Guitar practice survey

[Snow007]

Haven't seen this posted yet, and since I'm trying to gauge myself as a guitarist and it may help other people compare I thought I'd post a few simple questions.

How much time people practice for (daily, weekly, etc.), how long have they have played for and to what technical level they have achieved (few hard songs you could play, speed, some method of self-judgement etc.)

I practice 5+ hours a day now, prolly 3+ all along my entire time playing.

I've played almost 1.5 years.

Hardest song I've learnt is Jester Script Transfigured (I learn mostly technique), I'm learning Bed Of Razors (should have it mastered in 3 weeks I figure), and I can do a lot of finger excercises like 1234, 1234, 1234, etc. 2345, etc. at about 150 tempo in 16ths [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[jazzman]

Re: Guitar practice survey

I've been playing since age 10. I used to practice many hrs. 5-6 or more. I still try to play every day although I don't have the time I used to. Still, it ends up being almost every day anyhow.

I don't like to rate my own skill level. But, I was always into the shred thing. I would learn Van Halen, Yngwie, Paul Gilbert, Dimiola, etc. I sometimes learn a Dream Theater tune to keep my chops up. The latest thing that was pretty hard was a Presto from a violin sonata from JS Bach. It's in the MP3 section if you want to check it out.
http://www.jcfonline.com/ubbthreads/...fpart=1#303618

[Brad]

Re: Guitar practice survey

[ QUOTE ]
I've been playing since age 10. I used to practice many hrs. 5-6 or more. I still try to play every day although I don't have the time I used to. Still, it ends up being almost every day anyhow.

I don't like to rate my own skill level. But, I was always into the shred thing. I would learn Van Halen, Yngwie, Paul Gilbert, Dimiola, etc. I sometimes learn a Dream Theater tune to keep my chops up. The latest thing that was pretty hard was a Presto from a violin sonata from JS Bach. It's in the MP3 section if you want to check it out.
http://www.jcfonline.com/ubbthreads/...fpart=1#303618

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Jazzman~ your modesty is duly noted.... but let's not kid anyone either..... Your work kicks ass...... [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: Guitar practice survey

I have been playing since December of 81. When I was young and had no responsibilities I'd practace sometimes 16-18hrs a day on my days of vacation time. I rarely practice, just warm up a little and them play. I try to pick it up every day and play for a little while, hour or two a day. When I'm learning new stuff I put in more time, when I record sometimes even more. It just depends on whatever else is going on in my life, I have a career and family (2 kids) so they take priority over playing guitar or practice.

[taxistationary]

Re: Guitar practice survey

I agree with the consensus. I try to pick up and at least an hour a day. It really stinks sometimes, but as I get older, it seems like the more responsibilities I have in life. I'm currently only attending high school. I can only imagine what it will be like having a job AND school. But, I guess if you really love something, you'll find time for it no matter what.

[guitarsjb]

Re: Guitar practice survey

It's hard to juggle LIFE (day to day stuff) and the guitar sometimes. But I try to pick it up at LEAST an hour a day. If I am off of work I may get 2-3 hours in. It just depends. I've only been seriously playing for about a year (I have had a guitar for several years, but really started applying myself recently.)

[kmanick]

Re: Guitar practice survey

I've been playing on and off since ( I hate to say it ) 1975. between 77-82 I was constantly gigging so I'd say 3 hours a day was the norm, now I'm married with a kid and I just play for personal enjoyment but, I've always been into the shred, so I'm always trying to keep my cops up and I need to play for at least 1 hour a day (even if it's at midnight when everyone else is asleep.) If I don't get to play, all I can think about all day at work is plugging in when I get home. at this point in my life it's therapy for me.

[atilla]

Re: Guitar practice survey

I average more than an hour a day, though I skip some days and make up for it on others. I'm improving my chops, but also focus on being musical rather than just fast. My ideal is to make them both meet. I'm working at the shredding, but I'm not quite there! Still, unlike most of the other guitarists in my area, I'm not afraid to get above the 12th fret or use something other than a blues scale.

[skidd]

Re: Guitar practice survey

Since I was 11 or 12 I'm 35 now. When I first started I would play2-3 hours a day. When I was about 16 that went up to about 5-8 a day. When I was on the road, I had a guitar in my hand just about all the time. I even had a neck withstrings nails to it so I could work on legto with wakeing anyone in the van up. Now I play as much as time allows. It is my stree relife.

[Sukisyn]

Re: Guitar practice survey

I fall into the majority as well. I am lucky if I can get an hour a day in during the week. Getting up at 3am, getting home from work at 4pm and going back to bed at 9am so I can do it all over leaves little time for all the things I enjoy to do. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[shadowcat]

Re: Guitar practice survey

I started playing classical 3 1/2 years ago and got a steel-string acoustic soon after.
One year after I started I got my first electric.

Until last year I practiced between two and five hours each day. After finishing school and getting a job I was lucky to get an hour of playing each day.

Right now it's usually 1 1/2 hours almost each day, with 2-3 hours during band rehearsals.

I don't know how to rate my own skill level because I rarely learn covers nowadays. But I play in two extreme death metal bands... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
here's a demo we recorded, we'll head back to the studio in december to record some more tracks.
First studio demo song

[GodOfRhythm]

Re: Guitar practice survey

It's 2 to 3 hours a day now. Often 11 to 12 hours on weekenddays or free days.

A new term in University will soon begin, and time will shrink to 1 hour a day, tops. 13 years of Medicine's a bitch.

[Fragle]

Re: Guitar practice survey

I've been playing for about 4 1/2 years now, and well...i dont practice in the sense of sitting down and practicing technique any more. i found that composing my own stuff and just "noodling around" improves my playing faster than running mindless chromatic and scale exercises. but i'm generally playing for about 3-6 hours per day....usually 4 hours.

concerning my skill level......well....i dont know lol. i can't do yngwie shred (and i dont want to, really....it's nice to be able to blast out some sextuplets at 150 bpm or whatever, but i dont HAVE to, imo), and as i said above, i usually write and play my own stuff, so i dont learn many songs from other bands....but our band covers dream theater-pull me under, and i can play various other DT tunes (overture1928, strange dejavu, learning to live, for example)....although that stuff is pretty difficult imo. i'm much more comfortable with thrash metal stuff like kreator, and old metallica.

greets
fragle

[shredmonster]

Re: Guitar practice survey

Been playing for almost 30 years. Use to practice 4 to 12 hours per day. Once you reach a certain level I think it works kind of like an airplane.

When you first take off in a plane you give it everything it has to get off the ground. Once you get in the air you level off the throttle to stablize your altitude.

In otherwords you don't have to practice as much to maintain what you have and even to improve.

I play about 1.5 hours a day now and can still play over 250bpm.

[David Dineen]

Re: Guitar practice survey

practice when you can...if possible, play while talking on the phone, watching tv, etc....also, carry a book with arpeggio, chord shapes, patterns, theory...review it while on the train, before class, during commercials...this way you can improve your musical vocabulary w/o having a guitar in your hands.