How much do you practice?

[James B]

I WILL DO IT ALLLL!

[BrianUV777BK]

I try to get at least 2 hours in a night after the wife and kids are in bed. More on the weekends. Usually working on stuff that I suck at. I'm almost always playing unplugged while watching TV till the family goes to bed. And I play at work during my lunch break. That is as long as I'm not saving kids from bear attacks.

[eurolove]

Originally Posted by LamaSabachthani

Are you real?

i tried the whole go out and drink with people occasionally get wasted etc thing for a while, but living in a remote area wales means there aren't many people who are interested in the same stuff as me. i also got sick of the whole "omg i saw u last night you were soo waaaaasted" "dude no way you were waaaay wasted too though" shitty conversations. so yes i am really happy staying sober/playing guitar/working out and having 3 really good friends + my gf who i often visit. im not socially retarded or shy, just see guitar as the most fulfilling thing in my current situation.

[sleepy502]

Thirty minutes to an hour of EFFICIENT practicing is better than several hours of "playing". You don't need 81231238194 hours a day of practicing to become a god. It's all about efficiency.

I try to get anywhere from 2-10 hours of combined playing/practicing a day.

[gr8Har V]

hahahaha "djazz" I love it.

on days i dont have school or work i'd say at least 5 hours. days i have school like 2 hours and days i work like 3-4 hours depending on how many hours i work. its Never Enough

i usually try to practice a wide range of things, but i'd say i primarily practice improvising solos (and studying the theory behind it), shred technique (right & left hand stuff) and songwriting/Riffing. I also practice a little jazz, classical, theory, and Dream Theater covers.

[Kaney_21]

Like 8 hours a day (holidays/weekends) and about 4 hours on school nights.

[MatthewK]

I don't really practice. I just play. If I come up with an arpeggio thing or whatever I might slow it down and try to tighten it up, but I'm always concentrating on the musical quality. I never pick up the guitar without the intention of creating something.

[-One-]

I make sure to get one hour a day, minimum, no exceptions, unless I'm on vacation. This is my index finger of my fret hand right now, and I'm still doing it

[WishIwasfinnish]

Whoa, I didn't see how many posts were in this thread, thought it had died :P Thanks for the responses everyone, good to know and get a sense of what other people do for practice. I haven't really answered my own question, so I guess I will now. I just started college in new york a month ago, and in high school I'd probably get in about 3 hours on school days and probably an average of 4 or 5 on weekend days.

I feel like I have more time in college and I've been doing about 4 hours on weekdays and 5 or 6 on weekends, and my practicing is usually pretty structured, with a metronome for the majority of my time, so I feel like a get a lot out of it. I practice sweeps, eight finger tapping, other arpeggio exercises, jazz stuff, and random stuff I learn off of youtube or from teachers for the most part. Keep those responses coming, and -One-, goddamn man, that's dedication!

Edit: And balance is the key to everything, if you practice for 10 hours a day (which in my opinion is horrendously unnecessary) I think your playing will become too rigid, and other experiences besides guitar influence music so much that it is so important to have a life outside of guitar and music. BALANCE

[guitareben]

Originally Posted by WishIwasfinnish

Edit: And balance is the key to everything, if you practice for 10 hours a day (which in my opinion is horrendously unnecessary) I think your playing will become too rigid, and other experiences besides guitar influence music so much that it is so important to have a life outside of guitar and music. BALANCE

Hmmm... nahh personally i think 10+ hours a day is great Works for me anyway, and most of all I enjoy it Plus im not really into the whole going out to parties, getting wasted and spending all your money on stuff you won't even remember anyway.... so i might as well spend that time on guitar! (or something musical)

Also, as for balance, i just do a variety of things on the guitar, playing, practicing, improv, different styles etc, sight reading, which all helps keep my brain alive. I think it is better for practice (variety).

You guys may also find this interesting - http://......./oGO3AX

It's an article on how varied practice is better than repeating the same thing over and over again

[-One-]

Originally Posted by WishIwasfinnish

-One-, goddamn man, that's dedication!

This happened on Sunday night around 5 pm. Basically, I almost took a chunk out of it with a dull knife while chopping peppers to make food at work. I couldn't do anything with it until Tuesday, because it hurt too damn much, and had a large metal brace on it, so I just practiced my two-hand tapping stuff. Now I can play regularly with no pain, and I'm playing my ass off to make up for lost time actually fretting the guitar

[WishIwasfinnish]

Originally Posted by guitareben

Hmmm... nahh personally i think 10+ hours a day is great Works for me anyway, and most of all I enjoy it Plus im not really into the whole going out to parties, getting wasted and spending all your money on stuff you won't even remember anyway.... so i might as well spend that time on guitar! (or something musical)

Also, as for balance, i just do a variety of things on the guitar, playing, practicing, improv, different styles etc, sight reading, which all helps keep my brain alive. I think it is better for practice (variety).

