JOSÉ GARCIA

With 30 to 40 minutes most evenings, use a simple structure so you always touch technique, rhythm, and a song. Do 5 minutes of warm up by fretting frets 1 to 3 on each string with fingertip right behind the fret, a relaxed shoulder, and just enough pressure to ring clean. Spend 10 minutes on two chord switches with a metronome at 60 bpm and count clean changes for one minute per pair, rotating pairs like G to C, C to D, and E to A. Do 10 minutes of strumming on one chord or muted strings to keep volume down, start with all downstrokes on beats 1 2 3 4 then add the D DU UDU pattern with accents on 2 and 4 at 70 to 80 bpm. Finish with 10 to 15 minutes on one song by first playing only downstrokes while you speak or sing the words, then layer the pattern, and if noise is an issue use a thin pick, strum over the fretboard, play lightly, or stuff a soft cloth in the soundhole. Week 1 nail clean open G C D Em A Am and E, aim for 30 clean switches per minute between each pair at 60 to 70 bpm, and keep fretting fingers low over the strings. Week 2 keep the same chords and add the D DU UDU pattern at 70 to 80 bpm, loop G D Em C for five minutes without stopping, and try singing on simple downstrokes. Week 3 push those changes to 80 to 90 bpm, add Cadd9 and Asus2 to reuse fingers between chords, learn a second song in G or C, and start light palm muting with the side of your picking hand near the bridge. Week 4 introduce Fmaj7 or a mini F, work transitions to C and G, target 100 bpm on your main song, and add a basic arpeggio like thumb index middle index on each chord to change the feel without getting louder. Track progress with a tiny log that lists date, top bpm for a clean G D Em C loop, your best one minute change count, and a 30 second phone recording each week, and if numbers stall for two weeks drop tempo by 10 bpm and focus on relaxed hands and smaller movements.