Am i practicing too much?

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

ever since i started playing guitar 9 years ago, ive completely dedicated every free second to practicing and playing guitar. sometimes on sundays ill put in about 12 hours of straight finger exercises music reading and theory study only taking a break to eat or have a smoke. my entire family thinks that ive lost my mind and that im just waisting my time. i have even turned down a number of partying opportunities and dates with girls for the sake of playing. i dont feel personally that im crazy or anything, but the people around me are starting to make me beleive this. i tell them that its what i want to do with my life, but most of them just laugh at me, and tell me im waisting my time. im planning on going to MIT in hollywood next year so i can engulf myself in the instrument and learn everything about guitar that i possibly can while meeting other guitarists with the same dedication i put forth.
the amount of time i put in has been worth it because my skill has ascended much farther than i ever could have imagined. im just wondering if its possible to practice too much, and if i am, is there a better approach to take while practicing?

[darkcornerrock]

Dude...

All i can say is congratulations...

If i had the commitment to do that, well, u'd be hearing about me on CNN... LOL


I say just keep it up. U be rocking like carazy man...


:D

[Akira]

No such thing as too much practise! :D

[Fruitfly]

OK, you asked for it. Why don't you take on the 5th Caprice of Nicolo Paganini? Now THAT piece requires intensive study.

[Blues_Man]

With all of that practice if you ever make it big, buy some Mercedes for everyone except those people that called you crazy!! By the way your not crazy and I like my mercedes is silver....

[HDJ]

Your not crazy, I wish I had the drive to do that.....

But come on man, turning down dates with chicks to play guitar. :confused:

[kill em all]

I turn down dates with chicks to play guitar all the time. It's always, "I can't party or go with you to the mall or talk on the phone because I have to practice." you are very much sane and you deserve the skill you have acquired, I can only practice 5-6 hours a day through the week because I'm 15 and I can't drop high school ( couldn't get parents to sign anyway ). You are not crazy and many fellow guitarists have talked with me about how easy it is to kill an entire day without knowing it, all the time gaining guitar ability.
Anything worth dedicating a life to is worth the full respect of your entire free time.
p.s.
smoking can take it all away.

[CW14]

Keep it up man!

[ericthecableguy]

WoW!
That incredible..as long as you aren't ditching your family or anyth.ing

[Akira]

I can only practice 5-6 hours a day through the week because I'm 15 and I can't drop high school

Oh, only 5-6 hours? :rolleyes:

Btw, don't drop highschool in order to play guitar more, because:

a) 5-6 hours a day is already more than enough, and
b) you need something to fall back on, what happens if you get tendonitis or tunnel carpel?

[kill em all]

Btw, don't drop highschool in order to play guitar more, because:

a) 5-6 hours a day is already more than enough, and
b) you need something to fall back on, what happens if you get tendonitis or tunnel carpel?

sorry I'm still not sure how to make other posts' quotes all fancy like..... but there is nothing to fall back on, ever. Music is all that is and all I will ever do. If I got tunnel carpel or tendonitis I would spend the rest of my days treating it in every way possible, a positive attitude can heal any wound. Tony Iommi lost his fingertips but that didn't stop him from doing what he loved! With the will to play I can play. ( this is not an attack on you at all, you believe you are doing a right and helping a kid to stay in school, I salute you .)
by the way, I withdraw my previous statement, "smoking can take it all away." because tendonitis cannot take it all away, my bad.

[iluvkirkhammett]

I wish I could practise a lot but I'm only just beginning so I constantly get discouraged...

[Kevin Taylor]

Nothing wrong with lots of practice. You might want to get into a band or get some midi files to play to though. Just doing scales and exercises doesn't do a whole lot for your creativity. You need to learn how to improvise to backup music and learn how to play with others.

[Hamberg]

I practice like that too.

