Tip #9 for my 2026 guitar tips is simple: use a practice technique. Don’t just run scales and hope it sticks—use a system so your practice is focused and your progress is easy to track. In this short I show you three techniques I’ve used for years with students (and on my own playing), and each one gives you a clear way to measure “better” instead of guessing. First is the penny practice method. If there’s a small chunk of a tune or arrangement you can’t quite nail—like a little passage from my “Beyond a C” arrangement—put five pennies in a row. Every time you play it correctly, move one penny over; if you miss, move it back. The point is to earn five clean reps, and remember: you practice so you don’t make mistakes… you practice so you can’t make a mistake. Second, take a lick and play it chromatically on every fret so you really connect the line to the chord (I demonstrate it over D minor). Third, move the idea around the cycle of 4’s—D minor to G minor to C minor, and so on. These three tools work on licks, scales, tunes—anything you’re trying to own.