How Long Should I Practice?

cartoon3315So, How long should you practice your guitar?

That’s more than a loaded question. And, of course, partly determined by WHAT you are practicing, WHY you are practicing and from WHOM?

Some truisms abound here: the more time you have, the more time you have to practice!  And, the more you practice the better you get! But, please be mindful that “practice doesn’t always make perfect!”  This is especially true if you practice the wrong thing. As the old ball coach Vince Lombardi says:

Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

So with that in mind how long should you practice:

  • Well If you only have 10 minutes a day – that’s how long you should practice.
    • 10 minutes a day for six days a week is better than a single hour practice on Saturday!
      • Why: because I believe that the brain works better with a  gradual series of exposures.
  • Serious students should allocate as much time to practice as possible:
    • as close to an hour a day as possible for minimum results.
      • if you can’t practice an hour in one setting break up your time so that you practice 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening
      • if you have gotten this far, use your own good judgement to manage your time
  • professional students should allocate as much time as practical to practice:
    • several hours daily would be reasonable
      • it’s your gig – you are suppose to practice 😉

Need help tracking your practice time? Download this Weekly-Practice-Record in pdf .

Practicing your Guitar

Thoughts on getting the most out of your practice

Time is everybody’s enemy!

Young or old, time does NOT discriminate – and a good musical definition of time is: “time is the rate at which the future becomes the present” – so let’s get on with it, because none of us are getting any younger! 😉

While finding time to practice everyday can be a challenge; it is important to find time – every day to do so! Practicing a little everyday, will yield more satisfactory results than practicing ‘in bulk’ on Saturday!

I like to practice:

  1. my scales first for warm-up
  2. then move into the main work out
  3. finish up going through some fav tunes

As we go through our lessons, you will discover the right practice session for you and your goals.

Good Luck and happy Jammin’