so how much did you practice?

The old guitar teacher question. I'm averaging about 2 hours a day, six days a week but Thursday I practiced for 4 and tonight for 3. I guess around 15 hours a week usually. This seems to be the right amount for me. I'm not slacking but I'm not killing myself either.

So how about you?

[TBman]

I play between 60 to 90 minutes a day. I haven't really "practiced" in a while. I'm thinking about how to work in some much needed right hand speed work, string dampening and retaining left hand strength through chord drills, while still having fun.

I'm getting a great deal of enjoyment just learning a tune now and then and composing my own stuff though. At almost 65 I'm not sure how much improvement I will see.

[rick-slo]

Lately play maybe a couple of hours a week. I have been in the several hours a day camp but that was a long time ago.

[DukeX]

I play about an hour a day. My play is my practice.

[Pitar]

Probably between 10 & 15 hours a week these days. Used to be more but that was when the acoustic sound was all around, influences ran deep and I was single.

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by DukeX

I play about an hour a day. My play is my practice.

yeah, mostly this.
I have devoted 20 min to start everyday on the F and Bm chords.
I can play both cleanly but not at a fast tempo.
Otherwise songs are my practice.
Some are strum, some Carter style - boom chicka, some flatpick...some I don't really know

[Pura Vida]

I play mostly for enjoyment, so not really practicing, per se. I play for 20-50 minutes per day, depending on how busy the rest of my life is.

[reeve21]

Between 1.5 and 2 hours a day. I'd play longer but start I to lose focus, even though I try to take breaks. A new blues exercise to practice from my lesson every week, and several other longer pieces in various stages of development. I don't watch much TV, and I love to practice!

[Mr. Jelly]

I don't technically practice but I average playing about an hour and a half a day.

[MikeBmusic]

Geez, I wish I had that much spare time! Most days, its 15-20 minutes, if at all. Most often to learn new songs or writing new ones. In the winter it might be more if I am doing some recording.
I played a 4 hour farmers market this past weekend, in the 10 days running up to it I practiced each 50 minute set twice (8 days total practice).

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

Geez, I wish I had that much spare time!

Originally Posted by reeve21

I don't watch much TV, and I love to practice!

I don't watch TV, barely use the internet and guitar is my only hobby now after stopping my movie memorabilia collecting. Plus my kids are high schoolers and I have a supportive wife. I actually have a lot of time for chores etc. and family time. The family just knows I have my guitar time.

[mr. beaumont]

I try to get a half hour in a day. Doesn't always happen.

When I was young and didn't have, y'know, responsibilities, I'd play 6-8 hours a day. Not all practice, though. But there was always a guitar in my hands...

Sometimes I think I'd spend a lot less time now unkinking bad habits if I hadn't played that much as a kid...

[islandguitar]

During the summer, I'm really busy with part-time work and dealing with heat/humidity and just fun activities of the season, so I make a deal with myself not to get all caught up in assessing how much, or how little I'm playing. When it's comfortable I'll play for an hour (with a glass of wine on the porch)....when it's sticky (limited ac here in the house), I take time off and don't beat myself up about it.
During the fall, winter spring, I'll go 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day maybe 5-6 days a week.
Back in the college days with my folk group......5-6 hours per day!! LOL!

[JonPR]

As most of the others here say, I don't "practice". I "play".
Hard to say how many hours a day. Some days I don't touch the guitar at all. Other days, if I'm learning a new tune it might be up to four hours (rough guess), but broken down into smaller sessions, and of course, not constantly with my fingers on the strings. I'd be notating as well.

If I'm teaching, that means up to three hours with a guitar in my hands, but not playing all the time.
If I'm gigging, that might mean up to two hours with a guitar in my hands - at the gig - but probably no practising beforehand, no warm-ups. (If I was playing highly demanding material, then I probably would warm up first.)

In short, my playing "regime" at home involves one of three things:
1. Learning new songs
2. Planning teaching material
3. Idle noodling, which may lead to composition.
None of them would ever occupy more than a small fraction of the day. But then I am thinking about music most of the rest of the time! Even if that's only while posting on forums like this...

Of course, when I was a beginner - teaching myself - I'd practice until I got blisters on my fingers. I was obsessed - not with getting good, just with learning the tunes I wanted to learn. I never did any kind of technical exercise, no scale practice. Just learning (and writing) tunes.

As a teacher now, my advice to learners is twofold:
Practice until either (a) it starts to hurt, or (b) you get bored. Then stop. No sense on going beyond either point.
Oh yes, there would be a third reason to stop: (c) when a family member bursts in on you and wrestles the guitar from your hands, screaming "for **** sake stop playing that ******* thing!!!"
If none of those three conditions apply, just keep going!

And lastly: don't call it "practice", call it "playing". It's not "work", it's "recreation".

[Julian Mount]

For me, there is a difference between practicing and rehearsing. I "rehearse" quite a lot, especially on days when I have gigs. Rehearsing (for me) is giving a performance when there is no audience present. This does me a LOT of good.

I "practice" new songs and, in doing so, I learn them...AND learn how to perform them. "Performing" songs (rather than just playing them) is my development area right now.

So...to answer the original question: It varies. I suppose at least 60 minutes each day but often a lot more than 60 minutes. It depends what's going on.

My advice: Stop when it becomes a chore and come back to it later.