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How much do you practice?


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Hey guys. Since I'm a fairly new player, I'm wondering how much you more experienced players practiced when you were starting out, and what you focused on. My immediate goals are to become a competent enough rhthym guitarist such that I could find a band or other work as a guitar player. Beyond that I'd like to become a competent lead player as well. I don't want to just noodle in my music room forever, I actually want to acquire skills that I can put to work.

 

I have teacher who is very good. Right now I am working on basics; rhythm playing, reading music, getting a decent sound. My lessons usually focus on something pretty specific, which I then go practice for a week until my next lesson. I try to practice for at least 1/2 hour everyday, but usually I practice more than once per day for a total of up to 2hrs. Sometime I feel like I am not progressing very well, and it gets frustrating. I play the same songs over and over again, and they start to come together, but very slowly. I've only really been focused on guitar for about four months, so I guess I can't expect too much.

 

Anyway, what this long winded post is asking is How long did it take you to get "good"? And by good I mean having the skill and confidence to say "Yeah, I'm a guitar player, lets jam" and then be able to put your skills to good use in a band environment.

I play every other day for 2 hours due to my employment. Have fun that's the main thing.

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  • 4 months later...
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  • 1 month later...

I average about 7 hours a week, could be 1/2hr one day and 1 1/2hrs the next day. My 'practice' is usually free jamming and making up phrases that I may or may not keep. I rarely play cover material, just because I have a low attention span for it and even if I learn it I will forget it eventually. I have stacks of music books that have songs that I have learned, forgotten, re-learned, forgotten, etc.

 

And since I have gotten my new Les Paul Trad, I have been practicing about 2 hours a day. The guitar inspires me more than anything else ever has...:)

 

I have had it for nearly two weeks and have made up 3 complete songs, when usually I average about 1 new song a month, or so. That's what inspiration does...

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  • 3 months later...

I'm just getting started, but try to get in about 45-60 minutes a day. Biggest challenge is that I travel a lot. So lately I've been takinga beater acoustic with me just to keep getting time on strings. If it gets crushed by an airline, I won't cry :)

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  • 1 month later...

I work and study but try to aim for at least 30 minutes 6 days a week and on the 7th day i practice for about 2 hours.

 

If i get a spare 10-15 minutes i'll pick up my acoustic and have a quick noodle around on that, i also have a guitar i keep downstairs and if i'm watching something on TV will grab it for a minute between commercial breaks

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I'll try my hardest to pick up one of my guitars at least once a day and strum out a mix of a few chords, major / minor pentatonic scales, and slide scales. Just to help cement muscle memory for another day [tongue]

 

On a good day I'll pick one up in the morning while I wait for housemates to finish getting ready for work; I'll sit down for 10 minutes or so at the end of the day, with a cup of tea. And then a 1 to 2 hour session before bed. Sadly it's harder to fit into the day when I've got studying to do, but I soldier on! [biggrin]

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  • 4 weeks later...

yeah, I think I am going to aim for 2hrs a day, broken up into 2 sessions, and longer on the weekends. I'd play all day if it weren't for that job thing that happens right in the middle.

 

10-4 on the JOB thing...I am now retired so your two hours per day, well apportioned seems a good starting place.

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1 or 2 hours a day is enough, if you decide to practice for an hour a day, don't feel like you have to clear one full hour in a row in your daily schedule; you can split it into more than one time in the day if you need to. Just schedule both half-sessions at specific times each day, and stick to it!

If you are covering a number of different topics throughout the week, try to spread it all evenly throughout the week so that you cover everything on a regular basis. List everything you plan to work on throughout the week, and write how many minutes you want to work on each one when you get to it in its practice session. Then group your activities together by total length

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keep in mind that when you practice you put a strain on the frets. If you over practice you'll need to have a leveling and re crown. It's hard to find a tech that can do this right. If you practice too much you will find that the guitar won't intonate properly. If you look closely you'll notice the frets begin to flatten out. This will create the pitch to be sharp on some frets and OK in others. It sounds great brand new but that's the issue. You'll have to buy a new guitar.

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I try to get as much as possible. I do it in 20 - 25 minute blocks. I trying to make practice as enjoyable as possible. I remind myself it's called"playing" guitar. I also remind myself I am never going to be Joe Bonamassa, Derek Trucks or Warren Haynes. So I try not to be to serious about mistakes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I played for about fifteen years 2h a day .

But today with my childrens at a young age it 's becoming more diffcille is to balance family life .

So for three years I played 30 minutes a day if I can but it's complicated ...

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I've played for twenty years and I've stopped differentiating between practice and non-practice. I pretty much have a guitar in my hand whenever I'm home. I usually play/noodle/practice specific things every night while watching tv with my wife (who's usually doing something else, too). It's just a natural part of my day at this point, which is really nice.

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  • 2 months later...

Not enough as I have to go in the hospital Feb 9 for neck surgery , then I hope back at it

 

What kind of neck surgery? And keep us posted on how it goes. I have been putting off spinal surgery for about as long as I can. We are going to try spinal injections but if that doesn't resolve it then I'm going to have the surgery. Good luck!

 

Nowhere near enough. I need to find more time, alas life, wife, kids, work....all take up a lot of guitar time :D

 

If you let kids and work, etc. interfere with your practice time you clearly have your priorities messed up! :angry: [laugh]

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