RedMist

I think when you here of Eddie Van Halen praticing for 8 hours, I think it's mainly listening to and copying tunes/noodling.

Bazz22

I used to be able to play for hours straight, no problem.

Unfortunately, as of late I've been getting really frustrated with my playing, to the point where I'll end up stopping after 30 minutes because I'm unhappy with my playing abilities.

SP1N3SPL1TT3R

Most likely true, or thinking of ways to kick out Dave and replace him with another family member.

I practice 3-5 hours daily. At least 30 mins of it is me screwing with settings, because perfect tone is impossible, and I use the sweep rate of modulation effects as a metronome.

IMO, if you're in a band you should practice 2x as long as your setlist, 5-7 days a week.

GuitarFreak1387

I use to play anywhere from 3-6 hours semi regularly back when I was in school. The main thing that made me want to play that long was simply just determination. It wasn't a strict everyday thing though. If I had the free time to do it, I would play. If I had other things to do I wouldn't play, wasn't a big deal.

Freepower

Believe it or not, you can practice practice.

As you practice more you figure out how to keep motivated and what you want to improve. There's also a nice cycle where you

Practice A
See results with A!
Wish you could see results in B and C as well
...
So now you practice A B and C!

Aside from that, obviously you don't waste your time - TV is usually shit, personally I prefer playing guitar to drinking... etc etc. If guitar is your favourite leisure activity it makes it easy to find the time.

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Vicious_Turtle

lfcagger

It's mostly a question of time management - I'm in school 9-3, play hockey 8 times a week, but I still have time to put in 3+ hours a day, more on weekends. Just cut out useless stuff like going on facebook, watching TV, and you'll be fine. Sure, 20 minutes on the Xbox is okay now and again. but you have to be disciplined to use your time wisely.

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thetrueballs

I'm not sure I understood your question. If you mean how people end up practicing so long, it's because some have strict routines, which they follow strictly. Some people just strum their hearts out and then a few hours just go by. :-)

If you're having problems staying motivated, just remember, you should be having fun, first and foremost.

If you push yourself into practicing more than you really like to, then you'd just burn yourself out, and you won't get anywere in the long run.

If you're asking how people are able to practice so much, then it's a question of dedication, MOTIVATION, discipline, priorities and time management. :-)

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ThisIsBS

When I started playing, I used to practice 10 hours a day sometimes, WITHOUT calluses. I have a blog/journal/diary thing on my profile which I stopped doing, but you get the idea. I was addicted to playing guitar, not so much now but I still practice almost everday :P

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Playing guitar since 2010

ProphetToJables

I clocked around 9 or 10 hours on Sunday.

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deltadaz

Stick your strap on carry your guitar everywhere cooking tea and picking practice
Cutting the lawn and strumming.
But seriously people spend hours a day doing things they don't like.
yet cant seem to motivate themselves to do something they are supposed to love if the
If guitar is something you love make time.
you have to seriously look at your life if your being forced to do things other than you want
do you really want to play guitar that bad.
Dont sit around in 40 years time wishing you had, do it now. whatever the restriction
do away with them if they wont allow you to do something you love..

Sorry got into rant mode ..

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RyanStorm13

How do teachers teach for 8 hours a day 5 days a week(roughly)....because they have study plans for all the students and pre-plan what they do before the week starts(and even have a years worth of plans outlined, maybe not in detail), which includes an outline with goals, and tests to see which students are moving forward periodically.

This testing, is like gigging and recording, so even if you play an empty bar of friends and family, its still good practice/testing to see how far you have come, or by how well your songs sound.

Take the same concepts of a teacher and put it in your music learning.


The best advice I was ever given, I was told to play the guitar like it were a real instrument. Like flute players just don't just pick it up and jam on it for 20 minutes, then look up their favorite bands tabs(that aren't always correct) and try and play it without a metronome or actually listening to how the song is played.

Also, I was told not to obsess trying to replicate what others do as my main source of learning, like spending a whole summer learning Tool's Lateralus Song Book before I even knew what Minor Penatonic scale was....


It is always better to learn all the traditional stuff that these double platinum musicians used to make their songs first. Cause a master of all the different methods and styles of guitar playing, who can read music, will be able to play other guitarist's songs for the most part.....the other half to traditional learning is studying other guitarists work.

Part of learning the guitar is from other musicians who transformed music and guitar through out the years, from Robert Johnson to BB King to Chuck Berry to Jimi Hendrix to Jimmy Page to Van Halen to Randy Rhoads to Dimebag to Jack White to Buckethead to Paul Landers/Richard Krupse etc etc etc Each of them learned what was done before them, and implemented their own style and improved upon what they know.

Learning guitar isn't just playing, there is so much more....just make sure you understand what your playing.

cdgraves

playing is playing, practice is practice. They are not interchangeable. And if you're doing some other thing while you play or practice... you are neither playing nor practicing. Unless you're practicing specifically so you can watch football on the bar's TV during your set.

ProphetToJables

I disagree, being able to play guitar whilst focusing on something else is beneficial.

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hamza hashmi

my university timmings are like 7am-4pm. at home i practice around two hours and on weekends maybe more like 3-4 hours. i think 1.5 hours are enough if you arrange a proper time table for your practice session.

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cdgraves

Only beneficial to whatever you're doing that isn't music. What else besides music would you need to focus on while performing?

QPC_Sam

Audience reaction.
I suppose you could always rely on other people to tell you which songs went down well. Or watch a video. But why wouldn't you want to watch it live for yourself? You might be able to react to them.

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