice fingerpicking techniques with.

Day 20: Learn a new technique. 

Today is about experimenting with a new technique, such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, or slides, and incorporating it into your playing. 

Hammer-ons and pull-offs, like barre chords, can take time to master as your fingers get used to the movements, but they’re worth it as they add a dynamic sound.

Day 21: Practice playing a song with a new technique. 

If your fingertips aren’t too sore from yesterday, put your new technique skills into practice by learning and playing a song that uses it.

Day 22: Reward yourself. 

Celebrate the progress you've made so far by treating yourself to something special, like a favorite meal or a new guitar accessory. You can even unlock a medal for learning to play guitar from our Bucket List IRLA challenge!

Day 23: Practice improvisation. 

Doodle around with improvisation techniques, such as playing over a chord progression or creating your own melodies.

Day 24: Practice playing with a metronome. 

Grab a physical metronome or download a metronome app and incorporate it in your session. Over time, using it will help improve your timing and rhythm.

Day 25: Learn a new song. 

Take the chords you’ve learned and find a new song to learn and practice playing it.

Day 26: Practice playing by ear. 

Let’s try playing by ear, which involves listening to a song and trying to play it without looking at sheet music or tabs. In this first month, it could be enough to just strum the chords you know with the official version of the songs you’ve been practicing.

Day 27: Practice playing with dynamics. 

We’re branching out from one-note vibes by focusing on dynamics, which involves playing louder or softer at certain parts of a song to create variation and emotion.

Day 28: Record yourself playing. 

You’re now four weeks into your 30-day guitar challenge for beginners. Record yourself playing a song you've been practicing and listen back to it to identify areas where you can improve.

Day 29: Practice playing with a capo.

Grab your capo, which can change the pitch and key of a song, and play around with using it for the songs you’re becoming more familiar with.

Day 30: Celebrate your progress! 

Congratulations, you've completed the 30-day beginner guitar challenge! Though the road to mastering a musical instrument is a bucket list-worthy achievement, this is an excellent moment to look back at how far you’ve come. 

In just 30 days, you’ve touched on some of the fundamental parts of guitar playing. Keep it up, and we have no doubt we’ll be seeing your sold out stadium shows soon!