#000497
Guitar Aerobics
Troy Nelson
Troy Nelson's 2007 bestseller turned guitar practice into a daily calendar. Subtitled "a 52-week, one-lick-per-day workout program," it serves up 365 short exercises—one for each day of the year—rotating through alternate picking, legato, bending, string skipping, rhythm, and more, so that no single technique goes stale and no day is wasted. The premise is almost fitness-app simple, and that's the point: it removes the paralysis of not knowing what to practice. Backed by play-along audio at graduated tempos, it became a genuine phenomenon, reportedly selling into six figures and spawning a whole "365" franchise. It won't teach theory or songs, but as a structure for building and maintaining chops, it has earned its place on countless music stands.
more…less ▴
The author
Troy Nelson is a guitarist and educator who was formerly editor-in-chief of Guitar One magazine before turning to books. Guitar Aerobics was his breakout, and he built on its daily-exercise formula with a series of follow-ups—Rhythm Guitar 365, Blues Guitar 365, and others—that apply the same calendar concept to different skills.
The book
The design is the innovation. Rather than a graded curriculum, it offers a year-long rotation of bite-sized licks and drills, one per day, cycling through core techniques week by week. The accompanying audio lets players hear each exercise and practice it at multiple metronome settings, from slow to performance tempo.
How to read it
Treat it as a gym membership, not a textbook. Its value is entirely in the doing: worked consistently, it builds real facility; left on the shelf, it does nothing. It deliberately skips musical context—no songs, little theory—so most players pair it with other material. Within its narrow aim of technical maintenance, it remains one of the most recommended practice books around.
For more context
Combine it with a theory-oriented book such as the Guitar Fretboard Workbook, and explore Nelson's later "365" titles for rhythm and blues.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Troy Nelson
- Publisher
- Hal Leonard
- Place of publication
- Milwaukee, WI
- Year
- 2007
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Music
- Location
- Colorado