practicing

[jonathan12]

Hi i was wondering how long each day people practice? I have had 2 guitar teachers that said 20 mins is fine. I am learning on my on now because they wasnt coming to teach me when they promise, so now i am doing it here. I am only 12 and have 4 months of teacher lessons. I find 20 mins is not really enought for me. By the way i think StoneDragon lessons are great! I been looking for a while and its better that anything online i have found.
thank you
jonathan

[StoneDragon]

You should play as much as you can possibly stand. Be sure to give your hands frequent rest breaks, though.

[LEADfromAGENTA]

i just want to say, that i wake up, i pick up my guitar, eat breakfast with my guitar on , play a couple chords and such, start warming up, then i sit down and jam ALL DAY,
i am not joking either, i play guitar all day long, and im getting better every day, im only 13 too, and i can do a better solo then alot of 30 yr olds! http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smileysex5.gif

[FINGERPICKINGOOD]

I wish i didnt work 8-5 and pay bills! I bet i would be a lot better!

[jonathan12]

Hi this is jonathan12 mom, i hope this is allowed. I got a question jonathan is home schools so between 8 and 4 hes mine. But hes what you call photogenit what he see, hears,or read its implanted forever. anyway he plays drums trumpet keyboard sings and dances. ok my qestion how slow do i make him go. His teachers give him an hour lesson in 15 min. he got it off the bat. I do not want to slow his progress because he is hoping to go to college at 15 1/2. with music scholships. hey thanks for the help already
tina

[StoneDragon]

Hi Tina,

Sounds like you have a bright young man for a son.

I won't even pretend to know anything about what it would take to teach your son properly. That is probably best left to experts.

I did have one student who might qualify as having the same ability. He learned so fast that it was scary. The only problem I had with him was keeping him interested. He picked stuff up so fast that nothing was a challenge. He had an attention span of about 30 seconds because of this.

I would be inclined to give your son all the information he could handle as fast as he could absorb it. But you have to keep in mind that it's one thing to know something intellectually and another to be able to play it on the guitar (or any other instrument). It's important that both develop simultaneously.

the only concern that I would have is being that your son is pretty young, you don't want him to injure his muscles and tendons by straining them. Proper technique and frequent rest breaks are a must. I would suggest limiting practice time to a couple of hours each day. You might want to break that into two sessions, one in the morning and one in the evening. Any more than that and he will probably be over-working his hands.

Once he begins to develop stamina and coordination on the instrument, the practice time could increase gradually.

[jonathan12]

Hey Stone;
Thank you for the reply. I like your idea for the 2 hour lesson will split it up. Your right about the attention span. thats why i stay on his rear and we change up our way of learning. I make him practice something about 10 times them we jam with it.I tell him to have fun with it. shoot he wasnt taught the notes on each string until we found this site and sat down in 20 minutes had each note on each string. I am trying to learn along with him ,not playing guitar but learning your lessons, so i could help him better. hes got an ear for the pitches so he knows when he screws up i just make him pick it up and do it.
I looking for a better guitar but for now he has 1964 sears catalog guitar. picked it up for 30 bucks. he also has a big acustit guitar. i make him play with both. am i wrong in that?
thanks again,
tina