#1
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How long to practice
So for all you "expert" guitar players that are super good, how many hours did y'all practice and such when you were in the stages of learning everything?? I don't want to make this my "career" persay but I do really love it(guitar playing)..but I wouldn't call myself a "natural" as it takes me a week or two to get certain things..and other things I can catch on fine....just want to get an idea of how people do this....I'm struggling right now with certain things and I think I need to up my practice time...
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#2
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There is a field of brain science that has a lot of theories about this. The latest rage is the concept of neuro-plasticity.
I abide by some of this and find it to be very credible. One premise is that your brain has trillions of combinations of nerve signal pathways and when you send a signal to learn or do something (like move your finger) your brain explores pathways. As you practice it repeats, trying different pathways. After about 20 minutes, continued practice "confuses" your brain and you stop learning new paths and can begin reinforcing errors. Then when your brain sleeps and recovers, it replays this over and over, memorizing the pathways. I practice something new about 20 minutes then I stop (unless having fun in which case I keep going). This has been remarkably successful for me and after a couple days of this, I am farther ahead than if I plowed on for hours. Diminishing returns of time. Again, this is just one new-age-ish theory but it works for me.
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Fazool "The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter" 000-15 / GC7 / GA3-12 / SB2-C / SB2-Cp / AVC-11MHx / AC-240 Last edited by fazool; 02-25-2016 at 04:52 PM. |
#3
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It's different for everyone. I always told my students "don't practice 'till you get it right, practice until you can't get it wrong".
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-Steve 1927 Martin 00-21 1986 Fender Strat 1987 Ibanez RG560 1988 Fender Fretless J Bass 1991 Washburn HB-35s 1995 Taylor 812ce 1996 Taylor 510c (custom) 1996 Taylor 422-R (Limited Edition) 1997 Taylor 810-WMB (Limited Edition) 1998 Taylor 912c (Custom) 2019 Fender Tele |
#4
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Quote:
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#5
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The point fazool makes is interesting and worth considering, I think.
Your main job is to cultivate the magic that makes you want to play guitar and to become better. Sometimes diligently working on stuff/practicing is rewarding and productive. Sometimes learning new material is. Other times those tasks seem difficult and non-productive. Spend more time when it's easier, and don't flog yourself when it's not. I've learned several difficult techniques by giving it a rest (sometimes numerous rests) and coming back to it later. I always try to include some gratifying play time in every session - playing stuff I know well and can enjoy just playing. Or noodling along with some of my favorite recorded music without any real goals or expectations; that can lead to some unexpected learning moments that might not happen otherwise. The short answer is to keep it fun. As your playing evolves you'll learn more ways to do that. |
#6
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So, I'll get to this point and quit - move on to something else. Revisit a night or two later. Repeat until ingrained. Very cool.
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#7
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#8
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As much as possible
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#9
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If I'm trying to get something down, usually one of my own songs which I'm trying to piece together, and memorize what the progression is and how I want it, I usually fall into a pattern of about 15 -20 minutes......then break......another 15-20 later in the day.....and still more later on with maybe 3-4 sessions with this in a day. For me, this really works.
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1993 Bourgeois JOM 1967 Martin D12-20 2007 Vines Artisan 2014 Doerr Legacy 2013 Bamburg FSC- 2002 Flammang 000 12 fret 2000 McCollum Grand Auditorium ______________________________ Soundcloud Spotify Mike McKee/Fred Bartlett Spotify playlist |
#10
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When trying to learn something new I've found that after 15-20 minutes of playing the same thing, it sounds worse than when I started. I'll put it away and come back to it the next day. The beginning of a new session always seems to sound better than the end of the last one. |
#11
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To the OP, practice as much as you can, but not in marathon sessions. It's time to stop: before you get tired; when things sound a little better than when you started; before you start making new mistakes; and when you've worked hard and succeeded at something. I think it's important to end each session with a win. If you're near the end of the session and feeling frustrated, play something you know cold, and play it well, then shut her down.
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Herb Proud owner of only one guitar --- https://soundcloud.com/bucc5207 "Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." - Richard Feynman, 1966 |
#12
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I've learned several physical skills where the path consisted of working a motion or set of motions slowly, until they can be done perfectly, and then practice at speeds just below which one has errors. One learns to play faster, but never fossilizes an error through repetition.
Perfect practice makes perfect. Practicing errors perfects error making. I remember learning how to change chords on guitar, and how I had to type just one letter for touch typing. ---- A friend who does weight lifting once shared the story of a trainer who was asked, how many reps do you do? His answer was, when you're wiping, do you count reps... or do you keep going until you're done? I have no way of judging how helpful that advice was in that weight-lifting context... and I'm not sure I want to find out. *laugh* |
#13
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I practice anywhere between 2-4 hours daily. I agree with the 20 minute thing that was posted. I will work on things about 20 minutes then move to something else. If I don't get it I put the guitar in the stand and every now and then I'll pick it up and try it a time or two.
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#14
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So 20 min seems to be the magic number.
Interesting that I had came to that on my own also. When learning a new song and memorizing is a big part of that, then 20 min works much better that 10 min X 2. If it is just a muscle memory and not a brain memory then 10 min is fine. Did that make sense? |
#15
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I'll do about a half hour to 45 minutes on a new song, 20 minutes on one I'm re-learning or just practicing. But there are some times that I will spend an hour and a half on something just because I like it.
Like tonight I started learning two new songs and spent about a half hour on each. The key to my practice/learning time is to go very very slow at first, slower than I really want to go. This trains my fingers a lot better than trying to force myself to go faster and stress over mistakes. You have to practice at the pace that you make zero mistakes, otherwise you're just practicing how to make mistakes. When I play, naturally I still make mistakes, but that's life, it happens.
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