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Old 02-24-2016, 08:39 PM
kellyfan161 kellyfan161 is offline
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Default 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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Old 02-24-2016, 09:36 PM
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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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Last edited by fazool; 02-25-2016 at 04:52 PM.
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Old 02-24-2016, 09:43 PM
DupleMeter DupleMeter is offline
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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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Old 02-24-2016, 09:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool View Post
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 ben remarkably successful for me and after a couple days of this, I am farterh 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.
I think there is something to this. I've found that if I practice something for too long, I start to make the same mistakes over and over, so I stop or move to something else. Then I'll revisit it later in the week and it will be smoother and better than at the end of my previous practice session.
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Old 02-25-2016, 04:00 PM
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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.
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Old 02-25-2016, 04:31 PM
skitoolong skitoolong is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool View Post
There is a field of brain science that has a lot of theories about this. The latest rage is the concept of neuro-plasticity....

..... After about 20 minutes, continued practice "confuses" your brain and you stop learning new paths and can begin reinforcing errors.

....
I didn't know this, but experience it constantly. I found that if I'm working on a pattern, or phrase things go well for 15-20 minutes, but then promptly fall off a cliff. I joke with my girlfriend about this too, it's actually quite funny to hear it happen.

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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Old 02-25-2016, 05:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool View Post
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.
I love to practice/play and I typically like to spend 3+ hours at it a day if I can. But I make sure to break it up where I work on something typically for no less than 5 minutes and no more than 15-20 minutes. And in that kind of time frame, I think it's good to have 3-4 5 minute breaks.
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Old 02-25-2016, 05:21 PM
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As much as possible
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Old 02-25-2016, 05:23 PM
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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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Old 02-25-2016, 06:29 PM
UncleJoe UncleJoe is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jdto View Post
I think there is something to this. I've found that if I practice something for too long, I start to make the same mistakes over and over, so I stop or move to something else. Then I'll revisit it later in the week and it will be smoother and better than at the end of my previous practice session.
Yep.

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.
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Old 02-25-2016, 07:06 PM
Bucc5207 Bucc5207 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool View Post
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....
Good stuff, fazool! It jibes with my experience, too.

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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Old 02-25-2016, 07:42 PM
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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*
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Old 02-25-2016, 08:51 PM
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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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Old 02-25-2016, 10:17 PM
Riverwolf Riverwolf is offline
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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?
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Old 02-25-2016, 10:27 PM
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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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