[Akira]

sorry I'm still not sure how to make other posts' quotes all fancy like..... but there is nothing to fall back on, ever. Music is all that is and all I will ever do. If I got tunnel carpel or tendonitis I would spend the rest of my days treating it in every way possible, a positive attitude can heal any wound. Tony Iommi lost his fingertips but that didn't stop him from doing what he loved! With the will to play I can play. ( this is not an attack on you at all, you believe you are doing a right and helping a kid to stay in school, I salute you .)
by the way, I withdraw my previous statement, "smoking can take it all away." because tendonitis cannot take it all away, my bad.

Yeah, I see your point, I was just saying that you're gonna need something else to help support you in someway.

A more extreme demonstration would be: what if you were in a car accident and your hands got ripped off somehow?

That's my point. Stay in school.

[Kevin Taylor]

Just another quick suggestion.... unless you make it big in a major label band, or become a very popular session player, it's doubtful you'll be able to make a living from playing guitar. About the only other way to make money is by writing songs and either selling them to well known acts or licensing them for commercial use. I guess what I'm getting at is, besides guitar, you should be learning everything you can about the music business. How record labels work, what session players need in the way of experience and equipment... know how to do multitrack recording so you understand how it works in the studio, buy or borrow as many books as you can on everything from theory to room acoustics.

For instance just as one example, right now, could you lay down a demo recording in less than an hour showing off your skills with all the backup instruments, plus vocals, completely mixed and mastered. Then put together a decent looking web page with a link to your song in MP3 streaming format? Then make .aiff or .wav files available with several different including instrumentals so that they can be downloaded from an FTP site?

Cause stuff like that happens all the time... you'll get an email message asking for a rock tune in a style similar to U2 or whatever, with a classical guitar lead line and a few lyrics and vocals about finding a lost love or whatever. You've got one hour to get it written and recorded or you'll lose out on ten grand.
You've gotta have Cubase or ProTools, a classical guitar, a decent mic, tons of loops and plug-in software, mastering software, conversion software...etc..
plus know how to use it all as well as knowing how to put together a web page and have your own FTP space ready to go.

If all you know is guitar, you're screwed. You have to book studio time and musicians and pay for it out of your own pocket and probably take more than a week to get it done.
Meantime somebody else has already gotten the job... plus impressed the music supervisor enough that he calls the other guy next time he needs something really quickly. You on the other hand, won't get called again because you only have one chance to make a first impression.

[pure]

im not saying you're crazy, but you've got to take a break. all that guitar playing could ruin your hearing because of the tones a guitar makes. i say you've got to just stop for a little and go outside and have some time to enjoy with your friends. soon if you continue like this your friends might leave you and then you'll be lone. its not good to have no friends man. please for your own sake, get a schedule and set some time away from guitar. okay try it for one week and see how it goes. but man you have alot of dedication and i wish i could be like you. but high school gets in the way. but please just get a schedule and like plan your week out. say youre only gonna play your guitar for 4 hours and then do something else for 8 hours and go back to guitar for a couple hours. just try it for a week and see how it goes.

[Kevin Taylor]

That's true. Sometimes ya practice a lead over and over again and just can't get it. Then you go do something else for a coupla hours. When you come back you can play it no problem.
It's almost like your brain needs a chance to absorb the knowledge properly.

[binfordtools]

That is some dedication. But just like a professional athlete goes to college to learn additional skills, you need a back up plan. You are totally enveloping yourself in music which is a dream that probably most aspiring musicians would love to achieve. It just seems like from what you are saying that you are not getting any skills in any other areas. I’m a believer in backup plans.

