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Im definitely more positive on music school than a lot of people here, but I’m certainly not going to talk anyone into it with a hard sell.
Originally Posted by StringAddict
What I will say is that, while there might be a small handful of elite music schools, there’s a huge number of decent small schools with perfectly good music programs that wont bankrupt you.
I recently had a student start taking classes at a community college — theory, aural skills, and maybe voice lessons if memory serves. He wants to find a bachelor of music program so he started taking some classical lessons with a student at one of the four year schools while he looks around.
Find something local-ish. Find a teacher nearby and see where they might recommend. Take a class that sounds interesting. Proceed at your own pace. Stop when you’re done. Start again when the spark is back.
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01-30-2026 08:27 PM
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++1 on the community college idea. IDK where the poster is located, so wasn't sure whether to bring it up.
I stumbled onto a GREAT music program at a community college and did two years there before I transferred to the four-year uni. Small classes allowed a fantastic teacher to give a lot of 1:1 attention to students. Very cost effective too.
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Advice on what to practice for 6-8 hours a day?
All the stuff you're not good at. Should keep you busy :-)
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If you have the passion and dedication to practice that much, i would consider going to a good music college. You will take lessons for around 15+ hours a week, do a huge amount of work, learn tons of things, get connections and options to have music in your life for something more than a hobby. If not that, i would get a really good teacher/mentor, someone that can help you navigate.
When i was young i spent years practicing and playing the guitar all day and night, mostly by myself and then with some good teachers. Then i went to Berklee. You can learn by yourself, but under good teachers everything moves on to another level.
It really is not a simple thing to practice that much, and if someone really does it, it answers in itself many of the questions that choosing music as a career poses.
Considering the actual daily practice, the most important thing is to take breaks from the guitar (and practice other music stuff during them), build a correct technique (so no injuries), strive for some life balance, watch your physical (and mental) health. Best of luck. Passions have to be nourished, or else abandoned since they will take a toll..
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I can't imagine a magnitude of inefficiency
needing six to eight hrs of practice per day.
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No one practices that much because they need to. They do because they want to. Originally Posted by pauln
It can be more efficient or less, but if you can’t imagine how you’d fill it, then it might actually be a failure of imagination on your part.
Who knows.
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You think Charlie Parker, Joe Pass, Ted Greene, Dexter Gordon, Pat Martino, Barney Kessell, and all the other greats who made 6-8 hours look like child's play were "inefficient"? Originally Posted by pauln
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Thanks - Music school has been a difficult decision for me because of the cost, but I really want to for this exact reason. I figure I am working at music enough to handle the workload, but it will be much more structured in a university setting. Input like this helps me a lot. Originally Posted by Alter
The mental health thing is real, and I think I have developed OCD from nonstop scheming up "the perfect practice routine" and losing my mind wondering if this is helping or if I am some idiot wasting my time practicing stuff the wrong way. I do have a great teacher who tells me what to practice and also encourages school and offered to help me try to get in, but I still get the thoughts of "what if everything I am doing is wrong? In ten years will U be playing the way I want to?" Which I think a proven curriculum will help.
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Yea there was a point where myself and my non musician friends couldnt believe I would put in 3 hours a day, across 2 instruments (used to play bluegrass banjo) and I didnt believe anyone could do 8 hours or more a day. Now I feel like even 8 is not even enough. If I didnt have to do errands, see family / friends occasionally, cook or shop, and could stay awake infinitely, I could easily devise a 48 hour practice schedule. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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If cost is the hindrance, prepare, apply for scholarships and grants and possibly something will come up.
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No, I imagine they made it because of their efficiency, almost in spite of the extreme practice hours. John Coltrane must be included,too; well known for practice time on the instrument. Originally Posted by StringAddict
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Long story short on my discovery of a great community college: I had come to California to research music schools, visited six of them, and wasn't finding what I was looking for: a jazz performance curriculum. I was about to go back where I came from with no plan whatsoever about what to do next with my life when a friend spoke glowingly of the music program at his local community college. I think there may have been the option to drop all classes and receive a full refund if you dropped within the first two weeks of the semester, too. So I decided to try it rather than do nothing.
My first class was the ambiguously named "Comprehensive Musicianship" offering from the director of the department. As he spoke, I kept finding myself saying mentally "yes, yes, yes!" Within ten minutes I knew I had made the right choice. He was a fantastic musician (symphonic conductor) who was very demanding of his students. I worked my a-- off that first two years and learned skills that have served me well.
