We all know that 'practice makes perfect' ...

But would you rather spend 30 minutes of focused practicing - or 2 hours of noodling in front of the TV?

A lot of folks come rushing in and asking for an 8 hour practice schedule I think 8 hours a day needs A LOT of dedication and A LOT of FOCUS - we live in a world in which both of these traits are more and more scarce, but there are people who eventually pull it out.

For a realistic view - life doesn't always allow us to practice that much and at some time, without the proper goal setting and motivation, we can forget the 8 hours pretty quickly.

I think that it's always a great way to start with less and add up as your REAL needs increase

Perhaps you DO have enough time but not just enough concentration? How do you feel about this 'stingy' aspect?

I like both.

If I only have a limited amount of time to accomplish something I will try to focus and concentrate as best as I can.

If, on the other hand, I have a lot of time opened to me(?) ... I love to not have a set schedule to practice within. Play some of this, some of that, learn a song (lick, solo) I always wanted to know, jam to loop, find a cool delay setting, etc., etc.

Good question. In some ways I think I make better discoveries when I just pick up the guitar to 'play' rather than practise. But I do mostly pick up to play anyway.

If I'm working on a specific thing then 10 - 20 mins of focused playing sits well along with some 'noodling'.

I don't really have a schedule !?!

Ben - you realized you killed the expectations of 3 quarters of the GMCrs by saying this, right? Just kidding - each one owes it to himself to search and practice and get as organized as he feels like in order to achieve progress

About 1 and half hours of focused concentration for me.I noodle for about half an hour till my fingers warm up, then I go thru my forty or so bookmarks,stopping at week points and slowing down till I can play it without looking. lately when I can't play something to speed ,I slow it down to were I can play it five times in a row without a mistake and then move on to the next song, and I think this works , even though the next day I can't play it to speed , my confidence in the lick grows as I start to hear every nuance within the lick.

That's why I'm here.. to destroy and crush people's dreams... so that I never have any competition !!!

Yea personally I hate schedules, it makes me look ahead all the time and really takes me out of the present moment more than anything. I'd rather have a vague idea with as much focus and concentration that I can muster. However, without a schedule my concentration doesn't seem to run out, but my short term memory gets cluttered if I work on too many new things over a long period of time. I usually have to construct short burst practices for myself within that practice day, which resemble miniature schedules. But hey, if it works for you, it's right for you.

Meditating between practice times usually helps me a lot too, and tricking myself into being really really interested in what i'm practicing, even if it's something I genuinely don't really care for.

This post has been edited by verciazghra: May 11 2014, 06:17 PM

Like any ninja master that respects himself





Good call here Vince - what sort of meditation exercises do you use, to get into the zone?