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

OK, you asked for it. Why don't you take on the 5th Caprice of Nicolo Paganini? Now THAT piece requires intensive study.

i learned half that song from an issue of guitarworld a while back. its actually quite simple because there are no bends or trems or stuff like that in it. also there are alot of different ways to play that song than what yngwe shows. the only thing challenging was to memerorize what ive learned because there are classical arrangements in there originally intended for the violin, and the scale structures require a great deal of stretching of the fingers. its also great for people that want a complete crash course in arpeggios and classical scale patterns. id have to say that the hardest thing ive learned to date is "for the love of god" by steve vai. it took me two months to learn all the nuances and bends that he does.he also does an awful lot of whammy bar stunts that i cant quiet grasp yet due to thier technicality. now go and try that song and tell me how hard it is!(you can find this track on the "passion and warfair" album, which is the greatest example of melodic shredding ive ever heard.)

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

I wish I could practise a lot but I'm only just beginning so I constantly get discouraged...
turn your discoragement into motivation dude! whenever you get pissed harness that emotion and write a song about it using those emotions, discouragement doent mean you have stop playing. take a break, then go back to it.

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

Nothing wrong with lots of practice. You might want to get into a band or get some midi files to play to though. Just doing scales and exercises doesn't do a whole lot for your creativity. You need to learn how to improvise to backup music and learn how to play with others.

alot of the time im playing over top of a riff or song i that i recorded. scales and stuff are merely half of what i spend my time doing. i enjoy improvisation and spend alot of my time doing this. i also record alot of my stuff when im really warmed up and then go back to see what i like and dont like. criticising my own work is the funnest part!

[stackny]

Ive got a question. How could you dedicate 9 years of your life to an instrument and not be pro yet??? Serious question. You should be bringin in some doe by now.

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

Ive got a question. How could you dedicate 9 years of your life to an instrument and not be pro yet??? Serious question. You should be bringin in some doe by now.
im not really playing to get famous or rich dude, its just something i love doing. i would definatly like to become a guitar instructor someday. but i need more time to develope. im a strong beleiver in dedication. you dont get amazing by just dreaming about it!

[stackny]

im not really playing to get famous or rich dude, its just something i love doing. i would definatly like to become a guitar instructor someday. but i need more time to develope. im a strong beleiver in dedication. you dont get amazing by just dreaming about it!

Hey whatever floats your boat. Personally, Id love playing in front of huge crowds and making money what I love to do.

[Superhuman]

Your lucky to be able to play that much. I only get to play for about 3 or 4 hours per week, usually after 12 at night after the my wife is asleep!
Seriously though, I used to play a lot more but found that I wasn't improving much. I only started getting serious increases in ability over the past few months.
Since I can't get to play that often I spend a lot of time listening to whatever I am currently recording, then going back and re-recording new ideas. Just by listening to it over and over I get much better ideas than I would by jamming something out on the guitar. Its strange but the less I actually play the better my technique becomes... It's a tough one to prescribe though... "Try playing less guitar if you want to get better"!

[Jolly McJollyson]

Ive got a question. How could you dedicate 9 years of your life to an instrument and not be pro yet??? Serious question. You should be bringin in some doe by now.
I've played guitar for 10 years and I'm nowhere close to pro.

[Akira]

I've played guitar for 10 years and I'm nowhere close to pro.

You're a pro love machine.

[Akira]

To the starter of this thread:

You should try taking a week off from guitar, it may sound crazy to you, but it can do wonders. Firstly it gives your hands a rest (God knows you're probably need it!) and you'll also find that when you approach the instrument after the week off, you'll approach it from a different perspective to what you had before, it's actually quite refreshing.

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

now THATS something to try!
im gonna try my hardest to do this, because i KNOW your right.
last year i got retardedly sick and couldnt even move. it was a really depressing time for me because i just laid there and stared at my new jackson guitar :( wishing that i could actually play it. but then a month later when i got better i started twangin around on it and found that it was like picking a guitar up for the first time again.
thanks for remindin me dude!
looks like im gonna have to hone up my video game chops for the next week!