If it's not practical to just give a local community college a whirl, you might study online with someone who has gone through the university music degree experience. They can guide you through that pedagogy effectively. But it won't be the immersive experience that a full-time music major would provide.Last edited by starjasmine; 02-01-2026 at 12:22 AM.
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SA...
While all on this forum wish you well in your quest. And offer advice that may or may not be of any help in your journey.
I truly think at some point you will come to a cross road of some sort..that will let you decide how to proceed with your studies.
In my review of my own musical evolution..there was helpful advice that I could not make use of at the time because I didnt have a framework
to place it in..this was the study of harmony and theory. And at first I would get one piece of the puzzle and then another. I was fustrated
and excited at the same time. I would learn a new chord or a scale but they were in isolation and I didnt know how to do
more than one thing with them..I didn't know chord/scale harmonic relations. As a result I would practice one scale over one chord in one position for hours.
I got fairly good at that..and if that chord was in a tune .. wow !
Along the way I met musicians that were near pro status..and they would tell me: Harmony and theory!
And they would communicate with each other in a coded language I could not decipher.
One day in a coffee shop after a jam session..the name Ted Greene came up. I had no idea who he was. But these guys talked
about him like he was magical.
I hear his name several more times and at some point the book Chord Chemistry came out.
The little bit I was able to absorb form it made me want to study all day long.
Then I discovered Ted was teaching and accepting students about an hour drive time for me.
So I began my long study of harmony and theory..chord/scales and many tunes played in various ways..chord melody being one style that Ted was a master in playing.
And many years passed and I remember some of those lessons and still have "handout sheets" from practice assignments.
During one lesson..Ted said something like "..I have my own studies to do.." I later found out he was studying with George van Epps.
I really like the tune On Green Dolphin Street.
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I can't stand the guys like Greene or Van Eps or Andress or Goodrick etc etc.
These types couldn't play a swinging line if their lives depended on it. That chord/melody thing is all good and well, but the essence of jazz is a swinging line, not a chord melody.Last edited by jazzyfan; 01-31-2026 at 10:28 PM.
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Jesus Christ the dunning Krueger is strong with this thread.
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Six to eight hours a day?!?! Sweet jesus, get a life! Guitar, music, jazz, improvisation, all of that shit will be more resonant if you have a vantage point to offer the world besides just the four walls of your practice room.LOL WaLLS have Ears
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Youre the one who periodically puts out a call offering to pay people to transcribe for you, yes? Originally Posted by voxo
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This thread? This thread specifically? Originally Posted by pamosmusic
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Co-signed on the community college points
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then you switch gears. How do you know the goal you have now will be rhe same in 10 years time? Originally Posted by StringAddict
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It’s worth noting that you don’t need to play fancy bebop lines to play good solo jazz guitar. For example Tim Lerch says he doesn’t try to. He prefers to play quite simple melodic lines that fit around the chords (at least that’s what I remember him saying in one of his videos). He knows his chord inversions really well which helps with this (as I recall). And his solo stuff sounds great.
By the way I believe this is the video I was thinking of:
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When I was starting out back in the 1980's, I asked Pat Martino what to practice, and he said "The purpose of practice is for the artist to neutralize the machine" It was his slightly convoluted way of saying work out the mechanics of the things you want to be able to do in the practice room, so you can play them without thought or effort on the gig.
That was a big help to me. It didn't so much lessen the amount of things I needed to work on but shifted the perspective. I wasn't working on diminished scales because they were on a list from Ben Monder or Charlie Banacos, but because I liked the opening vamp of Coltrane's "I Love You" and I wanted to be able to set up a tune with a similar vibe
There's a lot of worthwhile material on organizing and pacing your practice in Mick Goodrick's The Advancing Guitarist, and I
think one of Hal Crook's excellent books lays out some possible templates as well
Lots of folk have built their foundations with a period of 6-8 hour days in the woodshed. Best wishes for your music!
PK
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He just copy and pasted someones comment from the first page lol Originally Posted by voxo
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Both would probably insist they arent "jazz guitar players" (in fact I know Greene made this point), but they're after something different than just bebop lines. Also both are some of the best guitar players / musicians to ever live - and for the record Ted Greene could definitely swing hard when he wanted to, I'd assume Eps could but he came up before swing or bebop. Swingin jazz is not the end all be all as amazing as it is, especially on a polyphonic instrument... Originally Posted by jazzyfan
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Thanks for the insight and I think you are are right. I love that tune as well. A big challenge for me was learning how to practice around tunes - my first 2 years almost of jazz I shredded scales and arps and never out them in context. It was a harsh reality when I thought that would let me improvise and I joined an ensemble.. Originally Posted by wolflen
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