How often/long do you practice?

[PiousDevil]

How often do you practice? What is the duration of your practice sessions? How do you structure your practices? Please give as much detail as possible in your posts, and share any helpful tips you'd like.

[Acoustic Beatle]

Yep , 7 days a week at least 1- 1 1/2 hrs per session. Start out with scales and progress on to single note faux classical style runs.Just starting out on my theory education , so Im working on fret board positioning using the "caged system".Following half hour of this I,ll then move on to my fingersyle and strumming repertoire where time slips away as I tighten up bits that have gotten a bit loose over time . Also I get to learn new songs I play with my two friends during our monthly meet up at the rehersal studio !

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Acoustic Beatle

Yep , 7 days a week at least 1- 1 1/2 hrs per session. Start out with scales and progress on to single note faux classical style runs.Just starting out on my theory education , so Im working on fret board positioning using the "caged system".Following half hour of this I,ll then move on to my fingersyle and strumming repertoire where time slips away as I tighten up bits that have gotten a bit loose over time . Also I get to learn new songs I play with my two friends during our monthly meet up at the rehersal studio !

Generally six days and 1 to 2 hours. When I retire I'll probably do two daily sessions of 2 hours.

[colchar]

Not often enough, nor for long enough.

[jseth]

Heck, I've been playing the guitar for nearly 60 years... I'm afraid that my "practice" days are behind me at this point! When I was younger and first learning theory and harmony, playing scales and working with a metronome and like that, I would frequently practice for 2 or 3 hours every day....

I don't count writing new songs or learning a song by another artist as "practicing"...

All I ever do, all I ever did - play songs. No scales, exercises, schedules, metronomes and whatnot. Picked up new techniques as I needed them for the songs. Have done OK with that.

[JonPR]

Precisely the same as A-Mac for me. I've been playing over 50 years, and never thought of what I do as "practice".

IOW, what I do at home is "play". I might be learning a new tune, I might be writing something, I might just be idly noodling. Some days I might not touch the guitar, other days it might be several hours, on and off (although that would be rare).

I never did "exercises" or "drills", even in the beginning. That was probably because I never had lessons! So I was never told what to do, and saw no reason to not simply enjoy myself on the instrument (and I don't enjoy exercises).

Of course, when learning a new tune, I play it over and over until I get it right. (And then play it more and more until I can't get it wrong! ) If you want to all that "practice", that's fine, but I couldn't possibly quantify it.
I guess that process is a little more organised when rehearsing with a band. I do use the word "practice" for that, although really it's the same thing: going over a new tune until we get it right as a group.

[Pitar]

All the time I have available usually gets ear-marked for guitar. If I'm not doing that it's because something else is a lot more important. It comes out to 1-2 and sometimes more hours per weekday. Being a home body with zero interest in TV I'll be arranging new melodies or bashing songs into instrumentals. On weekends the thing rarely has time to cool to room temperature between sessions.

[Nailpicker]

Every day, every week is a little different for me, in part depending upon other demands on my time. Sometimes it's as much as 4-5 hours per day/7 days per week. Sometimes I take a little breather to recharge and won't play for a day or two...on rare occasions I'll skip 3 days. But on average I play 2-3 hours per day, 6 days per week.

[Wyllys]

I don't "practice" as such. Rather, I play...usually one or another of my long-time favorites...until I'm "warmed up" and the guitar is singing. At that point I'll switch to another, less familiar tune and play it until the guitar sings. Eventually and given enough time, I may then start in on something entirely new, something which follows from the tunes I've been playing, being in the same genre or perhaps connected who-knows-how in my meat-computer RAM.

It's not always the same procedure, but it's every day and a natural part of everyday life like eating, sleeping and breathing.

[dkstott]

Now that I'm retired, I'm pretty close to practicing 2 hours a day. Although some days are longer.

FWIW ----I play strictly fingerstyle guitar & don't sing. The range of songs I play vary from pop to jazz to semi-classical songs. My "fingerstyle" is closer to chord melody than the alternating bass type fingerstyle guitar playing.

Every morning session starts with 2-3 exercises that work on left and right hand finger independence. That lasts about 20 minutes. I've been doing them for a few years now. They are now more of a warm-up exercise to get my 62 year old fingers going. LOL

Next is about 10-15 minutes of speed exercises from semi-classical type work. I start at 60bpm and go up to 120bpm for short bursts. All of it focuses on the right hand. (Index, Middle and ring finger)

Then I work for 45 minutes on keeping my repertoire fresh in my brain. (Typically about 10-20 songs played complete). The total number of songs played varies depending on my mood each day. After that, I go back and work on sections of those songs to eliminate any brain farts that may have happened.

The next hour is spent working on 2-3 new tunes. It can vary from just starting to learn a song to focusing on specific sections of songs that I'm having trouble playing smoothly or fingering.

Depending on what's happening in any particular day. I may spend an additional hour or so in the afternoon going over other songs in my repertoire to keep them fresh or just "noodling".

Monday is my 1 hour guitar lesson in which we go over new songs, break down areas of concern, try out new voicings, improving my left or right hand technique. FWIW- I had developed a number of bad habits from watching DVD lessons without getting any correction. My weekly guitar lesson re-enforces past corrections and catches new bad habits before they become ingrained.

Tuesday night is a 2 hour guitar gathering with 10-20 friends in attendance. It's great fun & gets me a dose of strumming. I learn chord changes to a ton of songs. Plus playing with a group helps with my timing and is a lot more fun that sitting alone with a metronome.

