How much average practice time daily and/or weekly?

[trader56]

Ok, so this is a goofy question, but I'd be interested to know.

How many hours a day or week do you practice?

 

This does not include playing/jamming/performing with others, but just the time you spend on those things you think need the most work for yuorself at any given time.

 

Two hours daily? Three? More?

Twenty hours weekly? More? Less?

 

Thanks for indulging this one!

 

Dave

[The Geoff]

About 2 hours/day.

 

And I'm *still* crap!!

 

G.

[stamplicker]

NOt enough, but in my mind, running patterns and progressions, bends, chords, settings about maybe 10 hours out of the day? real practise I'm lucky if I can get 5 minutes a month =\ (*Gruff *Grumble WOrk).

[Hardtail]

I practice about 2-3 hrs/day; significantly more on the weekends. Like today, I'll probably have about 6-8 hours in total because I didn't go anywhere today.

 

I make it a point to practice almost everyday. I think I've only missed 2 days this year.

 

[Professor Monkey]

1 hour a day.. sometimes more..

 

Im in high school so time changes with homework

[Hardtail]

1 hour a day.. sometimes more..

 

Im in high school so time changes with homework

 

Definitely do your homework so that you can get a good job, make good money... and buy lots of guitar stuff. :grin:

[Professor Monkey]

Or.. Compete in chess tournaments, win hundreds of dollars, and awards, and buy guitars!

[Billster]

I'm doing about 45 minutes a day focused on specific tunes I'm working up for a show.

 

Then there's the time I put in running down tunes whilst working out arrangements on the computer. That kind of repetition seems to help the chops out.

[Michael Patrick]

I'm lucky if I get 20 minutes a day. The only exception is those rare occasions when the wife and kids are outta the house.

[Gruupi]

Over the 33 years I've been playing it averages about an hour a day. If I am busy and unmotivated it may be an hour or less 4 days a week. When I'm really into it it goes to 2-4 hours a day for a month or 6 weeks. I have never been away from the guitar for more than a couple weeks though.

 

I don't really practice, I play. The classical pieces and songs I work on could be called practice, but I don't work on techniques or scales much at all. I work on improvising alot. I consider listening to music to be almost as valuable as playing. I would think playing, jamming, and performing with others should count towards practice time too, it accomplishes more than running scales by yourself.

 

I am more or less happy with my chops, I am always concerned about tone and feel and thats what I "practice" more than anything. Of course my goals are to have fun and get better as time goes on, I don't have aspirations of "making it".

[otherstar]

If I'm lucky, an hour or two TOTAL in a month. With work, three kids under 6, I don't have much time for real practice (you know, scales, and stuff).

 

Most of my time on guitar is spent going over the songs I need to work on that I play with a band, or just trying to improvise different things. We don't gig, so music is pretty casual for me. I fiend over my tone alot, and spend most of my time messing with that. I've been playing for close to 25 years, so I feel like I've got a pretty good grasp of the fundamentals, but I like to at least do something every day or too to keep the skills I have up.

[Darcy H]

I get on average two hours a day, never less than one, sometimes up around four. I don't practice per se but "work" on songs, jamming over backing tracks I've recorded, some licks. Right now I'm working on this Pat Buchanan sixes run that caught my ear (dang, it's fast!), and struggling to sing while playing "Wait Until Tomorrow" and getting my voice up to that "I don't ever want to feel..." on the Pepper's "Under the Bridge".

[Trucks]

When im not eatin, sleepin or poopin, im on Guitar. Sometimes I play, sometimes I practice. But even when I play I try and push the boundary (of my own ability) slightly so its a bit like practice.

 

I don't enjoy sitting down and cranking out something off by heart. It doesnt float my boat, not knocking people who do, each to their own.

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

I break my practice time up. I usually get from 2 to 3 1-hour sessions a day. For the past week, it's been about 5 hours per day in one to two hour sessions. I break each session up, the first half hour is technique, scales, sight-reading, etc. and the second half hour is either working on new repertoire or practicing current or old repertoire, with a 5 or 10 minute break in between.

