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I practice as much as my schedule will allow. Seems to me that I do better when there's nobody home but me and at times like that I'll usually spend a couple of hours on my axe. Still somedays are diamonds and somedays it just don't pay to pick up the bar. On average, how many hours a day do you guys spend working on getting better?
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08-10-2023 05:29 AM
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I generally practice when I'm not playing any instrument. I've got the things in mind and when I decide to touch the instrument it comes more natural.
Originally Posted by Baronjame86
So, about practicing by playing, I don't really know.
I basically play what I've got in my mind.
I sometimes sing and write things but not so much about writing.
I think I sing a lot, if I play too much, I'm repeating myself : it's more constructive when I am singing at the same time.
That's the best practice for me.
I would say 25 hours a day and a bit less when I'm not on holidays since I am a music teacher.
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I have a kind of core technique sort of thing that takes about an hour and a half. I try to use tunes and things like that as much as possible, so I think when it’s all said and done, it’s not a bad days practice. But I try to get that in every (normal) day. That’s obviously not possible all the time (I’m on the train back from a short trip so I haven’t really practiced in a couple days, for example), but I do my best. Originally Posted by Baronjame86
Anyway … at a minimum that stuff keeps my hands working and (when I’m designing the routine well) keeps me improving, if only slowly.
Some days I have some more time during the day and I get more done. Then most days I have some more time after the rest of the house goes to bed and that’s the time for working through new tunes and chord voicings and ideas and stuff like that.
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About 1 - 3 hours per day. I try to get in at least a lil bit on work days. On off days I'll put in several sessions a day.
Do you mean per week? :P Originally Posted by Lionelsax
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No, a day. Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
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I don't know. All day? I guess it depends how you look at it. I usually work on techique and then chord melody arrangements for solo guitar since I can't find people to play with out there. So I might as well be self reliant and try to get the gigs myself anyways. There are times when I'm not practicing guitar that I use the hand extensor exercise things usually on one hand or two depending on what I'm doing (not those that you grip but rather the ones that you have to open your hand with). Its good for building speed and prevents false carpal tunnel syndrome. Its like practicing guitar without practicing guitar! (Or any instrument of your choice).
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Always practicing in mind here, usually reviewing a tune, some times snapping or counting on my fingers. The Mrs. notices it all the time! For physical practice it’s mostly learning new tunes or reviewing forgotten ones for the open jams I go to several times a month. For me, as others have mentioned, time is a premium, so tunes come first. There’s so much in the GAS tunes, they’re often enough. Next is melodic and comping variations. After that, time permitting, I might work on an intro or ending for a tune or learn how to use a pedal or two, also linked with tunes.
Couple times a year I get invited to do a solo set or sit in on a gig, usually with advance notice (got one coming up in October). Then my practice time shifts to a more rehearsal mode. But I find those settings stressful, perhaps due to having to entertain a paying audience. Jam sessions, at least the ones I go to, are for chilling among musicians, so it’s a more relaxed sort of practicing time.
I know some may feel this is not moving forward, that one might only be practicing mistakes or bad habits. I agree to an extent, but with time at a premium into the foreseeable future, I prefer to move forward in a different way. Rather than correcting bad habits or perfecting technique, I like to think of participating in spontaneous musicking among others as itself moving forward.
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All my practicing is either to learn songs for a gig or just fooling around with tunes to amuse myself. Mostly the latter since I am semi-retired. I never practice technique except as needed for something I want to do and have a practical use for. Maybe an hour or two a day. But I have been playing a long time, and those casually developed skills do add up.
The Guitar is so deep you can never learn it all. I don't want to turn practicing into a job. (unless I'm getting paid!)
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Wat Originally Posted by Lionelsax
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40hrs or gtfo
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While I'm writing these words, I am playing in my head three or four tunes. Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
If I had to play them on my instruments I would need an hour because it's too long.
Time is extendable, life is short but when you're practicing in your head you save time.
When I pick an instrument, I am already prepared, I am ready.
Whenever I can I play, it is sometimes like living a dream or a fantasy.
Imagine the pleasure I get every time I'm gigging, it's like having sex with someone you love after a thousand years of jail.
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So 25 hours a day in your head, zero hours in real life? :P
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Have you ever noticed that when you studied a language you were unable to understand, speak or write it ? Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
How is it now ? How comes you can do what you were unable to do ?
Do you need to read, speak or write it to practice it ?
If you've got it in your head, it's an endless connection.
If you play too much an instrument, you're connected to your instrument, you need it. It's you and an instrument.
You stop, you're disconnected.
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You still have to build up your technical ability to be able to express your creativity through playing. Working on your music mentally is a good skill but not to the exclusion of practicing on your instrument. That's how we're able to express ideas in time with good rhythm, because they've been worked into our facility. It's an essential part of being able to play musically.
And yes, I'm learning a 2nd language and I absolutely do have to study to improve at it. If I didn't study, I'd make no progress.
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Yeah I mean, at the risk of stating the obvious … I’m a very good musician, but I am a terrible bassoonist.
EDIT: for those of you wondering, I do not play bassoon, which I tend to assume is the reason I’m not very good at it.
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Also it’s worth mentioning (as Jimmy already did) that practice away from the instrument is super important and often overlooked (by me, for example). But it’s part of the practice. Your hands have to connect to your ears.
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That's sure, I never said I didn't play. Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
Playing too much is sometimes a waste of time, it's better when you've got it in you, you save your body and your time.
It helps me to keep what I practised.
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Lately I have been playing on average 2 plus hours a day that past say 3-4 years. Some days I get in 3 or bit more but I do have complete off days. I have been playing a long time and at this point playing tunes is really what it is all about. I only work on technical stuff related to tunes these days. Right now and for the past year I have been working on Charlie Parker type bob tunes. Right now is Moose the Mouche and while the changes are not complex the melody and the jumps require some working on it.
Also, I am a decent sight reader and still sight read things all the time just to stay a bit fresh. I am semi retired at least from the civil job and amazingly my playing has gotten much better over the the past few years. I don't gig no money and I have guitars to repair.
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3 hours 4-5 times a week. 1 hour on transcribing, 1 hour on technique and vocabulary, 1 hour on improvising. On weekends those blocks tend to stretch to 4ish hours total. But I'll have a guitar in my hands for at least an hour on off days, and that's actually frequently the time I use to learn tunes.
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Not enough
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I hope it lasts longer than that ! Originally Posted by Lionelsax
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On and off for 8 hours on school-breaks. Mostly off it seems.
But when working... last year I found out that the only way to practice enough and be happy was to go to sleep at 20.00, wake up at 05:00, practice (or other important stuff) for 6 hours. Then go to work.
That way I spent my fresh hours on my own stuff and later be cool and calm at work. That took 20 years to figure out
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Two hours on technique, two hours on learning/practising a tune (the first hour involving practising the melody and chords, the second practising the arps and scales through the changes and improv) one hour on transcription, one hour on reading through a book or two that I'm currently working on.
These are all blocks of hours on my schedule, however sometimes I'll feel too tired by the 45 minute mark - nonetheless, I try to do at least some of the above, even if it means truncating the time allotted to each topic.
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I work from home so sometimes can I noodle around during the day. After the kids go to bed I can easily spend 2 hours on exercises and running tunes.
Sometimes I’m just tired and I watch Colombo with the guitar next to me. I usually try to focus for a half hour before that.
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