If you had 8 hours a day to practice what would you do?

allen

I've been to a few masterclasses with great guitar players and they all seem to say that at some point in their career they played all day every day.

I'm not really going to do it, but I wondered what I would even do.

My thinking got to something like...

- transcribing songs
- transcribing licks/phrases
- learning (repeatedly playing) a range of scales
- memorising chords
- learning note location on the fretboard
- pure technique (such as sweep picking)

All of this would be broken down into individual goals/targets etc.

What would you do?

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

allen said:

What would you do?

Waste it noodling around while sat on the couch in my case, like I do with most of my practice time!

Blueingreen

I'm too long in the tooth to repair the damage of not doing things properly with 8 hour days.  But if I had my time over I'd prioritise sight-reading and ear-training.

tanihhiavlt

Blueingreen said:

I'm too long in the tooth to repair the damage of not doing things properly with 8 hour days.  But if I had my time over I'd prioritise sight-reading and ear-training.

Sight reading definitely and playing in a live context.

If the 8 hours was all in one go I'd spend a lot of time not playing guitar but listening to music too 

CaseOfAce

Learn songs of all genres, practice vocals and harmonies.

zedhex

I used to - but these days, the only place I'd be heading to the hospital to get tendon surgery

Lestratcaster

Probably all the stuff I don't usually play or tend to not play. So different styles and working on lead phrasing. Transcribing too.

Grampa

I'd probably give it up as it wouldn't take long to realize that there are far more important things in life than wasting 8hrs a day learning to play a musical instrument.

Jonathangus

Spend 7.5 hours browsing tFB.

west

" Drink Scotch whisky all night long
    And die behind the wheel
    They got a name for the winners in the world
    I, I want a name when I lose ........

Roland

Honest answer: I’d spend my time on gardening, making things in my workshop, household maintenance, and meeting friends. There is more to life than guitar. 

I’m retired, and I could easily spend eight hours a day on guitar related activities. Some rainy days I do. However it’s not an efficient or effective way to practice. It also exacerbates finger strain. Short bursts are more effective. I also don’t need to. I know the notes on the fret board. I know sufficient scales, chords, and techniques for what I play. When the band decides to add a song to our repertoire then I’ll transcribe it, decide how I’m going to play it, and practice any licks. Transcribing is a vital part of learning and arranging a song.

As for eight hours a day practising, I don’t need nor wish to.

fastonebaz

I would focus more on my picking to fingerings coordination.   If I'd have got that really nailed tightly first, the rest of the stuff like scales, modes, speed would all come along with tight coordination. 

As it is, I did it backwards,  and am now trying to relearn picking technique after 30yrs of playing.

sev112

Less technique, more listening, making new interesting sounds, playing / practising with others

octatonic

I did years of playing 4-8 hours a day.
I thought I was being dedicated but mostly I was just going over the same stuff over and over.
There are better approaches to take.

Musicwolf

If you were 'given' 8 hours per day you would waste them, this happened time and again with people during furlough / lockdown.  Whether it's in music, sport or whatever field the greats have natural ability or aptitude but they also have ability to self motivate so that they able to practice or train for long periods.

On the other hand.  If you were given the correct motivation, say by having the chance of a recording deal, you would somehow find those hours.

VimFuego

octatonic said:

I did years of playing 4-8 hours a day.
I thought I was being dedicated but mostly I was just going over the same stuff over and over.
There are better approaches to take.

yup. I'm not sure if the modern music colleges still teach this whole you have to practise 10 hours a day (the whole practise like ling ling meme) but modern educational science has pretty much disproved the whole thing. As Rolo says, short intense bursts are far more productive.

Danny1969

When i was 18 and in the building trade I was up on a scaffold tower when it went over and I was in hospital for 5 weeks then off work for 14 months with a busted tib and fib compound fracture. So I did basically play for 8 hours a day, every day and I came on more during that 14 months than I did in the next 5 years of working and normal life. 

But like @octatonic said, knowing what to practice and structuring it properly is the key to advancing more quickly. I've got this 14 year old student I've been teaching for 2 years and he's a great player already because he's had 2 years of ear training, music theory, learning hybrid picking, how to bend correctly with controlled vibrato and how to play with other musos.

If that kid had just been on YT for 2 years watching Paul Davids showing him what fret numbers to use to play bits of songs he would not be at this level. Proper teaching works better than anything else, the downside is that it is expensive at £130 a month ish. 

Brad

I think this is an interesting topic. 

I was never an 8 hours a day person, nowhere near. But if I could go back, I’d certainly do way more transcribing and reading work than I did (amongst other things). I do wish I’d have made better use of my time and worked harder when it was available to me. 

IMO there is no one size fits all approach and I believe there is a lot that depends on what a person’s goals are, how intuitive they are with music and applying it to the guitar and work ethic threshold. 

As already mentioned, I think for the vast majority of us, shorter, focused practice with a clear goal is optimal. 

But I do think the 8 hours a day thing is completely valid though, providing it’s done with the right mindset and approach. The proof is out there. That’s not to say it produces “better” guitarists/musicians as such, but for me, some things need that level of work ethic, I just don’t think there is any way around it.  

joeW

2 hrs practise. Says it all.  

BillDL

I think of guitar playing as being similar to a friendly game of snooker.  You have to play enough to still be able to pot enough balls or it just isn't fun.  If you let it slip for long enough you become rusty and by the time you have managed to get into the swing of it again through practice you are too fed up to play the rest of the game and enjoy it.

I just bought one of the older DigiTech Trio pedals (not the "plus" version with the additional looper) from an older guy on Gumtree for an exceptionally good price.  He played banjo and had bought an electric guitar and a few pedals, but never really enjoyed playing electric.  For those unfamiliar with the device, you play a basic chord sequence in "learn" mode and it identifies the chord changes and creates a bass and drum pattern that can be modified into different genres and styles within each genre as well as being able to change the tempo.  It doesn't record the actual guitar chord progression you played, because that needs to be kept as unembellished and basic as possible for it to learn from.

I am having fun with this right now and it's giving me some practice in the process.  I play a chord progression off the top of my head and then just randomly change the genre to Pop or Jazz or one of the others and switch to a random styling.   I then attempt to play some lead guitar over just the drums and bass, or perhaps just concentrate on creating some tasty rhythmic fills.  In combination with my looper pedal to recapture some rhythm guitar I can build up a random practice jam track incredibly quickly and I am experimenting all the way.  It's been quite refreshing - so far anyway.

lysander

I’m in the fortunate position to have 2-4 hours to practice most days at the moment.
I split it between fretboard visualisation, rhythm / time exercises, improv and learning tunes.
But what I find the most effective is to record myself and obsess over details of timing, accuracy, dynamics, intonation etc and play things over and over till I’m satisfied.
If I had 8 hours I’d do even more of that.