You guys may also find this interesting - http://......./oGO3AX

It's an article on how varied practice is better than repeating the same thing over and over again

I totally agree with varied practice, as you can see from what I posted I practice a very wide range of things and I don't always repeat the same practice session over and over again. I've never been the most social guy either but if you do focused practice for 5 to 6 hours a day (which I do all the time), there is no feasible reason to practice more than that. I could see 10 hours encompassing band practice, plus personal practice and recording and stuff, but 10 hours straight of anything isn't good for you. This is coming from someone who ....ing loves practicing too

[nickgray]

Originally Posted by -One-

dull knife

Yeah, that's the most dangerous knife of them all. The sharper it is - the safer, because it'll never slip and if you accidentally manage to cut yourself, at least it's going to be a clean cut due to the sharpness.

[-One-]

Originally Posted by nickgray

Yeah, that's the most dangerous knife of them all. The sharper it is - the safer, because it'll never slip and if you accidentally manage to cut yourself, at least it's going to be a clean cut due to the sharpness.

Yeah, I was unaware it was dull. My boss handed it to me, and it slipped and cut me on the first pepper I was cutting. When I got back to work after a three hour visit to the ER, they told me the knife was dull.

[Harry]

Originally Posted by guitareben

This. I like friends and stuff, but for me, Guitar > Socialising . Except when the socialising involves playing/recording



On another note, make sure the guitar is always fun. If you're not enjoying it, you probably need to "practice" differently. Always remember to have fun! This is important, as in the end it is the main aim (along with making music) of guitar. Or it is for me anyway

IMO

Originally Posted by guitareben

Hmmm... nahh personally i think 10+ hours a day is great Works for me anyway, and most of all I enjoy it Plus im not really into the whole going out to parties, getting wasted and spending all your money on stuff you won't even remember anyway.... so i might as well spend that time on guitar! (or something musical)

Also, as for balance, i just do a variety of things on the guitar, playing, practicing, improv, different styles etc, sight reading, which all helps keep my brain alive. I think it is better for practice (variety).

You guys may also find this interesting - http://......./oGO3AX

It's an article on how varied practice is better than repeating the same thing over and over again

I can sorta see where you're at, because I was fairly similar at your age, practicing for extreme lengths of time, especially on weekends/days off from school.

It's great that you're so dedicated, but honestly 10 hours+ per day is no more productive than only doing half that. May even be detrimental in the long run for some people.

You've gotta have life experiences that TRULY shape you as a human being, things that really affect your perspective on things and how you see the world.
If all you've ever done is just play and practice guitar, what have you really got to express? Apart from your music sounding like "hey, I'm a guitar player and I like playing guitar, man!!", not all that much to be honest.

When people say you need balance, they don't mean go to parties and get wasted if you don't want too, because after all, getting wasted is hardly a type of thing that sticks to moderation/balance.
It's good to spend a few years just knuckling down and developing some great technical skill, but you've really gotta move on from doing purely just that and experience some other great things in life

Take the time to look at nature. Instead of listening to music, give it a bit of a break and listen to the sounds of the environment.
Walk around big cities and check out the architecture. Meet new people.
Take up a sport/do some regular physical activity so it's more than just your hands that are getting a workout.
Spend a few hours watching some fantastic films.
Just a few examples there.

Makes guitar playing PART of your life, not your entire life.
I'm sure if you ask any of the greats like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Mikael Akerfeldt etc, they have great stories to tell about non guitar related things they've done in their life and not only that, but I'm certain they all have a wide range of interests rather than just having a really narrow, limited range of interests like only guitar/music related things.

[Ancestor]

but when you practice long hours you get "aha" moments and stumble on amazing things. you don't really get that by doing short strictly regimented structured practice sessions. so there's a benefit to both ideas.

[guitareben]

Originally Posted by Harry

I can sorta see where you're at, because I was fairly similar at your age, practicing for extreme lengths of time, especially on weekends/days off from school.

It's great that you're so dedicated, but honestly 10 hours+ per day is no more productive than only doing half that. May even be detrimental in the long run for some people.

You've gotta have life experiences that TRULY shape you as a human being, things that really affect your perspective on things and how you see the world.
If all you've ever done is just play and practice guitar, what have you really got to express? Apart from your music sounding like "hey, I'm a guitar player and I like playing guitar, man!!", not all that much to be honest.

