Ben's stamina lessons.
After 7+ years of not playing, I can't practice (including 5-10 min. warmup) for more than 45-50 minutes at a time before my hands run out of gas, and those last 10 minutes, my accuracy begins to decline. It's frustrating, because I used to be able to play for hours on end without stopping. By the end of February I'd like to be able to play for 90 solid minutes with undiminished accuracy and reserve strength left over as I complete my daily goals.
-Roger
Hey Roger, I hope they're helping you out. I developed them as a way of slowly being able to add more and more to either your alternate picking speed.. or the down stroke speed. Every now and then, you may be able to add a few more strokes as your hands get used to the motions.
The duration that you can effectively practice for also depends on how intensive the things you're playing are. If you're wroking on speed, alternate picking etc then it's perfectly reasonable to be tired by that time.
I can pick up the guitar, work on some picking speed and be tired 10 mins later and will leave it for that particular area until the next day. I'll go onto something else but generally speaking, if my practice is intense then I'm looking at about an hour at the most
I also take periodic breaks (when I remember) and just sit down and concentrate on my breathing and (try to) empty my mind of all guitar related thoughts. I feel that it relaxes me more than if I were massaging and stretching my hands / arms between sessions because I'm still thinking about them and conscious of their tiredness. By not thinking about them, you should feel a bit more refreshed 2/3 minutes later when you pick it back up again