How much do you practise?

[ehasler]

I'm just starting to re-learn playing the guitar after :cough: years of not playing, and trying to gauge how much practice I need to make decent progress.

I know it's going to be different strokes for different folks, but I'm just curious to how often and long other people practise, and for any who are 6-12 months in to learning guitar - what sort of standard would you say you have got to?

[Hoofy]

I play improvisational piano and for me it's a case of doing it when I fancy doing it... and if I suspect I might need to be showing off eg at a party where a piano exists.

To develop a skill at anything, you need to practice at least 3 times a week I've noticed whether it's tennis, playing the piano or climbing. That said, it's also down to how much you enjoy it as you don't want it to become a chore like doing your maths homework as a kid.

[Baryonyx]

Not as much as I should but I try to play most days of the week. I just picked the guitar back up a few weeks ago after a couple of months off my playing was dreadful but I'm back on my stride now and feel better than ever. I'm trying to practice more using my ears to decode songs, which is always useful.

[davidd]

I'm generally playing for 30 mins to an hour or so a day at the moment, a lot of this is general noodling, playing with pedals, amp settings etc. But also we have learning a setlist all year and I was very rusty so it is getting easier. The problem I have is a lack of structure.

[dojo]

Focused practice will lead to substantially better results than playing your favourite song over and over...
Generally a pretty liner line between amount of (good) practice and your ability.

I used to do about 6 to 8 hours a day but hardly at all in last couple of years, although I'm playing my guitar on and off all day.

[rich83]

If it's only a hobby then you have the luxury of being able to practice as much or little as possible. My suggestion would be do as much as you feel comfortable doing. Sometimes that might be 10 minutes or 2 hours.

[IainT]

I play bass in a hobby/mid-life crisis covers band. Nothing too serious.

I generally practise for ~30 mins a day - either learning new material or working on a few more difficult pieces. As a band we do one four hour session a week. I could be more focussed working on scales, etc. I generally do more 'difficult' practice once a week or so as the mood takes me - e.g working on techniques that I don't use much.

I'm pretty lucky though - I get home a good hour before my wife so can spend that time making noise unabashed.

[HOGEPH]

From the Woody Allen film "Love and Death"

Countess Alexandrovna: You are the greatest lover I've ever had.
Boris: Well, I practice a lot when I'm alone.