The Best Amount Of Time To Practice Guitar

If you have ever wondered how much time you should spend practicing guitar, it was most likely because you felt that your available amount of guitar practice time was not enough to become the guitar player you want to be.  If you have ever asked another guitar player this question, chances are that you walked away feeling even more depressed after hearing that you must practice for X number of hours per day to become a great guitar player. 

The truth is that there is no fixed amount of time that we all must practice in order to achieve great results.  Instead of a meaningless number of hours and minutes, I want to give you some practical suggestions that will change the way you approach how you practice guitar.  This will help you to make faster progress with whatever time you have available. 

The good news is that even if you lead a busy or unpredictable lifestyle (such as juggling a demanding work/school schedule, family time or other activities), it is possible to make consistent progress in your guitar playing. 

Here are 2 ideas about how to practice guitar more effectively that will enable you to maximize your available guitar practice time:

1. Most people think that they need to work through their guitar practice schedule all in one sitting and become frustrated when they cannot always find an uninterrupted block of 30-60 minutes to practice guitar.  A more effective solution in this case is to practice in shorter sections of 10-15 minutes each throughout the day.  It is much easier to find such shorter amounts of uninterrupted time throughout the day (Example: if you cut down your TV time by 10 minutes, go to bed 10 minutes later and wake up 10 minutes earlier, you already have 30 extra minutes in your day to practice guitar). If you pay attention, you will be surprised at how many of such short blocks of time you squeeze in.  It will also feel a lot less overwhelming to get yourself to practice "only for 10-15 minutes" than to sit down for a 1, 2 or 3 hour guitar practice marathon.  The beautiful part is that over the course of a day, such 10 minute practice sessions can quickly add up to 1 or more hours of guitar practice time that you never thought you had!  You can work through your guitar practice schedule very effectively in this way.
2. Take advantage of free time by learning how to practice guitar while away from your instrument.  There are many things you can do while commuting to and from work, waiting in line at a grocery store, downtime during work/school, lunch break etc… If you are unable to have your guitar with you during the day, you can use any extra time you have to review music theory, practice ear training exercises, read various instructional articles, plan your guitar practice schedule for the next day, think about how you can practice guitar more effectively and much more.  The important thing is to realize that just because you do not have your guitar in your hands does not mean that there isn't something you can do to improve yourself as a guitar player in some way.

One of the most common questions I get asked by guitar players who want to learn how to practice guitar more effectively is about the best amount of time that one should practice to become a great guitar player quickly.

While there is no single hard and fast answer to this question (as in: "Practice for X number of hours per day and expect miracles to happen"), there are 3 guidelines I often give in response to this question:

1. In order to see consistent and measurable progress, you should try to practice for at least 30 minutes 5-6 days per week MINIMUM.  As you can see from the practicing ideas outlined above it is very realistic to fit in 30 minutes of practicing per day even with the busiest schedule.
2. Learn everything you can about how to make your guitar practicing more effective so that you can get more done in less time.
3. When you are consistently doing steps 1 and 2 above (practicing at least 30 minutes per day and are learning all that you can about how to practice guitar effectively), any extra guitar practice time you are able to add to your guitar practice schedule becomes a "bonus".  In other words, you will already be making progress in your guitar playing when you practice for a certain minimum amount of time and learn how to get the most effective results from that time.  From that point, if you choose to rearrange your lifestyle to spend even more time practicing guitar, your progress will become even faster.  Always remember that the overall amount of time you spend practicing guitar is secondary to the "quality" of your practicing. 

When you incorporate the above advice into your guitar practice schedules, your guitar playing will begin to progress faster than ever before!

Discover the secrets of perfect guitar practicing.