[Akira]

now THATS something to try!
im gonna try my hardest to do this, because i KNOW your right.
last year i got retardedly sick and couldnt even move. it was a really depressing time for me because i just laid there and stared at my new jackson guitar :( wishing that i could actually play it. but then a month later when i got better i started twangin around on it and found that it was like picking a guitar up for the first time again.
thanks for remindin me dude!
looks like im gonna have to hone up my video game chops for the next week!

Nice one dude.

Sometimes it seems that your brain needs some time to fully learn what your hands were doing, it's strange.

[Infectious]

I agree with everyone else...take a break. For me...I found that I made most of my advances in technique and overall playing when i didnt play as much. I used to practice like 6 hours a day but recently because of college I've only been able to play an hour or 2 daily and im constantly impressing myself. I'm at a level I never thought I would be at a few months ago.

Also...is it just me or does anyone else not really care for "For the love of god" by steve vai? I think Steve Vai is awesome but I absolutely hate that song!

[Akira]

Also...is it just me or does anyone else not really care for "For the love of god" by steve vai? I think Steve Vai is awesome but I absolutely hate that song!

I love that song. It just seems that when you say "Steve Vai" to people, they reply with "that guy who played for the love of god?"

[Infectious]

Steve Vai has done a lot more that he should be recognized for. I like a lot of his other stuff personally but I will admit that "For the love of god" is a good peice of music...as far as musical self expression goes. I just like his other music better...songs like "Juice", "Jibbom", "Incantation", "Get the Hell out of here", and lots others. I think Steve Vai is a hell of a musician (his picture is my avatar for gods sake!) but I really hate that song. :confused:

BTW...if you've never seen a live Vai concert...you're missing out. He puts on the best show I've ever seen. Honestly.

[Superhuman]

Vai is definitely a superb guitarist, very original with a truely unique sound. Jibboom is a good example of Vai as a 'shredder' (couldn't resist getting that dirty little word in there!!). I reckon Alien Love Secrets is his best cd, For The Love Of God is a great track, but I think Bad Horsie is a lot better.
Technically Vai is probably ahead of Satriani but I reckon Satriani plays more listenable music and tries more new sounds (even had a techno album).

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

check out flex-able his first solo release, its completely shred nd doesnt hold back. also any of his work with the late and great frank zappa is mind warping,and any fan of vai has to hear this stuff.

oh, and for the love of god is a downright killer track, and it gives me chills every time. its the best example of building up a mellow solo until it explodes into shred madness.

[Infectious]

oh, and for the love of god is a downright killer track, and it gives me chills every time. its the best example of building up a mellow solo until it explodes into shred madness.
Meh...I still dont particularly care for that song. I have all of Vai's CD's btw...I think for me...his Alive in the Ultra World CD's are my favorite. Vai is definetley meant to be heard and seen play live.

But I digress...sorry for hijacking ur thread there DISCIPLEofMETAL. Long story short...take a break from practice. It could work wonders.

[feenix dude]

Practicing is GOOD. Practicing alot is better. BUT, dont forget that practicing ALONE leaves out certain things. Like adjusting timing to meet the drummer, changing keys when someone else does...etc. You need to practice with others to improve in certain areas. I can practice all day long by myself but will never learn certain other things without others inspiration or leads.

[Akira]

BTW...if you've never seen a live Vai concert...you're missing out. He puts on the best show I've ever seen. Honestly.

Saw him on the 23rd of October in Nottingham.

It was AMAZING!

[Fenderalltheway]

ok, if your serius about having your life centered around playing guitar(like really going pro, or making a band) i say you can never practice enough :D but, you know, if its not gana be your career, if you like to practice, maybe like an hour or 2 or 3 a day, but you know what, if you keep playing like that, i think we'll all soon see ya in Madison square Garden terin it up good luck :D

[Weslaba]

I am only 15 and cannot possibly practice that long, and attend school at the same time. I try to get in a good hour or two a day, but every once and awhile I tend to get carried away learning something new, and end up playing for 6hrs on a beautiful saturday evening.