I typically take Wednesday's off. It gives my hands a rest after the Tuesday practice and the 2 hours of playing on Tuesday night.

That's about it...

[RodB]

I'm another one that doesn't practice. Practice was what I did when I gigged, especially with others - even then it meant learning the tune, the structure, how I would play my bit. Right from the start over 50 years ago, I have never done exercises - only played tunes.

I play for the pleasure of hearing the guitar sing -as Wyllys puts it. I might play a few favourites or work on one or two news tunes that are coming together. If I have a problem with something along the way I work through it, but not to let it get in the way of the enjoyments of playing.

No regular routine either, playing 2-3 hours some days and sometimes not picking up a guitar for a couple of days or more - so much 'fresher' when you sit down again to play.

[penname]

I practice/play every day for between 30-60 minutes. Too much "real life" going on to get more than an hour a day available.

I take 30 minute lessons every Saturday with 15-30 minutes practice before. Sunday I take a quick look at any new work coming from class but the day is mostly my free day to explore new pieces and just enjoy myself. Monday - Friday is 30-40 minutes per day working on class assignments followed by filling up the available time working on select pieces from my repertoire.

Next month I've signed up to participate in a "Guitar-Orchestra" with 1 hour practice sessions every Tuesday before a live performance late June. So will have a spike in practice hours in June. Plus another spike in early August when I attend the Swannnaoa Gathering Guitar Week for the third year in a row. The only time that I can play/practice as much as I want.

[posternutbag]

I practice about 3 hours a day, although that doesn't count breaks, so I spread that out over a total time of 4-5 hours. The exception is that on days I jam or gig, I probably only spend 2 hours spread over 3 hours total, but I still get in 3-4 hours of total play time.

What does my practice look like? Well it depends on what I am working on and if I am gearing up for a performance or just working on general playing.

If I am gearing up for a performance, then I tend to spend a lot of time working on the songs I intend to perform.

But a general, non-specific practice might look like this. First, I am a flatpicker/grasser who also plays some blues and Grateful Dead tunes.

The first thing I do is tuning and then metronome practice. I have several etudes I have written that cover most of the rhythm stuff I do, walks, G-Runs, etc. Playing these with a metronome loosens up the hands and gets the brain and fingers in sync.

Then I usually run through 5-10 Grateful Dead tunes, warming up my voice and further getting my hands ready. Plus, it is just fun. Then I usually take a quick break, check email, texts, etc.

After that, it is tunes and lead practice. I like to play a few fiddle tunes over and over and intersperse the tunes with lead practice, things like folding scales, playing scales in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, etc. After that it is another quick break.

Then I work on my bluegrass repertoire, singing, playing rhythm, and taking all of the breaks/solos. I like to record this part of my practice since it is what I play in public. I critique my vocals, my guitar playing, everything. I then work on whatever sounds like it needs the most work, which is usually the vocals. I don't really like to sing, but I find myself taking on more and more vocal responsibility, so I am concentrating more on this aspect of my music. After this, I might take a longer break, maybe 10-15 minutes to look at AGF or CNN.

The next section of practice involves trying to add/learn new tunes or songs. I try to add something to my repertoire each week, and this time is where I do it. I can learn new songs quickly; I could easily learn a song a day, but I don't try to force it. It is usually the vocals that take the most time. After that, I usually take another quick break.

The final part of my practice involves recording some of my tunes in an environment as close to performance as possible. I try to play a 30-40 minute set. This is the part I leave out if I am jamming or performing latter that evening. I find it is pretty mentally wearing to try to play like its a performance, but it really helps. I record it and listen back, trying to find places I can improve, whether it is vocal intonation, or more coherent solos, or whatever.

Wow. I can't believe anyone would read all of that, but the OP asked for specificity. so that is what I do, every day.

[islandguitar]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Precisely the same as A-Mac for me. I've been playing over 50 years, and never thought of what I do as "practice".

IOW, what I do at home is "play". I might be learning a new tune, I might be writing something, I might just be idly noodling. Some days I might not touch the guitar, other days it might be several hours, on and off (although that would be rare).

I never did "exercises" or "drills", even in the beginning. That was probably because I never had lessons! So I was never told what to do, and saw no reason to not simply enjoy myself on the instrument (and I don't enjoy exercises).

Of course, when learning a new tune, I play it over and over until I get it right. (And then play it more and more until I can't get it wrong! ) If you want to all that "practice", that's fine, but I couldn't possibly quantify it.
I guess that process is a little more organised when rehearsing with a band. I do use the word "practice" for that, although really it's the same thing: going over a new tune until we get it right as a group.

A big plus +1 to this post......it reads like something I would write and is spot on with my approach. Many years ago in our folk group of the '60's, I would practice our songs, both covers and originals for up to 6 hours a day. Partly because I was catching up to the others who were more experienced. Now, I find myself working on my originals and usually have one or two going on different guitars. In fall, winter and parts of spring 60 or more minutes a day at least 6 days per week. In the summer...higher humidity, much busier.....several times a week, not less than maybe 4 times a week even if for 15 minutes. I have a little gig coming up in late June and that will change things up for me. More practice and working through an established set list........repeat and rinse!
I've just finished a home brew CD, and with that....a lot of intense practice on getting each song down for recording. I like that structure. This coming season, I'll be working on more covers and a few originals......still 1 1/2 hours will likely be the time frame. If it's new stuff, I'm more likely to break things up into ten or fifteen minutes at a time to get sections memorized and in place under my fingers.