How much should I practice?
Especially for beginners on the guitar, there is a reasonable way to look at this question. How quickly do you want to get to the level which you want to play at? In the first 6 months of practice you can accomplish a lot, and get to a point where you can play some of the tunes you like, and even be adept enough to play with others (and even have something to add to the situation!).
It all depends upon how much you practice…
Think of playing a musical instrument as an activity comparable to the rehab you might have to go through after an accident, where you need to learn how to walk…again. To make progress, first off, you would need to exercise each day, every day. Playing guitar is much like this, in that you are training your fingers to do things which they need to adapt to…it takes time and a lot of repetition.
So, it seems more and more obvious that the more you practice, as well as the more regularly you practice the more you will make substantive progress.
What should I practice?
There are a lot of things to cover here…
· You need to learn how to warm up on the guitar (see my previous article on warming up…)
· you need to review what you are currently working on
· There are chords to practice (how to go to the chord…from all of the other chords you know, as well as how to leave the chord to these other chords…)
· Scales…this is, along with the warm up activity incredibly important in getting your fingers to move with some ‘poise’ on the fret board
· There should be some songs or exercises to work on…
· And finally, while there are the chords, songs, and scales which you already know, or are practicing… you should be looking at some chords, scales, and songs which you can’t (as of right now) play…
One of the big tricks in practicing is to have long and short term goals. As a short term goal, you could (for example) gauge how quickly you can (with a metronome) play a scale…clean. For longer term goals, you should consider what it is about playing the guitar which you want to reach.
How should I practice?
There are some simple prerequisites for practicing…first off, make sure that you are in tune…I know this sounds a bit arbitrary, but if you keep your guitar in concert tuning, the string tension will be the same every day, thus allowing you to be able to do things like string bending much more reliably and repeatably.
Try to always use some sort of backing (metronome, other players, backing tracks to get used to playing in a pocket or to help get used to playing at tempo…
How long should I practice?
There is a basic rule to observe here…if it hurts…stop!
Beginners will find that just getting your fingers into shape to finger the strings will limit how long you can play…at first. Once you hands start to get into shape (to play a chord, and have it ring…) you will start to be able to play and practice longer and longer.
If you take practicing seriously, you will start to have a daily regimen to cover… I suspect that 30 minutes a day is a reasonable goal to start at… Be aware that many pros spend incredible amounts of time with their guitars (Steve Vai is reported to have spent years on a 12 hour a day practice regimen!).