[ericthecableguy]

But I digress...sorry for hijacking ur thread there DISCIPLEofMETAL. Long story short...take a break from practice. It could work wonders.

I'll back Infectious up on this one. I went camping for a weekend and when I came home, I felt so inspired that I played the best music I made in my life. After a couple days rest, the first time you get that guit back in your hands... *shudder* mmm. :)

[Infectious]

I'll back Infectious up on this one. I went camping for a weekend and when I came home, I felt so inspired that I played the best music I made in my life. After a couple days rest, the first time you get that guit back in your hands... *shudder* mmm. :)
Yay...someone agrees with me. I too also took about a one week break from playing because I had to get my final projects for this semester done. But today...I plugged in the old guitar and just improvised some riffs and I swear...everything I was playing was killer. I don't know what it was...but for once in my life...it was all golden! I assume DISCIPLEofMETAL has been playing video games for a couple days. Let's see what happened with him whenever he decides to come back.

[metal2core]

That's how I am haha, every second that I have free of the day I spend playing. I don't care what people think, I love to play so why stop? Rock on man.

[quickfingers]

alot of the time im playing over top of a riff or song i that i recorded. scales and stuff are merely half of what i spend my time doing. i enjoy improvisation and spend alot of my time doing this. i also record alot of my stuff when im really warmed up and then go back to see what i like and dont like. criticising my own work is the funnest part!


yea, but keep in mind that practicing over your own rythyms and beats in the privacy of your room while sitting on your floor is muuuuch different than playing seriously with others. if you ever play a show, you will realize how much youre going to forget, even if you dont feel nervous at all. until you do, improvisation is just a meaningless word...unfortunatlely, everybodys gotta suck at it to get better first.

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

Yay...someone agrees with me. I too also took about a one week break from playing because I had to get my final projects for this semester done. But today...I plugged in the old guitar and just improvised some riffs and I swear...everything I was playing was killer. I don't know what it was...but for once in my life...it was all golden! I assume DISCIPLEofMETAL has been playing video games for a couple days. Let's see what happened with him whenever he decides to come back.
hello fellow guitboxheads,
just thought i might come back say that my playing took a massive leap! yesterday, after a long weekend of partying and celebrating the life of dimebag(R.I.P) with my freinds, i played about 2 hours of guitar, and all i can say is whoa.... :eek: my fingers were so much stronger feeling, and i played much faster. i decided that taking a break every now and then aint so bad after all, and that if your stuck in a rut, just take a break, it worked wonders for my playing. and alot of the riffs and licks that i was sick of playing felt fresh again. thanks to everyone that posted on this thread, the advice is greatly appreciated. :)

[Weslaba]

hello fellow guitboxheads,
just thought i might come back say that my playing took a massive leap! yesterday, after a long weekend of partying and celebrating the life of dimebag(R.I.P) with my freinds, i played about 2 hours of guitar, and all i can say is whoa.... :eek: my fingers were so much stronger feeling, and i played much faster. i decided that taking a break every now and then aint so bad after all, and that if your stuck in a rut, just take a break, it worked wonders for my playing. and alot of the riffs and licks that i was sick of playing felt fresh again. thanks to everyone that posted on this thread, the advice is greatly appreciated. :)




Thats good to hear....

[quickfingers]

....fantastic?

[ericthecableguy]

OOOOOOOOO! There is hope!!!! :D

[Superhuman]

You will actually make far more drastic improvements if you can manage to leave your axe down for about a month (shock - horror!!). Spend the time listening to technically perfect guitarists with strong melodic skills (my playig and composition improved by listening to Vinnie Moore & Thodore Ziras while taking a long break). When you go back to playing you will find yourself staying away from the practice patterns and scales and focusing more on playing new original material. Once you know the scales and patterns I don't see the need to continue playing them as often, that only gets you faster at playing those scales and does little to advance your creativity. The strange thing is your technique will be stronger, more personalised and your overall playing will be more creative after a longer break. It's hard not to play for that long but i've always noticed the biggest advancements in my playing after longest breaks. It's not easy taking that much time off though!!!