[Dr. Ellwood]

I've never got in less than at least one hour per day. I play every Fri and Sat nights and sometimes on Wed. night too, and rehearse with both the classic rock band and my blues band,rehearsal is different than concentrated technique practice on my own though. If I get time I will spend a half hour or hour even before a rehearsal on scales.

[Hardtail]

I've never got in less than at least one hour per day. I play every Fri and Sat nights and sometimes on Wed. night too, and rehearse with both the classic rock band and my blues band,rehearsal is different than concentrated technique practice on my own though. If I get time I will spend a half hour or hour even before a rehearsal on scales.

 

Though the original poster didn't want us to count performing/band practice time, this kind of time is vital to improving your musicianship. I've certainly got a lot out of the few band rehearsals I've had thus far.

 

[Dr. Ellwood]

Oppps yes your right ..OK not counting rehearsal time I think I get in about 5 hours per week of personal practice.

[trader56]

I'll confess that I didn't count performing/band practice because I'm not ready for that, LOL.

 

I was just curious as to what kind of time people put in on their own becuase I'm still (and going to be for awhile!) working on the basics to get back into playing after all these years off.

 

It seems like proficiency is a matter of X number of hours, depending on who yuo are and where you're starting from, so the faster you get to whatever X is for you, the better. Certainly three hours a day gets you there faster than one hour a day, right?

 

Thanks everyone for your comments! I've learned a great deal from the response to my questions from all you guys!

 

Dave

[Hardtail]

It seems like proficiency is a matter of X number of hours, depending on who yuo are and where you're starting from, so the faster you get to whatever X is for you, the better. Certainly three hours a day gets you there faster than one hour a day, right?

 

It depends on what you're working on.

 

If you're working on stuff that always challenges you... yes.. generally more time means quicker proficiency... generally.

 

But if you're just doing stuff that you already know well for 3 hours, you won't improve.

 

Make practice... a little painful.. but there's nothing wrong with a little "playing" either. After all, playing is fun.

 

[Dr. Ellwood]

"Certainly three hours a day gets you there faster than one hour a day, right?"

 

100% right Dave! but as has been mentioned before, having a organized practice agenda will get you there even faster! Never just riff on things you already know well, put yourself out of your comfort zone all the time to make real progress!!

[Hardtail]

Trader,

 

The most important thing I can tell you is do it almost EVERY DAY! An hour everyday is better over time than 3 hours here and there with no practice in between. It's kind of like working out (which I need to do a little more of... LOL).

 

Some of the guys here can only do an hour a day because of their grown up responsibilities and their guitar playing is just fine.

 

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

Twenty minutes of focused, purposeful practice is far more beneficial than 3 hours of aimless noodling.

[Hardtail]

Twenty minutes of focused, purposeful practice is far more beneficial than 3 hours of aimless noodling.

 

[Dr. Ellwood]

Twenty minutes of focused, purposeful practice is far more beneficial than 3 hours of aimless noodling.

 

 

[A String]

Twenty minutes of focused, purposeful practice is far more beneficial than 3 hours of aimless noodling.

 

 

[Michael Patrick]

I made the biggest gains after I went back to school/grad school full-time. I was home a lot during the day when my wife was at work. So I could play for three or four hours with no interruption.

 

If I could find a way to make it pay, I'd go back and get a Ph. D. in a heartbeat. It would do wonders for my playing...

[Dr. Ellwood]

LOL..DON'T get the Ph.D!! I have a Masters +30 and stopped! the Ph.D. will make you a NERD!!! LOL!!!

[Michael Patrick]

LOL..DON'T get the Ph.D!! I have a Masters +30 and stopped! the Ph.D. will make you a NERD!!! LOL!!!

 

Too late...

[Dr. Ellwood]

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!

[otherstar]

Too late for me too...two master's degress...double geek....

 

I had tons of practice time when I was in school. I actually worked on stuff from books back then. Now I'm lucky if I get to do scale exercises daily, let alone dig out my books to work from them. I try to spend some time picking up something new from a guitar book at least once a month. The kids will eventually get older and I suspect I might have a little more time then (we'll see).