Practice sessions?

[Lola]

Honestly, how long do you practice everyday? I want to get back to my regular 2 hr practice routine. I just shot my practice routine schedule by one of my other musician friends and he says 2 hours everyday is too much.

Remember this not for a living. Just generate a bit of cash between gigging and busking.

Your thoughts?

 

[Permanent Waves]

I wish I could have a daily practice schedule but my life does not allow that. I tend to have intensive practice sessions followed by many days of break, which is not ideal. Our rehearsals are few and far between, but very long and intensive (4-5 hours) so I tend to "build up" for them. I've been dealing with carpal tunnel for a few months and had to slow down, but my physiotherapist says I can play anyway, so I started again. Interesting I discovered, I shortened my guitar strap and it seemed to help, but I still get sensations like electric shocks going through my hand in certain fingerings like F-chord or scales with larger spreads. This seems to go away after an hour, so for good or bad, I think I will try to practice longer and more often. The physiotherapy has not improved things much after a few weeks, but the therapist did not advise me to stop. I do the nerve slider exercises right before playing and that seems to help.

 

[bodia]

Well, I look at them for hours, and hours, every day while I’m working. But if we’re talking about actual play time, I’d be embarrassed to even answer….

 

[Lola]

I need regimen in my life. There are no shades of gray. I either do it or walk away.

My friend says that even every other day would be suitable. I can’t even imagine!!

 

[veinbuster]

When I was young and didn’t have a full time job, i thought nothing of practicing 2-3 hours in a day. There was a lot I wanted to be able to do and I had lots of time.

Working full time and having a couple of kids at home it was closer to half an hour a day.

Now it varies, but practice isn’t really my primary motivation anymore. I play most days, but not every day. Morning is classical. Afternoon acoustic. Evening the noisy box. Typically 25-45 minutes in a sitting.

 

[Lola]

When I was young and didn’t have a full time job, i thought nothing of practicing 2-3 hours in a day. There was a lot I wanted to be able to do and I had lots of time.

Working full time and having a couple of kids at home it was closer to half an hour a day.

Now it varies, but practice isn’t really my primary motivation anymore. I play most days, but not every day. Morning is classical. Afternoon acoustic. Evening the noisy box. Typically 25-45 minutes in a sitting.

Do you think that you could of developed into a more substantial player with more practice time or am I deluding myself.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I play “most” days. Sometimes 7 days a week, and unless we’re on vacation and not home, at least 5. If I go to the music room, it’s at least 15 minutes, but almost always at least 30. Sometimes (usually once a week or so) I get at least an hour in. Rarely more than an hour.

I always play at least 15 minutes though, because that’s about the time it takes me to get stretched, warmed up, and my two hands “sync’d” for picking every note, which I just do to try to stay sharp.

As to the second part of your question: If you can commit two hours, that’s great. DO IT. Spend part of it working on techniques and skills, the rest learning songs that you want to play.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I don’t practice because I’m really, really good already.

 

[Lola]

I don’t practice because I’m really, really good already.

And….you just found out that you’re related to EVH? Lol

 

[bodia]

I don’t practice because I’m really, really good already.

True. I’m gonna have to psot that video again……

 

[sergiodeblanc]

True. I’m gonna have to psot that video again……

That’d just prove my point.

 

[bodia]

That’d just prove my point.

Ha!

 

[veinbuster]

Do you think that you could of developed into a more substantial player with more practice time or am I deluding myself.

More practice in the past might have made me a more proficient player by some conventional measures, but I’m actually pretty happy with my relationship with guitar.

These days, practice is mostly to keep my fingers in shape. Aging is making them somewhat less precise, so I practice to a) slow that down and b) adjust my playing to compensate in a satisfying way.

 

[Permanent Waves]

My most recent guitar teacher is a stickler for practice discipline and it shows in his playing, but then again he is a full-time musician. He always sad that even 15 minutes per day (even while watching TV) is better than nothing, and I agree. However, I like to dedicate a few hours of uninterrupted time to really get into it. My routine is usually (in order) 15% warmup scales and fingering, 70% learning and practicing repertoire and ends with 15% creative/aimless noodling for improv and songwriting inspiration.

I also like to leave my favourite PRS within arms reach when I work from home, both for the visual inspiration and the opportunity to noodle once in a while. The real practising occurs when I can really dedicate a few uninterrupted hours to it. Still, a few lost minutes here and there help keep the fingers in shape. With a busy family and career, sometimes it's harder to find the energy than the time.

 

[Moondog Wily]

1. Respect the wrist or your lifelong pissed! You know what I am talking about here!! BABY STEPS for the moment!!!
2. Refer back to #1 when in doubt!

