Practice time

[Grimace]

First off, I just want to say hello to everyone because it's my first time on this board. So far, it looks great!
Now for the question. I was wondering what is a good goal for hours/day to practice? I need to set up a schedule so I can be consistant with my practicing. Also, what else, besides the lessons on the site, would I benifite from?
Thanks,

Marty

[StoneDragon]

The secret to practicing is.....

the more, the better.

A lot depends on how much time you have and what your ultimate goals are. How good do you want to be?

I think you've got to spend at least a couple of hours a day at it just to develop a rudimentary ability to play. The time alotment goes up from there.

You should also take advantage of the information age. Practically anything you could ever want to know about music and guitar playing is on the internet. There are also about a million instructional videos, books, teachers and other players that you could expose yourself to.... all to your benefit.

[viking]

Stone, you submitted.... "You should also take advantage of the information age. Practically anything you could ever want to know about music and guitar playing is on the internet. There are also about a million instructional videos, books, teachers and other players that you could expose yourself to.... all to your benefit.".....

Man, I remember when I was younger, there was no internet nor computers to hook up with(let alone any online site that had the word 'guitar in their volcabulary)! Also, there were barely any books you can buy, except Mel Bay's 'Easy guitar for Beginners and classical guitar sheet music. If you wanted to learn, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page or Eddie Van Halen then your ears were the tool. There were no song books, cd-roms or videos(also tabs were not invented/discovered yet--they just had music notes [So I learned how to sight read]). And Guitar Player was the only magazine and they didn't sell it everywhere. If you wanted to learn how to play any electric guitar solo, then you learned it buy ear on a record slowed down to 16 rpm. No Joke.



So Grimace, as Stone was pointing out; take advantage of the information age. Online or at the store, they will have lessons and exercizes exactly tailored for anyone. And mostly for free!!!

http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/wavey.gif

v

[jsmith]

i started playing again 2 winters ago now after more than 20 years of not touching a guitar (i know, i know). i have found that a lot of boomers have started doing the same thing i'm doing and are deriving as much pleasure out of it. the information age certainly doesn't hurt. anyway, about those Mel Bay books - they're still around and they were the first thing that got thrown at me when i signed up for lessons. i refused to use it after a couple of sessions - i mean, "red river valley"? i fired my teacher after a while and his boss started teaching me - a little more structured but still not 100%. there really ought to be a better way. maybe SD's lessons are a step in the right direction. looking back i realize that i have picked up quite a bit of theory but not a lot of technique which is what i'm focusing on at the moment...

[Eric]

Jsmith, your message rings home for me, too. I've had less problems with instructors teaching cool material to learn, but getting instructors to focus on technique is really a problem, and you have to natter at them about it. My current instructor is a great player and theory teacher, but the only way I get technical advice is to figure out what my perceived needs are and ask about them. What's the problem with this? Well, only the areas I perceive as a need get addressed. What about other needs that I don't see because I'm a beginner? How long do those bad habits get ingrained before someone says hey, you're doing that wrong! I just took my current instructor to task on this lately. His response was, "I can never know if someone is going to renew their lessons from month to month, so I try to give people as much material as possible". Well, material is useless if it's all performed incorrectly. I made it clear that we need to review material both in conceptual and technical terms to see if any real progress is being made, so we'll see how it goes from here. This, not the amount of material, will determine whether I renew or not.

Regarding the original question, I practice 2-3 hours a day (mostly 2) with one day off a week for marital harmony. I can see myself becoming a player at this level of effort assuming that proper technical approach goes with it (which has required a lot of info-seeking on my part, and I've been a big beneficiary of internet resources in this way). However, I certainly don't see myself becoming a complete player at that time commitment, and I'm currently debating if I need to narrow that further to a choice as a rhythm or lead player. I think becoming a complete player takes considerably more time (6-8 hrs a day, 7 days a week, I'd say...). I play hard rock and metal, and I think at the level of time I have to commit, all my focus and effort needs to go there and nowhere else.

So, I guess my point for Grimace would be: if you have a limitation on the amount of time you can practice, you need to hone in on what it is you want to play (styles, etc.), and zone right into that. Don't let some hack instructor sidetrack you on "Red River Valley" (good call on that, jsmith. I may be out of my authority here, but with so much easy music out there that is cool, too, why would anyone work on ANYTHING that doesn't move them?), or anything else that's outside of your focus. If your anything like me (married, responsible profession, big bills, etc...), you don't have the luxury of digressing off into the many continents of the guitar world. If you do have that luxury and want to exercise it, all the power to you.

[MrSamson]

Hey...Eric...

When I am practicing guitar I keep two things in mind...

1) Is what I am doing NOW going to get me where I want to be-->Inevitable rockstardom....Just kidding...Playing in a band someday...and people actually enjoying what I am playing...

2) Is what I am doing now FUN?

#2 is probably the most important thing I address when looking at my practice routine...many times I have put my guitar down and done something else because I was simply not having fun. {this happens a lot when I am really tired...it is simply no fun anymore}

anyway, in my opinion it depends on what you want to do...but you should be practicing correctly.

Time and time again veteran players on this BB have discussed the drag associated with correcting age-old bad habits.