[Akira]

You will actually make far more drastic improvements if you can manage to leave your axe down for about a month (shock - horror!!). Spend the time listening to technically perfect guitarists with strong melodic skills (my playig and composition improved by listening to Vinnie Moore & Thodore Ziras while taking a long break). When you go back to playing you will find yourself staying away from the practice patterns and scales and focusing more on playing new original material. Once you know the scales and patterns I don't see the need to continue playing them as often, that only gets you faster at playing those scales and does little to advance your creativity. The strange thing is your technique will be stronger, more personalised and your overall playing will be more creative after a longer break. It's hard not to play for that long but i've always noticed the biggest advancements in my playing after longest breaks. It's not easy taking that much time off though!!!

OH EYAH??!! WELLL I HAERD THAT IF YUO LIEK DONMT PLAY GITUAR FOR SSEVENVETY TREE YAERS THAT YOU CANN PLAY LIEIK TH EG GUYS FROM GODD CHARLOSLTE!!!! OMG LEIK YEAH!!

[ericthecableguy]

You will actually make far more drastic improvements if you can manage to leave your axe down for about a month (shock - horror!!). Spend the time listening to technically perfect guitarists with strong melodic skills (my playig and composition improved by listening to Vinnie Moore & Thodore Ziras while taking a long break). When you go back to playing you will find yourself staying away from the practice patterns and scales and focusing more on playing new original material. Once you know the scales and patterns I don't see the need to continue playing them as often, that only gets you faster at playing those scales and does little to advance your creativity. The strange thing is your technique will be stronger, more personalised and your overall playing will be more creative after a longer break. It's hard not to play for that long but i've always noticed the biggest advancements in my playing after longest breaks. It's not easy taking that much time off though!!!

Dude...Thats a level of psychotic zen only a monk living atop a mountain can achieve! :eek:

[rockonn91]

Saw him on the 23rd of October in Nottingham.

It was AMAZING!
still talking about this.......... ugh your so lucky.

[DISCIPLEofMETAL]

You will actually make far more drastic improvements if you can manage to leave your axe down for about a month (shock - horror!!). Spend the time listening to technically perfect guitarists with strong melodic skills (my playig and composition improved by listening to Vinnie Moore & Thodore Ziras while taking a long break). When you go back to playing you will find yourself staying away from the practice patterns and scales and focusing more on playing new original material. Once you know the scales and patterns I don't see the need to continue playing them as often, that only gets you faster at playing those scales and does little to advance your creativity. The strange thing is your technique will be stronger, more personalised and your overall playing will be more creative after a longer break. It's hard not to play for that long but i've always noticed the biggest advancements in my playing after longest breaks. It's not easy taking that much time off though!!!
could you repeat that?....

[Superhuman]

Taking a month off is pretty tough, it usually only works when you're stuck in doors with a new girlfriend playing naked twister;-) Seriously though, the longer you've been playing the more you realise that taking a decent ammount of time off actually improves your playing. Increased creativity and a fresh approach. Get out there, drink some beers, meet some more women. If your playing doesn't improve at least you won't be getting 'hairy palm' syndrome!

[rockonn91]

i sort of do the same thing i guess. i dont actually lay down the guitar entirely, but i do sort of take time off of one style to completely immerse my self into the other.

for example, i stopped playing blues for a couple months to only work on neo-classical. nowww, i know scales, etc much better so i can do blues better.

i also lay down the electric for weeks at a time to only play acoustic, which also greatly helps your electric playing when you go back to it.

[Pumpkinz_bebe2]

2 dude keep up ur playing,!! maybe soon or l8r u'll be featured in a famous guitar mag!!

if i have a free time like yours, maybe ill be more dedicated than yours!! :D