What is practice? Is just playing what you want practicing? Or does it have to be scales, learning new chords, different techniques, etc.? All I do is play songs, but I consider it practice because I will be forever learning them and new ones, as well as figuring out the ramblings in my head. So I am practicing on perfecting my delivery of those songs as I see them (which is never as they were originally recorded by the artist).

Anyway, as I have mentioned elsewhere, I did not play more than 20 hours a year for the first 3 decades I owned guitars. In March of 2021, largely due to how well my newly acquired McCarty 594 played, I started upon a journey which increased my play time to 4-6 hours 5-6 days a week. 2022 went a little slower due to medical and other reasons, so probably 2-3 hours 5-6 days a week was the norm for that year. This year I am in the 3-5 hours a day 6 days a week. I HATE taking a day off every week, but I have to as I am singing every song (no instrumentals and just me) and if I do not take off one day a week, my voice will end up dying after 10-12 days in a row, and it then takes me 3-5 days to recover and be able to sing again. Sometimes on those off days, I will just noodle on the guitar for 30-60 minutes, but even there, my hands do sometimes ask for a break, though not nearly as much lately since I have been working on lightening my monkey grip on both hands, trying to stay loose and fluid which allows me to play longer without my hands complaining. Last night I played about 3 hours. Here is my set list:

Smokin' in the Boys Room by Brownsville Station
Raise A Little Hell by Trooper
Daughter Of A Preacher Man (take off on Dusty Springfield's Son of a Preacher Man)
Joe's Garage by FZ
Bobby Brown Goes Down by FZ
Garden Of Me by Moondog Wily
Starfish and Coffee by Prince
Dirty Laundry by Don Henley
Frozen Man by James Taylor
Cats In The Cradle by Harry Chapin
Hotel California by The Eagles
Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett
Pulse Of Humanity by Moondog Wily
Its All Over Now Baby Blue by Bob Dylan
Subtarrenean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan
LikeARollingStone by Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan
Shelter from the Storm by Bob Dylan
Moondog Monday by Moondog Wily
Time Aint Got No Grave by Moondog Wily
Desolation Row by Bob Dylan
Guitar by Prince
Lolita by Prince
When The Doves Cry by Prince
Development of "Musical Monk" and "Tornado Trifecta" by Moondog Wily

3. Refer back to rule #1. Do NOT use others routines as your own guide, everyone is different!

Best wishes in your tempered return to the 6 string playground!

 

[Lola]

@Moondog Wily that is a great set list. That is an amazing accomplishment actually. I like a lot of those songs.

See, I like the way you practice. My mindset as well.

 

[Rhythmisking]

I do try to play every day. if I can, for a couple hours, but often it's less.

The question "what is practice?" is a good one. I do various things including just noodling, but that gets boring very quickly for me. Before band practice I'll go over what we're working on that day, but just so that it's fresh.

At this point in my life (64), I'm less interested in mastering brand new things than I am in doing what I do as well as I can. I do mostly originals, so often a new tune requires a LOT of repetition before I can play it well. But I also put a lot of time into ear training for improv. I'm really an ear player, so even for jazz, I don't ever want to look at a chart and decide what scale or pattern will work; I want to find it by ear. It's important to me that my improvised lines sound melodic and lyrical rather than an assemblage of licks and phrases that 'work'. So a lot of my 'practice' is spent playing to music that I don't know, and trying to weave lines over it that have sense and integrity. I like to put Pandora on a some jazz-based station and try to play along tastefully with whatever comes up.

Most music including jazz has a lot of commonality to it, so for a given chord, there's only a certain number of places it's going to go next. Being able to anticipate that, or adjust quickly to an unexpected change or modulation, and have it sound seamless and intentional to a listener is (for me) the hallmark of what I consider to be good improvisation. That's what I want to get as good at as I can. It's what gives me the most joy. I spent a lot of time when I was younger learning standards and pop songs, and I think that gave me a fairly good melodic sense, so if I can put that into my playing, I'm doing ok.

 

[Lola]

I knew about double stops and inversions. As I am watching a video on Billy Gibbons and I just didn’t even realize how much of an advantage learning these riffs using these techniques will give me. This video was like an “aha” moment.

 

[Prina]

Billy Gibbons

So much sound out of such little effort and thin strings.

 

[Mr bean]

Do you think that you could of developed into a more substantial player with more practice time or am I deluding myself.

I practice on average about 2 hours/day.

On the days where I’m doing a session of ‘free for all play’, I can hear and feel the progress I’ve made once I get warmed up.

Unless I’m cranky. Then all bets are off and I don’t feel or hear nothin.