Anyway, reading your post, I just assume that you are still having fun, because in just READING your post, it doesn't sound like it.

I dont believe there is an answer for the never ending question of how much time, and what to practice.

And it changes too....

For example, right now I practice little to no other player's songs from beginning to end. Sure, I practice what I want, and get soloing ideas from what they do, but I know little from beginning to end.

HOWEVER, if I was approached to be in a band, and they wanted to do some covers, and I was into it...which I would be. You better believe getting a grip on these songs we would be covering would become the focus of my practice.

Anyway, glad to see people analyzing what they are doing when they sit down to practice...I wish I had the time to put up my practice routine, but the task of coding the web pages has been too daunting.

Later,

http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/devil.gif

[Eric]

I agree with most of what you said, Mr Samson. I wonder, though, how my opining about honing in on what you want to play and not letting outside influences sidetrack you gives you the impression of not having fun. Playing the guitar is, IMO, the most fun a person can have. It's even more fun when you play what you want, rather than what someone else wants. Trying to get instructors to TEACH, rather than shell out "material" is not fun, but is something one has to try to do if paying for lessons is to have any lasting benefit. If all I want is material, I can buy a book for $20 that has 10 times the material for 1/10th of the cost.

My basic point for Grimace was that being a complete guitarist is a fine goal for a 12-year old who is looking at a good ten years in which he or she may practice 6-10 hours a day, and possibly end up structuring their life around it. For working stiffs like myself whose time is limited, you need to know what you want to do if you want to be good at it. Now, some people may not have to be good at it for it to be fun, and that's great. In fact, that's a nice loose attitude I've tried to cultivate in myself, but to no avail. I'm at a point in life where I'm accepting myself for what I am. For me, fun comes from love of subject, attitude, and ability. Stumbling around with bad technique (which is probably the hardest aspect of guitar to convey thru books and internet) is decidedly un-fun, which is why I think it's imperative that instructors keep one eye trained on technique as they and the student go along. Muscle memory is such that the longer you proceed with bad technique, the longer it will take you to re-train once you reach the limits imposed by that bad technique. There's some fun in re-training - it's a real kick to watch a bad habit dissolve bit by bit as a result of it, but I think most of us would rather just do it right from the start.

[MrSamson]

Hey bro...

Nothing made me think that your not having fun...it's just that you didnt mention all the "fun" you were having...sounded more like "work"...

Whenever someone posts a practice regime post...I always respond focusing on goals and more importantly fun.

I have seen a couple try to adopt the way I practice...and for most people it doesnt work...I focus A LOT on technique and scales...and theory..


But it works for me...most people enjoy (this is my experience anyway) learning songs...being able to cop this song or that lick...but their knowledge behind it is often limited.

It sounds like you are focused and know what you want and are willing to do what it takes to get there...

Kewl...keep us posted.

Plus, you are paying for lessons, so if you are realistically focused....you should get what you want because you are paying for it....

I wonder what Stone thinks of all this...he taught private lessons for several years and became frustrated with unfocused students....

I guess it comes full circle....

Anyway, keep us posted, and by no means did I try to offend....

Later,

http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/devil.gif

[Eric]

Definitely none taken, man. I do get serious about this, so it certainly can sound like there's no fun happening, but if it wasn't fun, I just wouldn't do it, period.

Sounds like our orientations are fairly similar. I also work a lot on scales, theory, and technique, and realize that just learning songs or copping licks really becomes limiting if you don't understand the workings behind it. I jammed with a guy once whose whole approach was built on this and when I gave him an E-minor progression to just jam free-form over, his eyes went blank - he had no clue what I was talking about. It was interesting because at the time I had just hooked up with my new instructor three days prior who had just said, "learning songs is great, but you HAVE to be able to jam if you want to call yourself a musician". Right there, I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Good counter-perspective on unfocused students - in fairness to all the instructors out there good, bad, and indifferent, I have to be the first to admit that I couldn't take it - trying to teach a complex, difficult instrument to someone who is in the flight of a passing fancy

[Grimace]

I just want to say thanks for all the thoughtfull feedback. It is very, very helpful.

Actually, I am a college student, 19 years old, and have been in and out with musical experience. I played piano for a couple of years when I was about 7 and dropped it as soon as my parents would allow. When I was young, I wanted to be outside living, not in small room practicing something I just didn't understand. Now that I'm older and have gone some trully life changing events, the search is on. Music has always been strongest tool for myself, yet playing, has been a problem. Time and time again, I have started and stopped. The reasons, I can't explain. All I can say is, I come back to it on a regular basis and I'm sick of it. This is what I want to do and I know it. I guess it just hard when your whole being is changing at the same time. Things get really confusing and before you know it, you're off on something else.
For myself, playing the guitar is different than having fun. I see the guitar as a tool, much like any other instrument. Learning is not always fun, simply because it requires hard work and in this case, harder than any I have ever done. And maybe that is my problem, I'm lazy. Whatever it is, I'm sick of it and want to get serious. I figure the only way is to set up a strong practice routine to get over the initial hump.
Anyway, thanks for all the advice. I take it very seriously and it means a lot to me.

Grimace