Poll: How many hours per week do you practice?

[BobR]

Well, I pick up the guitar every day at least once, so I would think I average about 1.5 to 2 hours a day.
I think I will actually time it and see what it is.

Good question

Bob

[willem]

Rick i wish that you did not make this poll,,now i'm aware that my wife say's ''ýou do this to much''.

[neverfoundthetime]

For me, I have to include all the time I'm actually playing as it's all practice of some sort for me and I approach nearly everything I do with a sense of "play". I can't say I'm a sit-down-at-xhr-in-the-morning/afternoon/evening-and-"practice"-for-an-hour person.
So I clicked the 4 - 7 hrs....

[BigBear]

I think this data is fascinating. I think what it shows is that we are all very busy people and even trying to slip in an hour per day of practice is difficult.

It also shows that as amateur players we can't, or don't, commit enough time to really advance as guitarists. We do what we can, but we aren't like so many pros who commit many hours a day to their profession.

We all wonder why we aren't better players and this poll shows exactly why. At 1-2 hours a day (the current data average is about 9.6 hours per week), which is a lot, we simply can't practice enough to get to the next level.

I think this poll is very illuminating and it should make us stop beating ourselves up for not playing like Tommy Emanuel or Eric Clapton. I'd be really interested in how many hours per day Neil practiced in his younger years.

[shizzam]

I clicked 8 to 14, but it is really hard to say. I often just grab my guitar and play some nonsense notes for a few minutes and then put it down. Does that count? It probably isn't actually making me any better. I also wonder if playing easy songs that I've played many times actually makes me better. I'm sure if I disregard all the days/weeks when I am out of town without a guitar, then I actually do have a guitar in my hands 8 to 14 hours a week, but I feel like there might only be maybe an hour or two of constructive "practice" in there.

It definitely is an interesting thing to consider. And I would also like to know what Neil's practice schedule was/is like.

[AndyT]

Rick,
I think your interpretation of the data is faulty. Only because you don't have enough data to draw that conclusion.

Try these and then lets see.

http://www.totallyguitars.com/forum/13- ... d-and-vote

http://www.totallyguitars.com/forum/13- ... and-vote-2

[Music Junkie]

Rick:

Good question. I try to get a good hour in each night, but this summer has been very difficult. With the kids being out of school and staying up later, I just don't get the practice I would like. When one has to give, it is the guitar, and not the kids..... B) B)

J

[wiley]

[BigBear]

wiley wrote:

I voted, not gonna say where!

I need to ask this, exactly what do we mean by "Practice"? Is tabulating a song over to GP a piece of it? How about taking a song and trying to figure the key/chords/chord progression out a part? Or the time it takes to setup a recording, even a simple upload to a MicroBR? How about the time when we 'play' during that recording?

Either way around, even Savant's need 'input'. Kim Peek (AKA 'RainMan') read, extensively. Of course, Kim read with both eyes, at the same time, left eye reading the left page, right eye the right, and could read an entire page in 8 to 10 seconds as compared to a normal time (for most of us) of three minutes. And he retained, and could recall even years later, about 98% of everything he read.

In the book "This is Your Brain on Music" it's held by most scholars that the hours needed, by the majority of us, to reach a "Master" level in a venue, takes around 10,000 hours of practice. That's 9.12 years at 3 hours a day, 7 days a week, including leap year days. NO time off! Even if I counted (estimated) my current practice time, in my entire life, at say, 1,500, I'm still gonna be around 61 years of age by the time I "Master" this instrument!

I was looking for time spent with a guitar in your hands. I wasn't looking for time spent "learning" (although a really good question, too!). So time with Guitar Pro wouldn't count for this poll.

Having played the guitar for over 40 years and achieving pretty minimal results I think your comment of 10,000 hours is probably really close to true. If I spent an hour per day for 40 years it would only be 14,600 hours and I know I haven't spent anywhere near that much time. Plus, hours invested need to be consistant and without big breaks like I took.

I should be around 197 years old when I finally master this damned thing! lol! :cheer:

[thereshopeyet]

Thanks