When people say you need balance, they don't mean go to parties and get wasted if you don't want too, because after all, getting wasted is hardly a type of thing that sticks to moderation/balance.
It's good to spend a few years just knuckling down and developing some great technical skill, but you've really gotta move on from doing purely just that and experience some other great things in life

Take the time to look at nature. Instead of listening to music, give it a bit of a break and listen to the sounds of the environment.
Walk around big cities and check out the architecture. Meet new people.
Take up a sport/do some regular physical activity so it's more than just your hands that are getting a workout.
Spend a few hours watching some fantastic films.
Just a few examples there.

Makes guitar playing PART of your life, not your entire life.
I'm sure if you ask any of the greats like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Mikael Akerfeldt etc, they have great stories to tell about non guitar related things they've done in their life and not only that, but I'm certain they all have a wide range of interests rather than just having a really narrow, limited range of interests like only guitar/music related things.

Cheers Hmmm i know what your getting at, and sometimes i do do things, but generally i guess i don't. I do still socialise and stuff, because i'm still at school. I do slightly worry about what will happen when i go to Uni... I guess i'll have to force myself to do stuff

But anyway, i appreciate your post, I'll try and take that into account... especially "Take the time to look at nature. Instead of listening to music, give it a bit of a break and listen to the sounds of the environment." . That is something i love doing, just never do it :/

I do occasionally have days off (like if i'm on holiday when i have endless solid days of guitar... gotta have breaks just to let the mind process the stuff you've learnt) , but i usually just end up wasting them... slobbing around and stuff... If i can use those ones productively too, as in, to do other things like you mentioned, it would be awesome I'm going to now

Thanks anyway, you may have just made some form of impact into my life


Still doing the 10 hours days though :p I love em

[right_to_rage]

This is a great thread, very inspiring and good for surveying the field of practice times.

Depending on my responsibilities, I play between 2 and 3 hours a day, but sometimes that extends into 4-6 hours when I'm recording. Recording is the best practice I find because you really get to hone in on your mistakes and thus it takes longer for me to get things perfect!

I like the idea of going into your practices with clear goals, so this week I'm looking at challenging myself to practice 3 hours in the mornings, and 3 hours of recording at night. I heard that Andres Segovia enjoyed this method of splitting practice between two hours in the morning and two in the evening in his later career, so I would assume that in his formative years he would take on longer sessions.

[GSingleton]

2-3 hours a day.

[CrownofWorms]

I haven't counted. Probably 6+. Usually I do something else, run back down to play guitar for an hour and repeat until about say midnight or 1 AM on weekends or day offs. School days its usually an hour at the most. But I don't really plug in, I just play acoustically while doing something else at the same time. On really shitty playing days I know I should play more on days like those(Advice from Pat O' Brian), but I usually play very little

I don't really practice. I just jam and make up stuff and somewhere down the line I come up with a good riff. The only time I'm practicing is to learn a song or solo.

[bce5150]

Doesn't your hand ....ing hurt after 5 hours or whatever? That's probably the most I've ever done...

Normal = 1 - 2.5 hours

[MyRakeOnYourGrass]

I practice at best... 3 hours in a day. But.. between career and the chick of the house.. and other hobbies and an acceptance that I'm not actually naturally talented....i'm more likely to practice 1 hour or less.

[captain]

Depends, usually around an hour for warm up and then I'll jam for 2-3 hours. I think the longest has been around 5-6 hours, but that gets pretty brutal on the hands.

[LolWotGuitar]

I play 6-8 hours a day if I don't have work.
Its a habit, and a good one at that. I have it all sectioned out for the most part as well.

Cheers!

[Desi]

My practice consists of some non-guitar related exercises that not only benefit my guitar playing, but my being in general.

I am ambidextrous.

I wasn't born this way of course, but rather, made myself so.

I engage in some intense ambidexterity drills and exercises, all of which have nothing to do with guitar playing.

These exercises have developed my physical skills on the guitar (technique) and mental skills (theory, memorization and application) faster than if I were to have never taken up these mental and physical workouts.

When I do pick up the guitar, I notice an increase in my stamina and creativity. Of course, I still have to perform some exercises on the guitar to increase my fingers' flexibility for those crazy stretches.

I am not a virtuoso by any means, but I often get a lot of compliments for my playing as well as looks of bewilderment after being asked how often I practice and I say "usually 30 minutes to an hour and a half every couple of days".

I am fascinated by the human mind and what it can do, so I am always on the prowl for knowledge and alternative (non-mainstream) and of course, non-harmful ways of developing my brain.

In case anyone's wondering, yes, I am 100% ambidextrous. I made my non-dominant hand every bit as proficient as my dominant.