HOW MANY HOURS A DAY SHOULD YOU PRACTICE IF YOU WANT TO BE PROFESIONAL

One more.

It cannot be about hours. People learn at different speeds

Play until you have:

A) done something to warm up... scales etc

B) practiced something you know.

C) noticeably improved on something you have been working on learning

D) found something new and creative that challenges how you play.

Repeat tomorrow.

Never put your guitar down. Sleep with a metronome under your pillow. Play with others twice a week on one of those occasions make it a jam with different folks doing music outside your taste spectrum. Live this lifestyle for at least a decade.

Now for the tangent... I think beer is a bettet guitar practice beverage than wine or whiskey.... But at a show?

Now for the tangent... I think beer is a bettet guitar practice beverage than wine or whiskey.... But at a show?

For me as a Guitarist/ vocalist... Milk or milk based product (an ice cream etc) inside of an hour before the show... allows for a bit of give between melodic and growls and screams and back again.

Gargle cola during and swallow in fizzed state to soothe during shows. Beer dries the vocal chords too much to allow real flexibility and beer also effects pitch.... It enhances your perception of your range without altering your physical range.

It was said that any skill takes 10,000 hours to master. If you believe this, it's a matter of how long you want to wait before mastering the skill.

It occurs to me that if you need to ask how much you should practice then you need to practice more... sometimes this can be unstructured. I still enjoy watching TV with a guitar and seeing how fast I can start playing the melody or chords to snippets of music on TV, theme songs, incidental music, commercial jingles.... ear/hand training. Eventually practice becomes less essential. I seldom formally practice like I sued to and while I am not as good as I once was I am not THAT much worse. Maybe I have long ago capped 10k hours? No idea. Ramping up my formal and directed practice from next to nothing would be sufficient to regain the 5 to 10% I've lost since leaving the professional sphere (I am rusty at thigns outside of my chosen stylistic avenues like tapping, sweep arpeggios or some variations of travis picking and chickin' pickin' -- in order to execute one of those parts I need to practice it a few times for a couple days to regain the muscle memory). But in the beginning the answer is A LOT.... anyone who says otherwise is content with a limited guitar skill set and that's okay. That won't even keep you from being a professional in some senses of the word....but a professional side man ready for any oddball part thrown at him? Constant practice tog et tuned up to be good enough and then a reasonable amount of maintenance to keep yourself in tip top shape so that you never get it wrong at an audition.

For me? I really like to play the guitar and I would play more if I had more free time. Practice, structured or freeform NEVER felt like practice to me or a chore in any way. It was a joy and a privilege and I couldn't hazard a guess at how many hours I spent with my guitars. I still seldom pass a day without playing something for a few minutes when I can squeeze it in. When I worked in a structured office I kept a tele in a locked closet... when I am doing other things I often just hold a guitar and noodle a little to focus my thoughts on the task at hand. My guitars are an extension of my arms and of my brain.

I try not to sing, tis safer for everyone and for the songs.

I can't even tell you the number of times I was sitting in bed late at night practicing as a boy and woke up slumped over a strat and almost missed the bus to highschool....

when I was in one band that rented a big house to live in and practice at I continued playing guitar whenever I was home to the point where the band would decide to watch a movie but wouldn't let me near the couch if I didn't put the guitar down. So I missed a lot of movie nights.

be Skwisgaar:

http://a3.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/17/e0baab765ca54c55bf583de2eeae68f6/l.png

Anders Ericsson studies how to effectively practice skill acquisition. Admittedly, I'm a nerd, but I find his research fascinating.

Here's someone doing a cliff notes version on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY384Jlvy6E

TL;DR - Focus on deliberately improving your weaknesses in playing coupled with immediate feedback.

there's one approach, but trump monomaniacal passion? I don't think so. If its just a skill or a way to meet girls (boys, goats, whatever) then you are unworthy.

True. Monomaniacal passion is the real key to everything.

https://media.giphy.com/media/TZYw3OpCZAb2E/giphy.gif

I find that once I warm up and open my vocal cords from speaking to singing, I don't generally drink anything until I tear my vocal cords apart, or I wait until after the show. I find that screaming (lightly, not like Corey Taylor shit) opens up my vocal range, until I do it for more than three songs in a row.

Pace and structure your set list. Or you won't be singing forever.

y'know, I just wasn't imagining professional singing being in the guitar section though many guitarists also sing, maybe even providing the lead or sole vocal....

yeah, we take two ten-minute breaks for me to drink/rest and for the teens we play for to get some goddamn first aid. one kid cut his head in my mic stnd like three weeks ago and that turned into a fifteen minute break because the dumbass kids didn't realize he wasn't dying.

> I still enjoy watching TV with a guitar and seeing how fast I can start playing the melody or chords to snippets of music on TV, theme songs, incidental music, commercial jingles.... ear/hand training.

BIG yes to this, particularly for turning over my fingerstyle patterns and chord changes Only normally possible alone mind you? There's a parlour guitar by my sofa at all times.

Having instruments scattered about the house helps too. In the 90's (Pre-guitar) I'd keep a harmonica/tinwhistle beside my PC for 'reboot time', as well as by the kettle.

yeah, I do the same thing. I have a guitar in very room but the master bathroom.

get outta bed, read this arrticle and think, this is whats up, especially the part about practicing being its own reward

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/25744-dear-6-string-sensei-how-do-i-get-started-with-improvisation

too many people want to be rockstars and that's a job description that's less and elss relevant every eyar and your odds of becoming one were enver good to begin with... anyway, this article is pretty damn good and I don't usually like Six String Sensei